Ekstrands in Congo

The Lumba bridge is wonderfully rebuilt thanks to the hard work of Tom Lawson, Clay Schwab, Kade Zongalinga and Kade’s team. This log bridge has been problematic for years and now there is a good stable, durable bridge in place thanks to these men and a donor in Tulsa, OK.

We first arrived on Saturday morning in time to see the team get the first beam across the gap using a temporary A frame in the middle of the stream. Manpower and smarts got it and all the rest of the beams across safely.

First beam going across the new bridge structure

Some explanations:
The bridge is a mass gravity structure. By design, it has large mass from which it gets its strength and stability. The base or foundations of the bridge are the gabions: wire mesh material making 1 cubic yard cubes that are filled with rock, which are in turn wired together. The mesh is made of galvanized wire, coated with PVC pipe. It is designed for salt water installations so will last a long time. Each support is made of 16 cubes – 2 layers of 8 – making the total dimensions 6′ wide x 12′ long x 6′ high.

The bridge beams, weighing up to a ton each, are cut from trees with a high density to resist deterioration. They are 12″ wide x 20″ high and 6 meters long. Four of the beams are bolted together with bolts 1-1/4″ diameter x 4′ long. The three sections of 4 beams were then tied together so the total width of the bridge is 12′. The gabions are also tied to the beams so that everything is tied together. Additional gabion screening was used on each side to make a flank and protect the sides from erosion. Very conservatively, Tom and Kade expect the bridge to last at least 10 years, most probably way over 20 years.

Completed bridge!

The pictures in this Facebook album tell the story.

Exciting changes ahead:

A major partnership with World Vision that promises to dramatically impact the lives of people suffering the ravages of poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo was unveiled this morning during the closing session of the Midwinter Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).  The new initiative – Covenant Kids Congo powered by World Vision – is built on World Vision’s established model of child sponsorship that raises funds in support of development work in critical areas of need.

Read more…

Many of us have been following the news in Sudan, hearing about continued violence and the challenges the Sudanese people face every day.  I invite you to read this article about what the Covenant Church in South Sudan is doing to seek peace during this time.

I also invite you to pray.  True peace can only come from the Lord.  Please read this article from James Tang for specific requests.

The “Assemblee” for the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) is finished and here is a link to the story of the election results.  This meeting is similar to the US Covenant Church’s “Annual Meeting” where various leaders give reports, new leaders are elected, and there is teaching and encouragement for the delegates who attend.

To go along with the article, I invite you to visit my Facebook photo album to see how the meetings went, what the voting process was like, and see a picture of the President Elect.  Praise God for a peaceful process.  Please continue to pray for our Congolese brothers and sisters as they make this leadership transition.

Click here to read about the new President and Vice President Elects’ backgrounds.

Here’s a shot of how we are sending email this week in Bongabo.

Pete sending email with satellite phone

I am holding a Thuraya satellite phone. Phone time costs about $1.00/minute and emails go quickly as you the UUPlus program we use is a compaction program that makes the messages much smaller.

Like my ‘do and earthy foundation I was sporting after riding outside from Gemena to Karawa on Saturday, Jan 14th? I think the foundation is applied a little unevenly, but beggars can’t be choosers.

After the ride to Karawa

In Congo you may be delayed on your trip not because you get stuck, but because someone else has a problem. This is what we encountered when we went to Karawa a couple weeks ago. As you can see from one of the pictures, the cross pieces of the bridge were slowly breaking off. This truck did not pay close attention to the other side and OOPS.

Truck fallen into bridge

We spent 1 hr 15 min waiting for them to jack up the truck and get some boards under the wheel to get out.

Here’s a picture of women fording the stream with their loads.  It was about mid-thigh deep with not much current.

And here you have a close-up of the process used for getting the truck un-stuck.  Looks like a real stable base for the jack and all the weight of the front of the truck, right?

Here you see how some people got around the stuck truck while others waded through the stream. They are using the tailgate to cover the gap where the boards are broken.

Using tailgate to get bicycle around the truck

The week later this bridge was repaired and now it’s fine.

Gisele Nkakala, Dr. Aime’s wife, asked Cindy to teach her how to bake and decorate a cake some time ago. Yesterday was finally the day when it worked out for both of their schedules. Here are pics of the process and final product. YUMM!!

Baking the cake

Prepping the frosting

Giselle the artist, hard at work

The completed cake!

Detail on the cake

“What resources did the men carrying the paralytic have that they used to aid their friend?” we asked the Nguya regional admin council last Saturday. We had traveled an hour and 45 minutes, 44 kms, N of Gemena to Bogose-Nubea to meet with the council. Their responses: themselves, their faith that Jesus could heal their friend, their physical strength to carry him, their ingenuity and persistence to find a way to get their friend to Jesus.

Role Play: Helping Paralytic get to Jesus

Our reason for going was to introduce a few of the CHE (Community Health Evangelism) principles to the council and then ask them to select 6 people to participate in the training we plan to hold in February. During the hour and a half meeting we did a modified lesson about Jesus healing the paralytic man and told the story of the village on the mountain which has people fall off a steep path and break bones. Both of these stories introduce key CHE principles such as: local ownership, using local resources, the local community working together and taking initiative to help. Participation was good as they grasped the ideas. Next they will choose members for training.

Pray with us for this council and that of the Banga-Kungu and Bodokola regions as they choose people for training. Pray that the Lord will lead them to choose the right people. Pray for us as we prepare for the training in February.

December 15th was Helen Smith’s birthday. To celebrate, Cindy invited 12 women from the community over to our home!

Group of women singing carols

After singing Christmas carols all the women shared a favorite Bible verse as a blessing for Helen.

Mama Balabala writing out a verse

They had crafts and made bookmarks from old Christmas cards.

Women cutting bookmarks

Then there was tea and sweet breads. They had a great time singing and enjoying one another’s company.

Helen & other women

Bijou working on craft