wes and cathy's big adventure


 we are here in the democratic republic of congo; it used to be called zaire


this is a view of bethel

we have a room in the Congo Bethel, where the family is about 300 people. meals and accommodations are provided for us.

this week, we got outside of kinshasa and visited a monkey park and saw the congo river!
all this time we have been within a half a mile from the river but we haven't been able to see it.
when we got to the river, we were told not to take any pictures because across the river is another country...
i got some video though.
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here are some of the monkeys we saw
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there was a baby also in the group. he stuck very close to mom.

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we even got to hold the baby monkeys that were in the nursery
click for larger picture most of the food grown to feed the millions in kinshasa comes from little farms like this one.
there are no big farms here. irrigation is done by hand with a watering can
the little roofs over the plants keep them from getting scorched by the sun.
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the farmers sell their crops beside the road.

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weston has been in the office all last week doing material takeoffs for plumbing materials
for the assembly hall water distribution system. this week he is doing more takeoffs for the sewage.
over 100 toilets means a really big septic tank (two of them) and a really unusual treatment system.
the sewage treatment is actually a submerged vegetable filter bed. a huge field is lined with watertight
clay and filled with a certain living plant. the liquid from the septic tank is fed into this area and
slowly passes through the filter and finally to a relatively small traditional leachfield.
click for larger picture
here is the latest picture of the house at the assembly hall

our time here is drawing to a close, so the days are full of things we want to do before we have to go.
we will be glad to see our friends and family at home

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