Trip to Nkayi

I’m back from 2 weeks in Nkayi. It was a fun time ‘cause I got to stay with my friend Elizabeth in her beautiful house. She’s probably the person I have the most in common with here…she’s just a few years older, she’s American, she too decided to work in Bible translation when she was only a teenager, she likes to sing, she studied French in Neuchâtel, we took the survey class together in Dallas, etc. She enjoys that I snort when she makes me laugh :o) We ate a lot of good meals with her Chinese-American housemate Chialin and her super great house helper Mama Brigit. Here I am making some delicious pesto by pounding it Congolese style.



Nkayi is quite a bit different from Ouesso, so it was interesting to add to my Congolese experience. Nkayi has a population of about 70,000, 4th largest in the country, while Ouesso has maybe 30,000. The electricity is the best in the country—power cuts occur only occasionally and last maybe 1 minute! In Brazza we have cuts nearly daily for hours at a time and in Ouesso most of the power is by generator only. Nkayi is known for its orange dirt—dusty in the dry season and muddy when it rains. The streets are so bumpy it’s hard to walk anywhere and they’re practically impassable if it rains. The main commerce of the town is the sugar refinery and vast sugar cane fields. The cane cutting jobs are highly coveted, though they pay but a scandalous pittance in our minds, and the whole show is still operated by the French.

One highlight of the trip was helping Elizabeth teach an English class which she holds on Saturdays. I’d like to start such a class here in Brazza ‘cause my friends are always saying how they need to learn English and it would be a real service to the people here. Not that there aren’t already opportunities for them to learn it, but it’s something I would really enjoy doing.



The purpose was to help with Scripture based song writing with the Beembe, like I did with the Bekwel. The circumstances were nearly 100% different, however, and we didn’t reach the objectives of the project in time to get a recording done before Elizabeth goes home on furlough. We did enjoy our time with the people, though, and they were thrilled with the one song they were able to write together. (song writers shown in picture above)



Elizabeth’s best friend in Nkayi had a baby while I was there. By the time Elizabeth got the news, the woman was already at home sweeping the house! Of course, the baby was only 7 months and like 4 lbs, so maybe the labor wasn’t all that hard, but still! No rest for the weary. The cool part was that the baby got named after Elizabeth and her housemate Chialin. They call her Chializ! (pronounced “jaw-leez”) So cute!