Last Thursday night, April 2, at midnight, I got a message from the government’s lead on the proposed water project. Of course, I was asleep. At 6 AM when I woke-up, I saw his message for an 8:30 AM meeting with governor. Wow, maybe this is going to be a double memorable Good Friday. I scrambled and made it into town. Then, we waited, and we waited, and we waited while outside in the heat! Finally, at 11 AM the governor or someone calls off the meeting and sends us home. This is the life in Congo. It’s a JOURNEY!!
Thanks be to God! Our four water sites have had water for sale every day. However, I am still working on some back-office accounting problems and issues. We still have only a partial fix on the firmware problem. This week, we started having a problem with our standard work Samsung phones for the water sellers. We have two phones that do not recognize the tags used to store the water credit. The problem is like if you go to tap-and-pay with your phone at a store, but the terminal does not interact your phone. We have workarounds to continue water operations. It is NOT a phone issue but a software issue with the SmartTap application which resides on the phone.
I plan to leave Kananga for Kinshasa on Thursday, April 16, to start the trips back to the US. My actual departure for the US is Saturday night. It is prudent to leave some time in your schedule in case of canceled flights to Kinshasa because there are no connecting airline flights out of Kananga. My preferred airline has only three flights a week! You don’t want to miss your flight to Europe. For me, I use the extra two days to wash, inventory, and pack things that I leave in Kinshasa for the next trip. For example, I leave my work clothes and boots, battery powered lights, battery packs, mosquito repellent, etc. I will leave somethings in Kananga, too. Finally, and most importantly, I have to time to enjoy a hot shower, decompress, relax, and meet with friends, colleagues, and partners. Overall, the time spent in Kinshasa is a good transition between rural Congo and US life, going and coming.
I talk about my sleep score every week because sleeping is important for your overall health. Here’s an example a good night’s sleep. You lay your head on the pillow and the next moment you hear your alarm going off. That’s what happened last night!
