Virginia Holmstrom

Okay, I confess. I caused a glitch in the plans today. Having been warned on Tuesday by the South African customs personnel that I must visit a U.S. Embassy to have blank pages added to my passport immediately, I spent the morning not with the rest of the delegation, but with missionary Jill Lowery who took me downtown to the U.S. Consular offices in Kinshasa. My predicament had caused the others in our group to check their passports, and Aidsand Wright-Riggins discovered that his passport pages were also filled to capacity.

Antione, the official at the Consular office listened to Jill plead on our behalf to have pages added to our passports quickly, because our group planned to fly to Kikongo and Vanga early tomorrow morning. (Tonight we were thrilled to learn that Antoine had prioritized our request for same-day service. Jill was able to retrieve our passports later this afternoon.)

Our trek to the Consulate’s office was an adventure in itself. Kinshasa is home to about 10 million people, and quite a few of them were on the road today. Jill maneuvered her car skillfully through the thick traffic. I pointed my camera at the fascinating daily life happening all around us. Jill was constantly advising us not to take photos near government property and buildings. On the way back to our group’s meetings at CBCO, we stopped at stores where Jill purchased some cheese and two battery powered lanterns. We stopped for lunch at the IMA offices where Bill Clemmer and Wayne Niles work. I had my first tastes of manioc and greens made from crushed and boiled manioc leaves.

We rejoined the rest of our delegation at the CBCO headquarters and were introduced to the Congolese Baptist pastors and leaders gathered there. Present in the room of thirty were three women, and I was one of them.

I had a delightful exchange with the two women in the Women’s Ministry office, and we were joined by two more Baptist women. One translated French and English to facilitate our discussions about women’s ministries in D.R. Congo and in the U.S.

Alice Ngaliema Koba, President of the women’s work in Congo, expressed deep gratitude to American Baptist Women’s Ministries for funding a national mission project some years ago to build a women’s center at Mitendi and for AB women in regions who have funded other projects in Congo. The Congolese women are presently seeking to have a wall built around the center at Mitendi. Sadly, during the war here, the army invaded the women’s center property and removed much of the furnishings and equipment.

In Kinshasa this week I have also visited with Rev. Maman Mujinga and Rev. Gabrielle Kasavubu, two leaders we had planned to greet at the 2006 National Women’s Conference at Green Lake. They were not granted visas and had to cancel their trip to the U.S.

Pray for the 35,000 women who make up CBCO’s women’s department. They serve God in challenging times.