Birthday in Bunia (blog #6)

On the morning of my birthday I woke up to a mouse making noises under my bed!  Anyone that knows me knows that I am pretty scared of a lot of things (mice definitely being one of them!). I do not watch scary movies and am pretty much scared of anything that moves.  Being here in Bunia, I have had to get used to a couple of moving things that I do not usually have to deal with like lizards.  Since they eat the mosquitoes and they somewhat have a purpose I can deal with them.  But mice, I don’t think I can get used to them.

As I sat up in my bed, I started thinking and hoping that it was just a dream and that I had not really heard a mouse.  A few seconds later though, I saw it crawling up the wall on the other side of the room.  I shined the light on it and it took off out of the room.  This was 6am and as I lay paralyzed in my bed I tried to think of my next move.  I figured/ hoped that I had scared it and that the chances of it coming back were slim so I decided to stay in bed within the “safety” of my mosquito net.  Other people in the house were starting to wake up so I reasoned it would probably hide and we would not see it for the rest of the day.

I finally managed to come out of my room after I laid there for another hour or so contemplating if I should try to get on the next plane/bus/boat/motorcycle or whatever mode of transportation was necessary, out of Bunia.  Stephen and Scott were up so I proceeded to tell them my story.  They seemed to be concerned reassuring me that the mouse would not come in my bed (that’s not the point!!!) and said we could get a trap or something while Kalongo said, “My dear, I’m sorry.  We will have to get some poison. That is our only option now.”

After breakfast, I decided to go to the French service at church with Stephen b/c it was a special women’s service.  It was nice but I did not understand much being that it was in French and Kiswahili.  We saw some of our other mzungu friends there from MedAir and Samaritan’s Purse, 2 NGOs doing work in Bunia and the surrounding areas.  I also attended the English service at church later that evening which we have been attending for the past 3 weeks.  We have had a chance to meet a lot of people through the church.  Many people that we met have already heard about us and the project we are doing (Bunia is a pretty small town so word gets around) and they have been very encouraging.

After church is when the real fun began.  The crew back at the house surprised me with a couple of gifts and a cake.  I received a traditional Congolese outfit that was creatively wrapped by Scott in webbing from his hammock.  It took about 10 minutes for me to unwrap it!  I tried my outfit on and I am no longer a mzungu!!!! I look like a Congolese woman!  The girls in the house, Hope and Grace gave me cards that were wrapped in wrapping paper which was really sweet.  Stephen and Scott has also prepared a slide show with pictures from our trip so far that we all sat back and enjoyed. 

After dinner, they family prayed for me and Kalongo with his wise and humble spirit gave a speech.  He stated that while we are here celebrating my birthday, there are people that are not as fortunate as there are some mothers that are burying their children at this very moment.  He also reminded us that that fact that I am still here at my age (whatever age that is b/c I did not tell them J) means that God has a plan for me and while we might always understand that plan or know what that plan is, things happen for a reason.  It is no accident that I am here in the Congo at this time with the people I am with (this made me think that maybe the incident with the mouse from this morning wasn’t such a big deal although I am still trying to convince myself of that!).

I later taught the family and the guys the Cupid Shuffle and the Wobble, 2 all time American favorites or at least Atlanta favorites.  We danced for a while and everyone had a great time.  All in all I enjoyed my day and the time I spent with the family and my 2 partners in crime here.  I am going to call it a night now as I sit here in my bed with the mosquito net tucked as tightly under my mattress as possible with the hopes that the mouse does not venture back in here.  I already had the guys check under the bed and other hiding places in the room which will probably a nightly routine until I am assured that the mouse is dead!