What's Woody Doing Now

Election Blues

I have been in Kananga for just over a week. We have been preparing for a workshop on Wednesday.
We have been trying to work around the election. It has trying but successful. Today (Monday, the election day), our prep work came to a complete stop.
Saturday was bad (unusual) and not expected. I saw the burning tires and moto on the way home. Everything appears to be caused by reports of people finding duplicate and completed ballots on people.
Today, we had more reports of the same. Police are firing shots in the site to disperse crowds. Also, they used tear gas today at one location. Close enough to hear shots and see the flying rocks today! I made it home and stayed inside the rest of the day.

The polls should closed but they are clearing those in line.? Plus it rained this afternoon which stopped voting. My house is 30 yards from a polling station.

Uncle, I Give, I'm Tapping Out!

Doing business in Congo is the worst at its best.
I just got bitten. I trusted them.
We shipped pieces of sheet metal from the Kinshasa, the capital city. That was the only place we knew it was available. It was purchased on last Tuesday. It was to be shipped on Wednesday.
We checked at the local agent here in Kananga on Monday. She said it was here at airport. And it was be delivered in the afternoon. Tuesday, it's coming from the airport. Wednesday, it's still in Kinshasa.

What a country! I give!

$2.50 a Pound

That's the rate to ship any thing from Kinshasa to Kananga by air. It's only 400 miles. But there are no roads, no trains or other means of transporting goods. By boat is too slow and cumbersome.
It cost me more for shipping then the item cost. Luckily it was raw materials for building our bio-sand filter molds. Water filters will save countless lives. That makes it easier to accept.

$4 per Pound

That's the cost of next day delivery service by midnight to the Congo. Actually, that's the cost of an excess bag via a commercial airline. At a maximum weight of 50 pounds, it costs $200 per excess bag. But, at least in my case, it's over 8,000 miles to Congo. There should be a guarantee of delivery with you.

That's an interesting factoid!

The Turkey Survived

My turkey arrived still frozen. And the six other checked bags arrived ok, too. Oh, I'm having turkey for Thanksgiving in Congo.

I arrived in Kinshasa 15 minutes ahead oh schedule at 9:15 Sunday night. The trip from Indianapolis to Washington to Brussels to Kinshasa was normal. As usual, the US airline was the worst part of the trip especially the transatlantic flight.

I was greeted at the plane door in Kinshasa by the familiar stench and humid air. The smell is unique!