Businesses in Downtown Lubumbashi

A very small corner grocery store. There are many of these!

In a third world country, with millions of people, survival is a question of resourcefulness!  People here recycle everything! Many times they make a business with recycled things.  They sell used wheelbarrows, used clothing, used shoes, used bicycles, used books, used baskets, used hats, used appliances, even used water bottles. If you have a cell phone and an umbrella, you can start a corner phone booth of your own.  Just sell your own minutes. Many businesses are not even in a building. Many people sell their goods outside.  You will see young boys carrying dozens of eggs, all hard boiled with little salt cups to sell on the street to passers by.  We have an apple lady who sells the best apples in town outside on a street corner. Her apples are even better than the big grocery store.  There is a banana lady one block the other way and she carries all of her produce (pineapples and mandarin oranges) on her head, sit on the corner in the grass under a tree and is always there .  We passed a man today selling sparrows, blue ones, all alike, about 25 of them on a rope.  We passed a man in the bush selling field mice, alot of them on a string with long tails. The missionaries tell us that the field mice are really very meaty and delicious!  We have a gardner at our compound who takes plant starts from our yard and cuts empty water bottles up and sells the starts everyday in the bottom half of the bottles.  Even though most people have dirt floors and dirt drives, they sweep their dirt and keep it as clean as they can IF it is their land.  If it is not, they don't pick up litter.  The rural roads are terribly littered.  It is really just part of the culture.

The Jamesons, on assignment, just flew to a large village on assignment to divide three church branches into four.  They stayed in a motel (which was not what they expected) that only had electricity and water for 45 minutes a day. It was not sanitized in any way.  So, when they came back to Lubumbashi, they really appreciated the small efforts that people make to try and keep things clean!

When I asked them about the people, they said, "Oh, they were terrific!  They love the Lord and His gospel.  There was even one couple that were willing to move to another village in order to serve in the church!  When we got there, we knew exactly who was suppose to lead and what dividing lines need to happen.  This is the Lord's church and He is in Charge!"

I apologize for this blog.  The power kept going off.  The congo has weak internet, so this is my third hurried try before the power goes off again.  Thank you for your comments.  We love hearing from you.