Well we made it to Goma. There are many contradictions here, like in Kinshasa. The actual flight was so very smooth. We had a short lay over in a small small town…flying over, we saw stretches of beautiful green jungle with only few huts sprinkled out in the middle of nowhere, the Great Congo River proved to really snake through the entire country like it had claimed, the beautiful decent over Lake Kivu …was a surprise. The lake is so huge it looks like an ocean. I never realized that is why it is called the Great Lakes region…because of the huge lakes. …hmmm. A light sprinkle... a cool breeze. Esther and Camille’s home feels like home. Over lunch I was reminded how flavorful the potatoes were here. Really the peas were amazing as well. Often, the fruit and veges are much more flavorful here.

Thank goodness for this beauty that gives a respite from the chaos and dirt. The airports flying out of Kinshasa and into Goma were absolutely craziness. Nonsensical procedures, harassments, people trying to find reasons for you to give them money…yelling...bumping...etc…..I knew it was like that but I had forgotten what it felt like. We drove the city tonight, through horrible roads, fascinating congestion..what I mean is that I could have watched what was happening on the sides of the roads forever. So much commotion…but really a grey dirty city covered in lava stone. Only to step into a beautiful home with a Christian brother and sister. She is an amazing cook and had prepared a feast for us. I don’t remember tasting such good Congolese food. The community time was so warm, fun, and relaxing. I think we had at least three to five languages being spoken through out dinner. Our host/ architect topped everyone with a total of 10 languages. Many linguistic jokes were told through out the evening. Unfortunately, though they tried to explain the jokes to us...we couldn't always understand!! Darn! It is sad to miss a good joke.

Well we are home now and all of us need some serious rest.
Tomorrow is a new day. We are all so full we have decided to go for a run by Lake Kivu first thing in the morn.

Sons of Congo Team Over and Out.

ps we wish you were here kathi and john