Congo Travel Journal
During March and April, 2004 Andy Yardy travelled to the Central African Republic and then on to the Congo for six weeks of video production. New Link Media partnered with Mwanga Productions in association with the Evangelical Free Church in North America in the production of a feature length drama which tells the true story of Isaac Pelendo an inspirational Congolese man at the turn of the 20th century.

During the trip Andy recorded his thoughts in the following blog. To read from the beginning of the trip scroll to the bottom of the page and follow the dates up.

---

Friday, April 16

Well, I am in Bangui. Out of the Congo but I have to say it wasn't that easy. The road trip was fine. Nothing to complain about there. It was uneventful as I had hoped. We pulled into the place where we were to stay that night right on time about 5pm had a very good nights sleep sent our passports over to the airport for processing at 9 that morning then a little after 10am we left for the Airport. Now the runway there in Gemana is paved and there is a "terminal" a building that is all shot up from the war and all the windows broken. We went to have our bags inspected and stood there.

Eventually the pilot called a cell phone to say that they would be late about 11:30 so we just stood here and waited. There were a bunch of soldiers around chatting and laughing. A 2 start general was sitting on a ledge without his shoes on chatting with the guy in the yellow suit who was there to guide the planes in - but there were no planes so chatting time. There were people walking up and down the runway caring things to villages on either side - Fire wood water etc. Then about 11:30 a plane appeared in the distance and flew past the runway then landed once it was all clear. The 6 seat beachcraft came back down the runway. The guy with the yellow suit jumped into action with his white and red paddles and guided the plane into the right space on the empty tarmac. We grabbed our bags and walked down the stairs and no to the tarmac to get on the plane. Darrel the pilot kindly greeted us all - then informed us that the plane had an electrical problem and he would have to check it out. So as we stood under the wing he proceeded to take off the top of the fuselage over the engine to inspect the problem. He figured out it was the alternator. After thinking for a while and a cell phone call back to base he figured he could get us to Bangui if they he could jump start the plane. Evidently all he needs electricity for is navigation, radio, fuel pump and flaps. Well I have to say that all sounds pretty important to me. He said that he doesn't have to use flaps on paved runways for take off and landing only on bush strips. Since we were going to a large airport he decided to call in his arrival and fly the old fashion way without GPS. So went off to garage at the mission to find jumper cables and didn't find anything except a piece of house electrical wire and they striped off the ends and drove a pickup to the airplane and charged the battery for about 40min the drove the truck away we got on the plane and Darrel turn the started and with a little hesitation the engine started and we took off to Bangui.

I have to say Africa look a lot different from the sky. We were flying at about 2000 feet and had a wonderful view of Congo and then of the Ubangi river then up the river a ways and to Central African Republic where I knew cold coke could be obtained.

The pilot stayed with ups that night while another plane flew up from their base to replace the alternator. I didn't see him in the morning but I assume all is well with the jumpstarted airplane so I figured I would spend some time out in the big city. I took a walk this morning and got a coke and bought a few little things. I came back to the guest house then went out again with Greg who is a College student from Canada that just finished up a 6 month internship in Congo. We walked back downtown for lunch. On the way back a guy started begging from us. He just didn't want to give up for any reason - I was pretty sure he wasn't right in the head.

Anyway after a few block of persistent following and lots of Africans showing him off and he kept coming back he made a grab for Greg's hat. He got it and Greg ran after him and grabbed for it. The guy stood there taunting him until an African guy made a grip at it and he ran off. A truck full of guys saw what had happened and jumped the guy and gave Greg his hat back. The then told us to move on. Over my shoulder I saw the proceed to beat the guy up knocking out at least one tooth. Then they got in the truck and left. The guy ran toward us crying and bleeding. The stood pointing at us calling the police. I figured it was more than time to be at the guest house. When we had about 2 blocks to go one of the police officers listened to the guy and stopped us. I couldn't understand anything but I knew this wasn't good. Then one of the guys who had seen what had happened ran up and told the police what the story really was and he told up to leave as we walked away the police took off his belt and started to beat the guy. Back at the guest house they said it had been a long time since something like that had happened but it wasn't uncommon. Well, I say it is time to go home
2 more nights though - but the food here is great and there is the promise of some good beef at a special restaurant tomorrow evening so I will enjoy my last days and will be home Sunday if nothing else tries to keep me here. :-)

---

Tuesday, April 13

Well, my time here is drawing to a close. I actually have two more nights here. Tomorrow afternoon I have another Congo road trip to look forward to. I hope that it won't be quite as eventful as my last. It has been raining a lot over the last few days so it was decided that the plane we are flying out on would not land here since they only have a grass runway. We have to drive 3 hours to a city that has a paved runway. It is also the same city we would have to land in anyway before leaving the country if the plane did come here. They require us to go through customs at some point. Well despite a variety of things that slowed this project down we finished up the today with the last shot. After the road trip it will be a 6 seater airplane trip to Bangue. Then all day Friday and Saturday there drinking coke and enjoying hot showers and electricity before the weekly flight to Paris takes me on the final leg of my journey back to LA on Sunday. I guess I will get out but there have been moments like the other night when a scorpion came running across the floor. It was killed in good time but I didn't like the thought of something like that running around as I tried to go to sleep on my mattress on the floor. Keep me in prayer over the next few days and do check back I will try to give you the run down on my return and maybe some more DEEP thoughts about life in Africa.

---

Sunday, April 11

It is a lazy Sunday Afternoon here in the Congo. I just got up from a Sunday Afternoon nap. Today, is Easter Sunday. As in most churches around the world this is the Sunday pull out all the stops. This is a BIG Sunday for the churches around here. The churches in the area combine efforts to put on Easter Services. Tandala is the location of one of them. It was decided that that church building was too small for the number of people they were expecting. Makila one of the people that has been helping us has lots of shade trees in his yard. So they moved all the benches out of the church and gathered chairs and logs from all over the village to set up for Church. There service was to start at 9am so we went down to find our seats nice and early at 9:30. Now pulling out all the stops included bring out a "PA" system. When we got there they were still setting it up. It was a collection of boom boxes and a car amp hooked up to two car batteries that were hooked to two solar panels. Now it was time to hook up the band. There were 2 guitars, a bass and three mics that were hooked into a rather effective mixer - a bare wire that came out of the amp that they could twist their bare wires coming out of the mics and guitars too. Crank up the volume to max and you have a very effective sound system. Well at least it makes sound.

Despite the sound the service was one of the most enthusiastic I have ever been to here in Africa. There were choirs from each of the churches some better than others but all of the songs had a story to tell about the resurrection of Christ. Several congregational numbers then offering. Well, I thought I had gotten this routine down. Each row is let out and you dance down the isle to the offering basket to drop you gift in men then women on the other side. Well this was out side under trees no clear rows or isles to walk down. Then the said this line then that line. I was utterly confused - got to the front looked for the basket didn't see it then I noticed people in our row sitting down again so I went back and sat down. So I hope I have been forgiven for not giving anything this Sunday. Finally, 3 1/2 hours later the message started. The speaker was a retired missionary Merle Wester (who I will be flying back with this week) He knew what it meant to give just enough message and stop. So a little over 4 hours later we were dismissed to go to various homes that had been asked to prepare food for everyone. Another Congo lunch and ah a nap.

I start my journey back to the USA in 3 days. I have mixed feelings about leaving. Mostly I am excited. I am looking forward to seeing friends again getting back to work and to Church. Still have made a lot of good friends here that will be hard to leave. I am sure there will be more adventures in the next three days as well as the 3 day journey back.

---

Friday, April 9

I was sitting down for peanuts and coffee (yes I drank coffee) at the house of one of the nurses here at the Hospital in Tandala. This man is a really good friend of Brian since they had hung out together years ago when Brian was working as a mechanic here. Now this peanuts and coffee thing is a very important time since that when you sit around a chew the fat trying to solve the problems of the world. The question came up will this little village of Tandala amount to anything? Does it have a chance of surviving at all? Why did the missionaries leave? A few days earlier over lunch we began a discussion with Nupanga a very educated African who has travel well within Africa but not any further. This one was on Development. Why is Congo so undeveloped. He believe it is because of a wrong perspective on what development is. We say it is cars and roads, electricity and Televisions, Phones and e-mail. That is wrong he declares it is none of those things - then what is it? There is no real answer - though to be fair we didn't have much more time. If it is those things why then do people come up to me and ask to buy the SAT phone - why was the solar panel stolen and not food? This seems to be what people want. I have been offered women to marry with no dowry just so long as I take them to the USA. Out here they are begging for these things and it is really not even a case of them tasting it and wanting more. Out here all there is a solar power in the homes of a few. You can't by things like coke. They don't know what McDonalds is. The probably haven't seen more than a 6 seater plane (except for the sound of a jet over head I hear at about 10 in the morning and evening each day) There are only pickups and land rovers that drive through and that is only a few times a day. But they know what they want - DEVELOPMENT. A few days before that I had been talking with the owner of our truck about what to do when people ask for things. What do you do as a white person - someone with resources - even with my limited ones to these people they are unfathomable. When the average Congolese makes less $250 a year I could pay role a small village with my annual income. He openly shared that he shared the same problem. The people consider him a white man (someone with resources) He just gives as much as he can to those he feels are in genuine need or are really proving to be someone who is working toward making a difference. But this is never enough he just has to trust God to take it for what it is. It is hard when people come up and say: You will give me your knife. You will give me your shoes. You will give me your camera. This language has no word for please or thank you. This doesn't float well with white people so they have adapted the French words for them. Just last night I was told a story that shows how they think about these things. Why the White people never have cans? When you go to a white person to get a can they never have them because they are all gone because they demand you give away thank you's. You have only so many thank you's to receive and then there will be no more cans - that is why they have no cans - STRANGE STORY but that is how they think. So what is the next step.

Education. When you and I are in school we learn much more than reading, writing and arithmetic. We learn things about why a car works. How an airplane flies. What makes a phone call possible. It has been know here that someone got a car here and got ride of it after first breakdown because the didn't know how to figure out it needed to be fixed. What do you do with electricity when you don't know what it takes to get it. We have seen old power lines in towns here where there was colonial presence. They had to be guarded all the time so the lines wouldn't get stolen. Now they are gone the power plants have stopped and lines have been stolen. They want electricity they should understand what it takes to get it. I could go on with other examples but I think you get the point. There is more than just basic elementary education that is needed but education about the use of development the WHY's of development but after that it still remains is that knowledge going to develop the wisdom needed sustain development.

So what is it we in the west need to do about it? We are the people with the resources. We are the ones that have the resources we are the ones that come in and colonialized Africa and we are the ones who took them and sold them as slaves. We are the ones who came as missionaries to spread the good news. We are the ones that donate to NGO's which bring in medicine. We are the ones with the education then need to pursue what they want. One of the complaints that have heard is the missionaries left after the church was established. The hospitals may still be staffed minimally. We work in the bible colleges but for the most part we have left the work of evangelism to the Africans. Well they feel abandoned they don't really know how to support the church. Pastors are called and go but they really never get much beyond the subsistence living of their people. We in the west have read the bible and saw the scripture GO INTO ALL THE WORLD - AND PREACH - MAKE DISCIPLES. Placing those verses among the most important of words of Jesus. Still if you look at the gospels there is a lot more said about caring for the poor the sick the needy. Jesus actions showed that he spent much more time helping the poor, healing the sick, teaching the masses then he did preaching salvation. In fact our favorite verse in the west for what it means to be saved is John 3:16 because it is the explanation given to an educated man. To a lame person it may mean much more to say Get up and walk - your sins are forgiven. A starving crowd could believe from the words give by a man who just fed them from five loaves and two fishes. What are we doing with the great commission may not be wrong but is may not be right either. Jesus took care of all the people needs. If you look at Maslows Hierarchy of needs we as Christians have been very good at bringing the gospel to the ends of the world then developing ways of helping people mature and grow in the their faith. We have also done a pretty good job at helping people with some basic needs. We have feeding programs, hospitals, health education, agricultural education, elementary education. Beyond that our efforts in mission stop because we want quick results that bring people to Christ. After that we have made disciples and the great commission is done. We need to understand that there are still needs that people have that are still left undone. What about how to run a business. Why accounting is important. What are physics of the world we live in. How to study the humanity and culture. What and why is communications important in our world.

I could go on and on but the point is we have stopped with spiritual disciples. Many of the guiding thoughts that began our country were Christian. Slavery was abolished in England because of the influence of the Wesleyan revival. The point I want to make is why did we stop with evangelism in our efforts in missions? Why didn't we go to the next level? We shouldn't leave development to the secular world alone. What is stopping us now from moving forward and using what we know and in through a Christian world view help the developing world learn. What can we do to help them hone there natural intellectual and creative sides in to something they can pass on their cultures and ideas of God to future generations and to us helping us all to have a greater understanding of God through his creation of us and reach out to more with His gift of salvation.

Well that is that deep thought. There are other factors that I am aware of that complicate things but I just wanted to make this point. One of them here in Congo is they are recovering from a civil war and that in and of it self will take a while. It is another rain day - the hardest rain yet.

---

Wednesday, April 07

Well, another day is past - finally a full work day since only shooting half days for the last 3 days. I am feeling about up to par after being sick from Sunday night through Monday and groggy most of Tuesday. Despite all of that I have been able to have some rousing conversations with some of the people here as well as sharing peanuts at someone’s house last night - the peanut thing is a big thing when it is time to sit around and chew the fat. Anyway, I had some thoughts last night that I wanted to sit down and write this evening but the long day has just got me ready for bed and not for writing. So just check back in a day or two for some interesting insights. Good night God Bless.

---

Monday, April 5

Today was a very long day. Last night I started feeling sick so I went to bed early to try to sleep it off. It really didn't work. I spent most of today just resting and trying to gain strength back but it really didn't help. I finally did get out of bed and go eat dinner and now I am trying to write an e-mail. Despite all of that I did shoot 3 scenes in the morning. The video shoot is really winding down. I have 9 more days here then 3 in Bangue. But there is only about 6 days of production left. Anyway, I wanted to give you guys an update more details to come...

---

Saturday, April 3

So its two in the morning our axle is broken and we are stuck in the middle of a swamp area at least 1 mile from the closest village. To tired to figure out what to do next we pulled a sheet out of Brian's bag and lay down on the top of the loaded truck to sleep. With a tire for my pillow, a piece of plywood at my feet and some other set of stuff at my back I got what might be considered 3 hours of sleep. Between the fly's, mosquitoes, and other assortment of pugs trying to eat me under the sheet I woke up about 5 with people walking by wonder what two white guys were doing on top of a truck in the middle of a swamp. I got down and Makila and the driver where already up. Makila knew that the village about a mile and a half away had a radio that might be able to contact the Tandala and get somebody to come out with another truck to pick us up. Makila was feeling much better so he left to go send the message. Meanwhile Brian wrote some notes to give to any trucks going in the direction we were going. This was all well and good but since the day before we had only passed 4 moving motorized contraptions - I had my doubts.
Unless we wanted to drink the swamp water we had no water. We did have a bag of trail mix which we started to munch on. We all sat down on the side of the road to take a nap while there was still some shade. About 9am the shade was almost gone so we pulled out some PVC pipe from truck and a tarp to make a little shelter. While digging through the truck we discovered 2 fantas. Tada - something to drink. About 10 a guy on a bike came by with a message that they were able to contact Tandala and the church people were cooking food to bring to us. About a half an hour later a jug of water showed up as well as a picnic basket with some fish, peanuts, fuku and some tea and coffee was carried out by the pastor. About the time we finished Makila was back and soon after that a the was a trail of dust in the distance that turned out to be the truck coming to pick us up. After transferring the load we climbed on the back of the truck and off again to Tandala. Finally, after only one disconcerting stop to do something to the back end of the new pick up we arrived safely at Tandala at about 1pm. They had saved lunch for us and there was COLD water and ICE CREAM for dessert. Never in my life as those things tasted so VERY VERY good.
All told it was a pretty interesting day in the life of Andy Yardy. One I won't soon forget. Life is a little different out here were the is no AAA no cell phones to call 911 not too many cars. In this wild west there still is a Tonto that can fix almost any car problem with less tools than MacGyver. Well, that is my story. Just last night we found out that the drive actually fixed the truck. They had located a rear end in another village and bought it then jacked the truck in a put it on right there in the middle of swamp and drove out of there. The trucks owner is going to come by later today to settle the rental charge with us $1.50 a km (about $2 a mile) is what is supposed to cost but since we got stuck we will of course want to pay less and since he had to put a bunch of money into fixing the truck will want us to pay more. I will stay out of that one since I have only passed African negation 101 and I don't think they cover something like this until 401. Another note - During all of these events I didn't understand any of it. Observation only went so far and Brian couldn't translate everything. So I could have been very frustrated but anyway it was part of experiencing Africa so I just enjoyed it as best I could.

That's all for now. More later

Andy

---

Friday, April 2

Well as I mentioned last time it was time to move to another location. A trip that is really only 80 miles but normally takes 8 to 10 hours. However with my luck it only took 28 hours. Here is how it went down.
Yesterday morning began with loading the trucks. We had 13 people and luggage witch included a generator and a barrel of fuel. We left about 8:45 after several hours of negotiating with the drivers how much we could put on the trucks we left with 9 people in the land rover and 4 of us in the pickup. The pickup ran great except for the minor problem of having to up start it. Brian and I were sitting on the top of the luggage in the back. It was a precarious balancing act but a great view with a breeze the whole time. Despite the bumpy roads I have to say that is the way to see Africa. We passed through the villages waving like the grand marshals in a parade. I have to say I think this could be the new fad diet. Remember the infomercials for the vibrator that you strap on your gut that gives you a work out while watching TV. Here is a method of seeing Africa and getting a complete work out upper body lower body and cardiovascular. It is really cheap to only $100 after the low cost of $2500 for the plane ticket. I think it could be really successful.

The first sign of trouble came at about 2 in the afternoon. We got a flat tire. Hey, that's no big deal what do you expect? We pulled up under a mango tree to check it out then the driver pulled forward out of the shade so he was on a hill for the push start. So Manila who was sitting in the front ran to the shade of the tree looking like he was going to die from car sickness. Brian and I stayed out in the sun and helped the driver put on the tire. We put on the spare but the air was low so he didn't like that for a back tire under the load. So since there was no pump available we took it off put on the old tire jacked up the front of the car took a good front tire off put the spare in front then back to jacking up the back and changing that tire. 1 hour later it was time to move on.

The scenery change over the next stretch was really amazing. We went from rolling hills to grass lands. The huts changed from square to round. The villages got bigger. There was one stretch that out in the distance if I didn't know better looked like a golf course. It was lush green grass with rolling hills that are actually old ant hills that have been abandoned with pall trees springing up in pictures clumps. Anyway on with the story.

We were supposed to catch up with the land rover for dinner in a place called Bau which is actually the place where Brian grew up. Well because of our delay they had moved on in hopes of arriving before dark. After going through "protocol" in Bau then getting a tour of where Brian grew up we went back to the truck to start back on the trip. By this time it was dark so we thought we had better get going. Then the driver decided he wanted to get the tire fixed so we had a spare. Of course there was no patch kit and remember we didn't have a pump. So the sent word out into the village to see if there was a pump anywhere around. Finally somebody came back with word that they knew a guy who knew a guy that had a pump two villages away. So somebody went off on a bike to get it. In the mean time the driver was taking the tube out of the flat tire with a screw driver, a wrench, a pounding stick for mantic root and me standing on the other side of the tire. I am still wondering how he is going to patch this thing up. Finally I am told that the are going to bleed sap from a tree that can be made into a glue that will fix the tire. Soon after we got the tube out the pump arrived. A old bicycle pump that had seen many better days. Finally, with the tire fixed and a hour of pumping we are ready to get back on the "road"

Now here comes to good part. The story is that there is a check point about 2 hours drive ahead that the driver didn't want to go through in the day since his truck doesn't have registration or insurance. So now it is dark and at that point we figured we would go through about 10 or 11. About 10pm a new clanking noise from the rear of the truck. We called out to the driver and he put his head out the window to hear what was going on. Now we were slowing down and stopping. The driver grump's around for a while then declares he thinks it something with the drive shaft or the differential. So he pulls out a plastic bag with about 7 wrenches in it. He climbs under the truck and with a flash light proceeds to take off the drive shaft. In one case he didn't even have the right wrench so with a tight rode he jammed the flat edge of the screw drive between it and the shaft and proceeded to take it off. After banging around with the differential he put it back together and we were off again. No sound, so he starts speeding ahead then there was the sound again much more distinct this time. Brian was sure it was the bearings in the rear passenger wheel. So time to stop again and this time pull the tire off then the break which by the way was disengaged on that wheel. Then pulled out the axle and looked at it banged around again. This time the driver wasn't so sure it could be fixed. After a conversation with Brian he decided he would try to keep his promise to get us there that night and he put it back together again but suddenly he was a got discourage and walked away. So Brian put the tire back on and we started off again with not much notice was still there and kept getting worse so we stopped again. This time he decided that it he would take off the drive shaft to the rear. 20 min later we were off again now very close to the barricade. So with much clanging we approached to see it was still manned even at 2 in the morning. The guard raised his hand and blew his whistle. One of the guys came out to the truck. After some chatting Manila told us to get off the back and talk with the guard. Then with out to much ado except some grumping from the guard we paid about $5 in a mix of Congo Franks and Central African Franks we were on our way again on our last leg of the trip. After all the we only had an hour of driving left and a bed and the promise of cold water for the fist time in more than 2 weeks. Ahhh, the fun trip which had turned into a African adventure was about over.
Then bang and screeching breaks and we were stopped again not even two miles from the barricade. We got down and the tire was leaning 45 degrees off axis and there was smoke coming out of the axle.

Ok that is part one. I got a little carried away telling this story so part two will come tomorrow.

Andy

---

March 30, 2004

Today is the last day we are in the village of Kala. Tomorrow we move on to the village of Tandala. This also marks the halfway point in my trip to the Congo. Today started off with planning for the last three scenes that we have to shoot here. But as usual there was a delay. We were going to go out and shoot a scene from boats on the river. We had sent somebody down to the river to get the boats ready. After a while they came back up saying that the regional military commander had just come in to town to talk to us about our filming. Evidently several days ago while shooting by the river I had doe a sequence where all the shots were at low angles some of them with the camera resting on the ground. Anyway in the crowd the story got started that what we were really doing was sucking diamonds out of the ground. The word had gotten to him and he came down to investigate. I nearly busted up laughing when I heard the story but since the commander was on his way up to talk with us I had to keep it inside - Man that was hard VERY HARD. All I can say is I wouldn't be sitting here in the heat trying to type a note while sweating my head off if I was sucking diamonds out of the ground.

Anyway we got the shooting done and I packed my things up for the 8 to 10 hour ride tomorrow that is all of about 80 miles. I will be siting on the back of a pickup truck bouncing along hopefully not breaking any bones in the process. As a note of prayer. Both our Director Richard and Nupanga the "star" were show very early symptoms of the flu tonight which out here also could be Malaria. An interesting thing I heard about Malaria today - the reason early missionaries and colonial occupiers always wore helmets or hats when they went outside was because they believed that Malaria came in though your head when it was exposed to the sun. Interesting thing I had never heard before - Malaria comes into the heads of the people who suck diamonds out of the ground with Cameras. That's all for now I will write again from Tandala.

---

March 28, 2004

Well its another Sunday. We went to church I brought the camera and mic. down since I just didn't want to pass up the chance to record some of the music. I didn't really try to get pictures until it was time for offering. Kids dancing in the windows and people marching up the isles was just to good to pass up. We are wrapping up our time in this location Kala. On Wednesday we move to a new location called Tandala I believe. I hear they have a refrigerator there and I have been promised ice cream. That will be the most welcome sight when that happens. The script is now half way finished. I am surprised since things didn't really get off to a good start. Today we had all the people from the church go down to the river and shoot the baptism scene. I took the camera out into the river to get a different angle. I got out to my waist and if I didn't have to shoot I think I would have just jumped all the way in. I resisted the temptation and went back up the hill and took a nap.

I have been joking with Nupanga who is the main character in this film. He keeps telling me how much better things were before the white man came. Before the white man came no trucks ever got stuck in the road. There was no break in's but of course there were no doors. They did bring the gospel though he tells me and that was a good thing - the only good thing. But the problem there is that before we brought them the gospel we had to mix it in with our culture and our trade and so on and so on. Afterwards I thought of Star Trek's prime directive to not disturb cultures they find until they are ready. I wonder here what advantage there was to building these big mission stations that bring things into the middle of nowhere that we consider necessities. They build air strips and kilns to make bricks put up roads and started paying people which really didn't know what a cash economy is all about. Through independence and a series of civil wars this place has never been able to absorb the things that were brought in. Kinshasa is the largest city in the world without electricity - 5 million people that only have electricity if they make it. So what do you say when people ask you for something when they live in another century and you walk up the hill to the house that has a generator and we have and SUV and Pickup to get around. Anyway now I really don't know where I am going with this anymore. I am raising questions that have no easy answers. I guess I could look back and suggest how they should have come into Congo and done the work here but that would be useless since it is water under the bridge. But were do things go from here I really don't know. Is it really effective to make a film in a language and for a culture that won't have TV's for years to come. I could go on but it just something to think about that will go on and on and on.

---

Today was a lazy day. I didn't really get a chance to sleep in, but the rest of the day was mostly reading and playing solitaire on my palm pilot. I have to say I would have rather been at home today. Sitting there with nothing to do, being pretty rested and not doing anything just drove me crazy.

The situation of the two actors that had the accident yesterday has gotten better. They both woke up and with clear minds. The wife of the one guy was able to get to the hospital to be with her husband. We go back to the village to continue production tomorrow. It will be good to start making progress again but man it will be hot.

This is really a country that has many needs. It is the most under developed place that I have ever been to. There is plenty of food but you really have to go out and get it for yourself. Those of us who want to buy food have a hard time since there is no dependable system of markets and stores to get food. Basically we put out word in the village for what we would like to eat the next day and we may or may not get it. There was one day that we had to feed 20 people with 4 cans of tuna and rice. Sometimes the lunch food hasn't shown up until 11 or 12 then it takes until 2 or 3 to get it cooked. Basically the shooting is the hardest I have done when I am hungry and thirsty all the time. The evenings are a little better food wise we have a bunch of American snacks. We had a few Pringles tonight and some mac and cheese the other day. We have several cans of Country Time lemonade. Now lemonade is something I have could take or leave, but out here I love the stuff. It just makes the water taste colder.

That was some of the frustrating things I have been dealing with, but on the other hand it really is exciting out here. It is classic Africa that you read about in books. The villages are all mud huts and the people live off the land. I have loved trying to learn some of the basic words in the language. I have fun with the kids when I get a few moments out from behind the camera. The evening we burned the two huts down we had an Africa dance set up in front of the huts and the people started dancing around the drums. Actually I was kind of disappointed with the look of the dance since none of the people we had with us would join in since it is wrong for Christians to do such things. That meant we had the village drunks and some teenagers along with a lot of children around the drums. We then lit the huts and put the drums in the fire as the script said but the kids kept taking them out. Why would you burn perfectly good drums? Anyway we got through that and on the way home we drove through several villages that were having dances that looked exactly like what we had staged in the village. So I guess we ended up with quite a good scene.
Well, that is all for now.

Time for bed things start again at 5 tomorrow.

Andy

---

It is pouring rain outside so I won't be able to send this message right away. We were eating dinner when the rain started. There was a cool breeze blowing through the house and it just felt so good after days of non-stop sweating.

The last two days represented a huge chunk of shooting that should get us back on a schedule so we can complete the project. Yesterday started hesitantly. Richard who is directing the film wasn't sure we should shoot a scene that involved burning down two houses in the village we have been shooting at.

We just heard some bad news. Several of the pastors that are in this area just came by. Two of the actors who finished their parts yesterday were riding on a motorcycle back home and hit a bike ridden by a Catholic priest. The two men are now in a comma and the priest past away after they arrived at the hospital. One of the men's wife is our lead female actress and she is leaving at first light tomorrow to go be with her husband.

We have called off shooting for tomorrow to pray for them and evaluate what we can do. Please pray for wisdom and strength for this situation. We will probably be able to continue, but it will be a day or two and we will have to re shoot about 3 pages if we have to recast the wife. However, we have to evaluate what is culturally appropriate at this point. That response can change depending on whether the men recover or not. I could go on but at this point I should just say pray.

I will write more later and give you the other updates.
Thanks,
Andy

---

It is Sunday evening in the Congo. This morning was church and in Africa that means the whole village gets dressed up and goes down to the church when they hear the beating of the drums. We heard the drums waited a half hour and then walked down to the church building that was already full of people singing their hearts out. Choir after choir came forward and gave their special music. Each song told a story. It was like a musical Sunday School. One song told the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Pelendo - the African evangelist whose story we are here to tell. After the music was the introduction of visitors and that meant I had to stand up and be introduced followed by quite the welcoming song that lasted 5 or 6 min. Then the message, more music and the offering which lasted about 20 min while everyone stood to sing and dance as the ushers let out each aisle to dance down to the front in a long conga line to the offering plate. I think I will suggest we start this in our church. I am sure that it will raise the offering about 2 or 3 times or nobody would come - I think it is worth the risk.

African church services are always encouraging. The day before was not so much fun. In the morning we had a work slowdown. Who knew that SAG rules applied all the way out here? Anyway, the actors were not happy with the amount of money they were being paid and decided to show up an hour late to work. Then the rest of the morning was spent discussing what could be done to fix the situation. There is a lot more to it than that, but to say the least we lost another day of shooting on an already behind schedule shoot. After a little more than one week in Africa we have only shot 1 on day of the 5 days we had scheduled to shoot. We have spent today trying to reschedule everything and we can do the job in the amount of time we have. But that would be assuming we have only 6 more days of unscheduled delays - like rain or work slow downs etc. - Please pray for that.

The work slowdown did give me the chance to do something that I hadn't planned on. Yesterday afternoon Brain and I took a hike down to the river to hire a boat to take us to a sand bar in the middle of the river. After a lengthy conversation with the Military commander and the immigration officer both of which were only about 16 or 17 years old we were able to get a boat across the river. We took off our shoes and walked through the sand for about a mile or so before going back to boat and back to the Congo. So even if it was for a few moments I was able to go into the Peoples Republic of Congo from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Well, time is winding down and I should let some other of our team type some e-mail before going to bed. But just so you know here is what it takes to send and receive e-mail. First type and que the messages. Then hook the laptop which doesn't have a battery to an inverter or an extension cord if the generator is running, take it out into the yard where you can get a clear view of the sky, hook up the sat phone, send and receive messages, then take everything back inside. All this takes about 10 min - such commitment to stay in touch with the modern world. I MISS MY DSL - but this is an adventure I would trade for it.

Andy

PS - Maybe after 2 or 3 weeks I will change my mind.

---

There is no economy left here to speak of because of the devastation of the civil war. There are no stores for miles. As an example of how bad it is here, the MAF plane that we flew into Congo on landed on a grass air strip that used to be one of the ports of entry for flights from Europe. There is a large hanger still left on the field and the town is mostly a ghost town of large buildings and warehouses that have long been abandoned. The "Road" we travel on used to be a route for the industry was up and down the river. Now is just an overgrown path.

One of our production team members, Brian, is a former MK that grew up here remembers when this place was hopping. The war over the last decade has even further devastated the country. The villages don't have many young men in them. However, there are lots of children. I have been riding standing up in the back of a pickup going at about 6 or 7 miles an hour. Riding through village after village we have a line of kids waving at us yelling “Mate O” and I have to wave back - I guess I know what if feels like to the grand martial of the Rose Parade!

Well that is part of the life here is just working while the sun is out, then run the generator for a while, eating dinner, charging batteries and typing e-mail. Then it is outside to the yard where the sat phone can uplink well enough to send it off. Turn off the generator and go to sleep which is about 9pm. A slight change of pace from Southern California. Now that a week is up and it seems that life is settling in. I should be able to be a little more regular with communication for the next month I am here.

---

This is probably the most remote location a movie has ever been shot in. Well at least since Everest. After the two day flight to the Central Africa Republic capital Bangui, which is actually an overgrown village on the border of Congo, we took a charter flight from MAF to a grass air strip about 40 min flight south into Congo. After a 4 hour run around of protocol with the customs officials who stay there for such a time as this (about 2 times a year) we got on the road for a 2 hour truck ride to the place we were staying. The road if you can call it that was the worse I had ever been on - Where are the H2's when you need them. OH wait I know that one - sitting in compact parking spaces in LA.

---