Walk a Mile in our Interent.....

In the west, we can not imagine what is required to have internet. 

Let me explain the process;

1. purchase a 1 or 2 day credit for the internet (no sense purchasing more, as they expire whether or not you actually used the internet during that time period)

2. Come home and enter the number from the credit, by cell phone, to the server

3. Oh....the cell phone is out of credits

4. Wait until someone is able to go out and purchase phone credits

5. Enter said credits in phone and repeat step 2

6. Oh dear, the phone battery is dead....plug in phone

7. Power is out, wait until it comes again, and when it has, finish charging your phone

8. When charged, repeat step 2

9. Yikes! The internet credit has expired!

10. Return to step 1 !!!!

No wonder these are the most patient and accepting people on earth!

Walk a Mile in our Interent.....

In the west, we can not imagine what is required to have internet. 

Let me explain the process;

1. purchase a 1 or 2 day credit for the internet (no sense purchasing more, as they expire whether or not you actually used the internet during that time period)

2. Come home and enter the number from the credit, by cell phone, to the server

3. Oh....the cell phone is out of credits

4. Wait until someone is able to go out and purchase phone credits

5. Enter said credits in phone and repeat step 2

6. Oh dear, the phone battery is dead....plug in phone

7. Power is out, wait until it comes again, and when it has, finish charging your phone

8. When charged, repeat step 2

9. Yikes! The internet credit has expired!

10. Return to step 1 !!!!

No wonder these are the most patient and accepting people on earth!

Finishing one last seminar this week, and then it is time to return. The flights home will be 32 hours. It is a huge adjustment in every way. I need to remember to eat as Congolese as possible and transition back. Must turn my nights to days and visa versa. But the biggest change is social. Culture shock is real!
and then there is the climate..........I wonder how long one can stay indoors?

Finishing one last seminar this week, and then it is time to return. The flights home will be 32 hours. It is a huge adjustment in every way. I need to remember to eat as Congolese as possible and transition back. Must turn my nights to days and visa versa. But the biggest change is social. Culture shock is real!
and then there is the climate..........I wonder how long one can stay indoors?

Mwenga from the front porch......

Mwenga from the front porch......

And Back to Bukavu....

The trip home took a little longer. We arrived back in the city after 4 hours driving. We were all exhausted! I slept off and on, waking only for the highlights.....like stopping at a roadside market. After a few purchases, we began to pull out onto the roadway again, but a woman from the market ran after us calling out to us. As it happens, she had not yet given the full amount of change!

So desperately poor, but faithfully honest!

When we arrived in Bukavu, we were so happy to see home! I entered the house and headed for a chair in the sitting room. 

Eunice came to talk to me.....”Grandma, I just have one thing to say.....DON’T look in the mirror! Your hair...ie yie yie.....just don’t even look in the mirror”!

Apparently the journey had taken it’s toll! (I did not look in the mirror!)

I hope you enjoyed the road trip. I will post this when I get home again, and we have internet.

(it is 2:30am here, but WE HAVE INTERNET & POWER!)