Holland 2009

The kids in the school thank YOU ALL for the contributions made last year!

The purpose of the trip was to visit our guide from Congo, John Valk. He is dutch but has lived in Congo for more then 45
years. Ha has also made the school in Epi his concern. The same school we had a raffle for last year. Now we start a
new raffle and the things to win are two wooden bells from Congo and some other handicraft fom both Congo and other
African countries. If you are interested in buying raffle tickets please contact me on mia@yulara.se

The situation in this part of the Congo is very bad now with the LRA (Lord Resistance Army) rebells attacking. The part marked yellow on the
 map is where the rebells are and the civil population has fled to Isiro and other parts further south. This is the area we visited last year. During
the days we were in Holland we got news that a little village only 6 km from the school has been attacked.

A wooden bell made by the Zandes, one made by the pygmies and a "yanda"-statue.

The Zandes make the belles out of the nut from the borassus palm, the pygmies carve them out of wood.
The yanda statues are made as women without arms and the ear rings and the "pearls" around the body
are very typical. This yanda is very old!
 

The nurse's working place

Basenji in Epi

The dogs feed on papaya

The contrast between my world and Congo is huge!! I feel so humble to just think about all the work they have to put in to just
get the everyday life going. Just to get 40 liters of drinking water from the well and then 100-200 liters of water for washing and
cleaning yourself takes a lot of efforts and then you have to heat it over an open fire. John also has 15 orphan children who he
feeds every day, breakfast and dinner. The postoffice is not working in Congo so all things you have to send somewhere has to
be by bike, motorbike or by foot. Can take several days just for one letter and to organize everything for a passport can take
 years. It is for sure an eye opener and I appreciate my every day life so much more now. So I really hope you feel that you can
make a difference by taking part in the raffle. The kids in school learn french and that is a must for further studies. The money
from last year was used for the teachers wages and some equipment for the nurse to name a few.

All contributions, small or big,
MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

We visited the small town Maasluis very close to the sea. As everywhere else in
Holland the town had small canals everywhere.

One day we took the train to Hoeck van Holland by the sea

Enjoying our "fritts"!

Lasse, Elly (Johns sister) me and John

From the book by Georg Schweinfurth from 1874 with pictures of Basenjis.