Well, I'm back again.

Dear Loved Ones:

I'm now at Nancy Hanninger's house again and able to use the internet. She and I have wonderful conversations and she is an absolute a delight...bright and wise as a tack! I am in the presence of greatness!! Mike is a brilliant man whose medical knowledge is so extensive...he has rewired his house here, hooked up this internet system, and so much more...not to mention operating on person after person day and night.

I am so blessed to be in the presence of such great people. Thank you Lord for the Hanningers.

Now, back to the dam. The damage at the dam is extensive. In my estimation, it is too much to repair, as we originally planned. However, by using piping and supports, water flow can be restored and a turbine installed. Then, the issue is getting the power 5 kilometres from the turbine to mission. It is a big project that is going to take 3-5 years and a great deal of money. If it works, then it will provide supplemental energy for this blessed community in a way that will lead to better medical care, micro-industries, and improved living conditions. What I am most concerned about is getting solar energy installed for the hospital as soon as possible. Larry Stareshley is a Consultant for National Public Health run through the Ministry of Health and US AID and PCUSA, etc. He trained with John Metzel and is involved in so many projects here. He has access to millions of dollars and is a mover and a shaker. He is very interested in the same short-term solar solution to fix the problems facing the facing the hospital. Unfortunately, in our discussions with Larry, he does not have a very favorable view of the dam project. I do not know why this is because I do not know the issues. However, I do believe that the efficient and cost-effective solution to the dam project is one that could work in combination with Solar Power, which is consistent with the goals and plans that we established before coming here.

At present, it looks like the money that has been generously provided by the National Capital Presbytery and matched by the First Presbyterian Church of Annandale (up to $10,000 per year for three years) is going to be put to good use. And, it is good that this money is going to be set aside by John for the Hydro-Power Project at the dam. It will be my goal to seek to influence anyone who will listen to assist us financially to get a solar system (5 kilowatts or so) installed near the hospital as soon as possible. Important issues to be incorporated into this project will be creating a security system to keep the solar panels, converters, batteries, and transmission lines safe, training specific persons here who have expertise to use and maintain the system, and factoring in financial assistance that will enable the people here to begin developing small micro-enterprises to raise money to become self-supporting and self-sufficient. Once the hydro electric system is added to the solar system, increased development by the community can ensue.

On a completely different topic, I drank some palm wine with Chief Kabenga on Wednesday evening. He asked me why I had only two children, when I was living in such a rich and prosperous country. He has 16 children. One needs to remember that 1 out of 2 children will die before reaching the age of 5 here in the DRC. So, being a basically agrarian economy, having bodies to do the work and be there when someone else dies is a basic standard for family and community survival.

I told him that where I lived in America was very different. I told him that my wife was in charge of how many children we had, since she was the one who carried the child for 9 months and gave painful birth to them. Since I was only the donor of the sperm that began the process the led to the beautiful and wonderful birth of our wonderful sons, Ben and Sam, and Genny did all the work after that, I thought that she should be the one who sets the number of children that we have. Well, that didn't go over too well with the Chief! He wants me to have more children. And, constantly brings it up with great laughter. There are many differences between the ways people view and do things here in the DRC and the ways we do things in America.

Fertility is a very big thing over here in the DRC. It is considered very important because there is when a man and woman conceive a child, there is only a 50 % possibility that that child will live beyond the age of 5. Thus, in many cases, the men and women are actually acting in a way to produce twice as many children as they need to subsist and exist in an agrarian society, knowing that half of them will die. I'm only guessing here, but I don't think that too many men voluntarily decide to have vascectomies here.

But, I degress!!! I thank the good Lord for the two fantastic children that Genny and I have, Ben and Sammy! And, I also think that we would not fare too well if we had 14 or 16 children. We once had a dog, Tellie, and we couldn't even take care of him in addition to our two children. Imagine us with 14 children!!! PREPOSTEROUS.

Well, I degressed again!!!

Anyway, you can imagine the cultural clash that I had with the Chief over how many children we Americans should have, how different our cultures are, etc. I have to say that I just love this Chief (Kabenga). He is funny, respectful, and very wise. He is like the County Supervisor of the community, but with much more power. As a Chief, he has the power and authority to decide any disputes, maintaining the oral tradition of the group, give out land to the people in plots so that they may have land to live on and build houses on, he is the traditional spiritual leader of the community whose knowledge goes back before Christianity got here. He has the power to punish people with fines. He can take their land away from them. He is responsible for the distribution of land and the redistribution of land. He has 24 sub chiefs who work with him, but he is the FATHER CHIEF. His word is the last word.

As you can see, a Chief over here is a very powerful person. This chief excercises his powers very compassionately and wisely. He was a school teacher before he became the Chief. Being a Chief is based on one's family lineage. So, he comes from a long family of Chiefs. He is a Christian and worships at the Presbyterian Church. Has a great education and speaks five different languages. He is a very, very wonderful man. I can see how a Chief could abuse such powers traditionally given to chiefs. However, Chief Kananga is not someone who has fallen prey to the addage: "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely"...like so many of our politicians and presidential candidates have fallen prey in the U.S.

Well, let's see...I've covered the dam project, solar energy, size of families here, fertility issues, vascetomies, a brief explanation of the local government system (Chiefdoms), and the heavy emphasis on agrarian society here.

What else?

I'll continue in the next entry.

Until the next time...

In Christ's Precious Love,

Dr. Chris Looker