By Woody Collins, Congo Helping Hands
As we assumed last week, Dr. Larry left town as scheduled on Thursday. But as his flight departed, I was requested to meet with the Provincial Governor at 8 AM Friday morning. My transportation into town (Kananga) would be leaving at 6 AM from the Tshikaji Hospital. The vehicle would drop me off when it went through town on the way to Tshikapa, more than a full day’s journey from Kananga.
The meeting did not start as scheduled. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! We (two of my crew members and I) finally got to meet with the governor just before noon on Friday.
However, just before 8 AM, I got a warning of trouble from Dr. Larry in Kinshasa via a message. Then I responded to him with a phone call and several messages. He had found out from his government liaison person they had agreed to giving the government over 50 percent of the water sales. I agreed with Dr. Larry: THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!
At the meeting, the responsible minister explained the purpose of the meeting to governor. I was ready in my best French to say, “C’EST IMPOSSIBLE!” But the governor, minister, and his minster’s responsible chief seamlessly switched between Tshiluba (the local language) and French several times. As such, I only understood just the French spoken, but I heard no discussion of percentages.
After the meeting, the minister’s responsible chief accompanied us to our workplace. Then our government liaison chatted on the phone with the minister’s responsible chief for 30 minutes. Afterwards, the minister’s responsible chief asked for a meeting with my crew that evening. I chose not to be present, but I left instruction with them that our final offer was 30 percent for the government.
Since that time, my CHH vote is ZERO percent for the government. I hope to convince Dr. Larry of the same! We have not heard anything from the government either. It’s a Congolese version of “DEAL OR NO DEAL!” However, the government has a briefcase with a 7-year “monument” and not a working water system inside.
The solar panel rack is almost fixed correctly. So, we will start moving our equipment to install it at the Jacques Cusmano health center tomorrow.
And yes, my sleep score took a hit again this week!
