tulikula chakula mengi sana

Hi all,

Well it's been an interesting week... Saturday was spent in Oicha, for a board meeting... I think it was my first time there - where I didn't go and greet people that I know. I received a phone call that night from Uncle Tito, "Habari ya Beni? Iko mzuri? Uliafika Oicha???" Basically - "How is beni, is it good? Were you in Oicha???" Ohhh... He knew!!! I felt terrible...

The next day was spent almost entirely in the kitchen.... Belinda doesn't come to cook / help us at the house on Sunday, so it's up to us to fend for ourselves. That morning I cooked breakfast for everyone... Tried to get April to wash the dishes, but we ran out of water (weird). After that, it was time for me to cook lunch... After that the water was back on and we were almost entirely out of dishes! So... April washed. I think I tried to bathe, but something else happened, and then we went to church at UCBC for the 3pm service... And after that, it was time to start on dinner!!! And then I had to boil water for tea / coffee, and of course heat up enough water for everyone to bathe... But it was a good day. I certainly was not alone - in fact, Angie cooked dinner and I hardly helped... It's just incredible what percentage of the day was spent in front of the hot charcoal stove! :)

Yesterday something weird happened... The shutter button on my camera broke off. So.... Unless I use a pen to press where the stem of the button used to be - I can't take pictures with my camera!!! Such a strange thing to happen.... Oh well!!

The photo is of Festo and Aunt Irene. I'll try to upload more photos next week and write more... And more in depth, soon... :)

I was able to renew my visa in Goma - so since my first one just expired at the beginning of March... I can legally be here for another six months! And the visa was significantly more expensive to get it IN CONGO than it was to get it from Washington DC... Whatever. Ah politics.

Ok... Much love to you all. I pray that things are going well for each of you... And my goal for tonight is to respond to old, (some that are REALLY OLD) emails!

love,
Bethany