Where oh where Wednesday: the center of Africa

Depending on how old you are, you might know this country as Zaire or Congo. If you know it as Congo, you might have to ask yourself which Congo. This is the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC. 

The country started out in history books as a free state, a private “country” owned by Belgian King Leopold II. The atrocities that took place there have continued to shock people throughout the decades that followed - as they became known. The Belgian government took over the colony because of many of these atrocities. But they continued the exploitation of the country until its independence in 1960. 

Names like Lumumba (who was assassinated), Mobutu and Kabila are perhaps well known, each for their own reason. Mobutu was the one who changed the name of the country to Zaire, attempting to return to a more original name. The Congo river was also known as the Zaire. The name came from a Portuguese adaptation of a local language name. 

Kabila changed the name back to Congo. But there are two countries named “Congo”. The Republic of Congo is on its border, which is why it calls itself the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its capital is Kinshasa and it is the 2nd largest country in Africa, the 11th largest in the world (according to Wikipedia). Over 124 million people, mostly French-speaking, call this country home. 

Most recently, the DRC was one of the surprise darlings at the World Cup held in the United States. They reached the knockout phase after having kept Portugal to a tie. In the knockout phase they went ahead against England before finally losing 2-1 and dropping out. Their play was exciting and inspiring. 

Memories

We are busy cleaning out the house. The house has sold (within 2 weeks) and we are preparing for movers to come in November so that we can return to the US in December. This is sooner than we first thought, but will work out well. It just means that there is still a lot that needs to be done in a shorter amount of time. 

Most of this is going through all the “stuff” that has accumulated. You notice I don’t say we accumulated it - it just somehow appeared. However it arrived, it now needs to be gotten rid of. Some of that “stuff” is stuff that people can use and we are trying to find good new owners. We have people who have already taken a good bit of our furniture. Other things have found their way to the recycling store. They take book, clothes and anything electronic. 

The hardest thing to deal with is all of the paper. You know the things - all those papers that you saved because it was important (like bank statements from 30 years ago, ALL of the kids school papers and much more). There are also some papers we brought with us when we first arrived. I found them in the cellar where they have been these past 30+ years. And still, we will be taking some of that with us. The rest is going into the trailer to go to the container park with all the clothes that have gotten wet in the cellar and are not useable any more. 

Coming across pictures brings back memories. It is fun to take some time to look through all of those memories - as long as it doesn’t take too much time. Today I also found the letters we sent each other when we were just dating. Airmail letters, the thin paper covered in the tight scrawl so that as much could be said as possible. We came across pictures of us both very young, attending a banquet at York College. There is even one of the concert which was the moment when we first met. 

It is amazing to come across some of these things. But it is also exciting to know that there are still memories to be made. We are sad to be physically leaving our church family, but we are also excited to see what new things will come in this season of our life. 

(Dave Rampton, Keenan McClellan, Scott Raab, Brett Osborne, Bret Carter)

Whensday Wednesday: Day of the little Prince

We missed a Wednesday and have skipped a whatsit, so we have now landed on a Whensday. Yesterday was what’ is called “Prince’s Day” in the Netherlands. This is a sort of political holiday dating back to the first King of the Netherlands in 1814, although the name was originally used for the celebration of the birthdays of the princes. There are all sorts of traditions linked to this day. 

The King and his family show up on the balcony of the palace, but first they ride through the city of The Hague in a golden coach. When they arrive on the balcony, most eyes are on what the queen is wearing. These days people are also looking at what the princesses are wearing, since the king has three daughters. Amalia is the one who will follow her father to the throne. 

Another tradition is all about the politics. This day (the third Tuesday in September) is when the government presents their budget for the coming year. The prime minister carries a suitcase with the plans which he is supposed to present to parliament. But tradition in the last years has been that all of the information in the plan is leaked to the media before it is ever presented to the parliament. 

In the end, the king goes to the Knight’s Hall in The Hague and reads a statement about how the government is going to help things along in the coming year. The statement he reads was written by the governing coalition - not by the king. Of course the current coalition is a fragile mix of left, right, middle and green. It was an interesting speech. Lately the news has told us that the prime minister uses AI to write his speeches, which is why they are so boring or seemingly inappropriate when feelings are needed. 

Still, most people simply enjoy looking at the hats, dresses, and shining gold on display. The kids get a day off of school and everyone enjoys a holiday of some sort.