Life in Congo: The Missing Box

When we arrived June 4, most of the trunks we brought with us were sent up from Kinshasa to Gemena via air freight because that is much less expensive, $1/kg vs $3.50 for overweight on checked bags. We also shipped 2 boxes of food that we purchased in Kinshasa. All but one box arrived later in the week. I kept checking on the box, have to go into town to the agent to ask, and was told “next flight” or tomorrow or the day after. And it didn’t come and didn’t come.
At long last after 3 weeks it arrived and INTACT!

The beat up box arrived!

When I looked at the box I wondered what the jars of jam and bottles of oil would be like inside, but there was nothing dripping out of the box so I had hope. Why was the box so tough looking? Well I don’t know how many times it had been handled and piled up with other freight both under and on top of other boxes. It clearly looks like it has been rolled sometime. Note also the extra tape around the top. That was not mine. It was someone else’s decision to do that and scrunch down the contents. I thought I had it packed tightly, but they tightened it up more. Opened it up and everything was fine. No breaks or leaks at all. Hallelujah.

The contents of the box were ok.

The pantry pics below are those shelves after the contents had been added to what we brought from the US and had in the first box that arrived within the first week.

The pantry

The rest of the pantry