Snapshot 4: Fame

News spreads like wildfire here even without social media. There are only a handful of foreign families in residence.Wherever we go, people stare.White people! Mzungu! Look! It’s his wife! And children!They check out our shoes.They critique our clothes.The children touch our skin cautiously.Once, someone I’ve never met or seen called Read more…

Snapshot 3: Mainstreet

Main street never rests in the daylight hours.It is a constant bustle of activity.Traffic can stop you.But not like any traffic you’ve ever seen.Anywhere. Women carry heavy loads of firewood on their heads 8 feet long.Young ladies chat in groups about the latest fashion, crossing the road ever so slowly.Porters Read more…

mortis nocturne

Two of the hours I normally would have spent sleeping last night were instead spent confirming myself as a bona fide Congo resident (or so I hear), as well as confirming a few things I’ve learned recently about rodents: They will stay where they are hidden until at least 90% Read more…

Snapshot 2: Evil v. Good

We hired our gardener Beleke* because of his story.(Well, we needed one too.)Tropical weeds grow fast. Everywhere. Last year, just as Beleke was beginning his seminary studies,his sending church was attacked in a far away village by the LRA.I do not know the extent of the evil inflicted there.I’m not sure Read more…

Snapshot 1: Power

For more than three years we have lived in this fascinating place. And so many times a camera just doesn’t capture it all. I will often treasure significant moments in my heart, but not have a way to ‘keep’ them outside of memory itself. So I hope to ‘keep’ them Read more…