Dear Friends:

We have been here in Tshikaji for exactly one month. We are beginning to settle in. Simon has been collecting keys to various offices and combination lock numbers to safe and warehouses. We are enjoying the life in a village far removed from paved streets and television and thought we would share a few things while they still seem like novelties.

Commuting: We live on the station, and we live in house number one. It is probably closest to the hospital among the staff houses. It takes between three and five minutes to walk to the office. Simon comes home for lunch because it is easy to come back and because there is no other place to eat.

Nature: When the sun goes down, around 6:45 p.m., animal and children noises quiet down and we are in absolute quiet except for distant drums praying on some evenings. We normally go to bed before ten o'clock at night. We get up to the sound of cocks and children, who seem to get up about the same time, before 6:00. It is just as well since the hospital opens at 7:30.

Hope: Hope is the product of faith. We find Tshikaji very much like what we remember of the Korean countryside when we were growing up. That was quite a few years ago and Korea was poor. People were hungry, but they had hope and were working hard for their children's future. When things look impossible, hope and faith give us new energy and conviction. At various places in the hospital we gather for morning worship before work to pray, praise, and hope for a day in the Lord's work. Pray for us and the people of Congo with hope.

Clothes: We have a washing machine, but not a dryer. Line drying is fine, except for the "mango worm." If the clothes do not get completely dry, the eggs can stay on the clothing and the maggot grows under the skin. So, we iron all underwear. It is one necessary luxury.

Weather: We have been hearing from friends in the States how hot it has been this summer. We came here prepared to suffer through the same climate as Singapore, 88 degrees and 88 percent humidity. What a pleasant surprise it has been. Admittedly, we are still in the cooler dry season, but mornings and evenings are in the 70s and during the day it gets hot but it is quite comfortable in the shades. We do not have air conditioning at home or in the hospital, but we manage quite well with fans.

Email: We have electricity, running water, and email. The email system is very precious, especially since we have no phone or (working) postal service. We send our emails through a VHS radio system to an "email post office" in one of our buildings. The "email PO" in turn communicates with the hub in Kinshasa, about 600 miles away, via high frequency radio. The messages then enter the Internet system from Kinshasa. Your messages have been the most wonderful gift for us. Some of you said that you are keeping the messages short so as not to run up the bill for us. Don't worry. Write as much as you would like. We were simply asking not to repeat our own messages in your reply. Your messages are so dear to us we read them many times.

Birth: We were walking back to the hospital when we saw a gathering of well-dressed ladies just outside the gate. As we got near, the ladies started to dance, sing, and rattle their rattles. In the midst of them were a slightly embarrassed mother holding a newborn baby in her arms. We quietly said a prayer for a healthy life.

Death: It was especially difficult to see a mother whose child died before being admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately the pediatric wing has the highest death rate in our hospital. When the economy is bad, the parents wait until the last minute to bring the children to hospital. More than half of admissions are for malaria. As a Christian hospital, we should do more.

Wealth: There is a church on the station, with proper a building, chairs, and pastors. We visited poorer churches in the villages. Last Sunday we worshiped at the only Presbyterian church in the village. They seem to have started with a proper tin roof and stonewall on three sides, but the construction stopped years ago. Instead of benches, there are logs placed on two rocks. We wanted to sit with them, but the logs would not stay still. Mercifully, someone went home and brought two chairs for us. We can probably make a personal gift to finish the fourth side and get a few benches. But is this the best thing we can do? They lament the fact there are not many missionaries left in the village, thus the source of help has dried up. Should the missionaries be the main source of financial resources? What would Jesus have done? What would you do if you were in our shoes?

Inflation: When we arrived here in Tshikaji four weeks ago, the rate of exchange was 9.80 Franc Congolese (FC) per dollar. Today it is 12.00 FC to a dollar, a 20 percent increase in four weeks. We find the prices changing every week in the market. People do not want to save money; we don't blame them in this kind of inflation. At the hospital, salaries are pegged to the dollar. The trouble is we collect fees at lower exchange rates during the month and pay salary at a higher rate at the end of the month. We are thankful that we can share the burden this small way.

Water: We expected good water with no pollution and free of parasites. Unfortunately, we get water from the river and it must be boiled and filtered before we can drink it. We use a ceramic filter to filter out the mud and bacteria. The filter must be cleaned weekly—the water flow slows down considerably when the impurities clog up the filters.

Food: We have consumed two chickens since our arrival. They are quite expensive, given the local economy. About $10 for a live one. They were so healthy they must have trained for triathlon meets. If you have a good set of teeth, you do not have to worry about too much fat. Potatoes, tiny ones, are even more expensive. We just paid $17 for about ten pounds. But mangos and bananas are five cents each. One gallon of diesel fuel is about $5 each, but a bag (about ten pounds) of wood charcoal is $1. Papayas grow on a tree in our backyard.

Time: We have been advised to go to church about thirty minutes after the starting time. Since we live within earshot of the church bell (actually an old wheel from a truck), it is very difficult to sit and drink coffee when the bell tolls at 10:00. We went at 10:30 only to find a few children. At 10:50 the invited choir, a family, arrived and the service began. The sound of the choir was the "real" church bell! People who live on the station started to come at the end of the first anthem. They repeated the same anthem later during the service since a few others and we were the only ones who eared it the first time.

Thanks to the current business manager who takes care of daily needs, we can take time in settling in, learning the ropes and have time to notice things. We are healthy, sometimes lonely but holding up quite well.

In His service,

Haejung and Simon