Public Relations

THE UPC ADMINISTRATION IS PLEASED TO WELCOME THE NEW DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Performing general administrative functions associated with the academic environment, which may include participating in relevant faculty and liaison bureau meetings and responsibilities, and actively participating on committees (and performing associated tasks) as required.

The task will be to develop a public relations plan with clear, measurable objectives, and outline strategies and tactics that fit the university’s budget and timeline. Meeting with and introducing the Protestant University to embassy personnel and business leaders and to a lesser extent leaders of the Congo Government is also a part of the work. The idea will be to inform the above and make known to them needs for assistance. The university is not funded by the government but is privately supported by churches and individuals. Approximately one third of the student body is in need of scholarship assistance, coming from families that are unable to provide financial support.

An additional dimension of the work will be to communicate to individuals, churches and other supporters in North America. This will be accomplished through the North American Liaison Bureau, Inc. Communications will be funneled through their office in Florida, and forwarded to interested friends and supporters as well as the relevant mission boards.

Communications will be with supporters in European countries, as well, some of whom have contributed generous grants for buildings and the library.

BELOW IS THE STATEMENT MADE BY OUR NEW UPC PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR, DEAN CORNWELL, AS HE ENVISIONS THE POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

BACKGROUND -- The Democratic Republic of Congo in west central Africa is one of the emerging nations of the world. There, in the capital city of Kinshasa, the Protestant University of Congo, with a student body of more than 5,000 students, labors to provide education for the leaders of the future. With more than one-third of its students coming from families who can give no financial support, there is a need for improved communications and public relations to seek aid from sources in the Congo and abroad. University Rector, Dr. Ngoy Boliya has asked for a volunteer to come as Communications Director to begin the process. That person will open and equip an office, begin efforts at creating support groups, and ultimately train a successor in a paid position

GOALS -- After establishing and equipping an office, The Communications Director’s task will be to develop communications and public relations plans with clear, measurable objectives, and outline strategies and tactics that fit the university’s budget and timeline. Meeting with and introducing the Protestant University to embassy personnel and business leaders and, to a lesser extent, leaders of the Congo Government are also a part of the work. This will involve inviting business and consular leaders to see the university, its impressive buildings, campus and staff, as well as the student body. This will open a door to making known the financial and support issues that are extant. Additionally, communications to the U.S. and European countries through photos and brief biographical messages from students will invite financial support for the students.

A candidate for the position will need to be conversant in French, to have a first-hand experience of life in Africa, have some skills in public relations, and to work as a volunteer. The candidate will need an appropriate time-span at the task, probably up to two years.

I believe, as I did years ago, that God is calling me to this job, and so, I have volunteered for the position. In January of this year I traveled to Congo to see for myself how the country is different from the day, forty years ago, when I left. There are monumental differences from the post independent Congo I knew. One of them is the University itself. It is a bright spot in an otherwise discouraging scene. The staff leaders met me with enthusiasm and showed me a campus of modern buildings, attractive young people in the student body, and a great vision for the future. They will provide me with a good office and are anxious to get the show on the road. They have no funds for the project but will provide all the assistance they can.

Some of the challenges inherent to this job in the Congo are mail service into and out of the country, which is essentially non-existent. Currently, the Internet provides the only means of communication. This will require the purchase of digital cameras, computers, and other high tech equipment for the communications office. Electrical equipment must be purchased in Congo since all electrical sources are 220 volt. Public transportation is also nonexistent; therefore, the communications office will also have to purchase an automobile. Funds for all of these needs must be found.

To clarify what the needs are, I am not asking for personal financial support. I will be able to live on my retirement income as I do in California. But the needs for equipping and maintaining a modern Communications office, and to provide for an automobile are more than I can do. The Global Ministries office of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has committed to paying my transportation to and from Congo. At this point, however they have not committed to any other support.

I can do the job. I want to do this job. Given the financial support needed, and God’s help, I will be able to do this job.

DEAN CORNWELL August 2005. [Dean arrived in the Dem. Rep. of Congo in October to begin his new responsibilities.]

Thank you for a job well done, A bientot, Farewell

Dean Cornwell has finished his commitment of the two year term of the above project. He is returning home to California, USA in October. He will be much missed by all who know of his accomplishments. His friendly engaging manner, his persistence and patience in pursuing the goals for the UPC are greatly appreciated. Many students have been helped through his efforts. UPC has benefited from the new contacts made.

The difficult task of finding a replacement is now underway. The job requirements are extensive. Dean has left a high bar to match. Thank you Dean for your vision, leadership, and organizational skills. Come back soon.

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The university includes four separate faculties: Law, Economics.Theology, Medicine.

At present the university has a population of over 5000 students with 180 fulltime and part-time teachers. The university is led by Congolese faculty and staff with no European educators. We await the end of security and military problems for the addition of outside professors. Full professors are graduates of European or American universities. All UPC departments are led by professors having doctoral degrees.

All buildings are modern structures with regular maintenance provided. They have been financed for the most part by European governments and Protestant churches. The German Democratic government has built one classroom building, another is under construction and in 2007, and a classroom building for the medical school will be added. The government of Sweden has built and furnished a $600,000 modern library. Financial support and scholarships have been provided by American congregations and individuals and European organizations. Through the support of the North American Liaison Board, (NALB) medical and scientific equipment valued at $900,000 will be provided during the coming seven years of the new School of Medicine. Students attending the medical school will be expected to begin their medical practice in rural areas of Congo.

Academic standards at the highest level are expected of the university. Because of rigorous testing of entering students, a high percentage (50%) of the student body is Roman Catholic. Women make up one-half of the student population.

No financial support to the university is provided by the government of Congo. Students pay the cost of tuition with 70% of them paying from personal and family funds. The remaining 30% of students are dependent upon scholarships from abroad. A volunteer, Dean Cornwell is working to seek more financial support from local sources. International businesses and Embassies will also be contacted in the effort to find financial support. But much work is to be done to obtain financial support from the Congolese themselves. The public relations by Mr. Cornwell will continue for two years, after which an African will be recruited and salaried by the university to continue this effort.

French is the language of instruction, with a strong program of English to broaden the level of study. The library contains a significant percentage of books in that language. A strong program of study in the use of the computer and the internet is led by Dr David Kutangila. Increased emphasis will be placed on both programs in order to support instruction at the school of medicine.

The school of economics is led by Dr. Jerome Oveneke, a graduate of the University of Liege with his doctorate in Business Administration. In addition to the usual courses in business and economics, the faculty has developed courses in Banking, Finance and Insurance which are not taught in any other university in Congo. The banking program includes studies in Micro-Banking, which is intended to provide banking services in small towns and rural areas where no other banks exist. To support this effort the Banque Academic d’Allemagne has seconded a professor, Dr. Youssouf Congo, a citizen of Bourkinapaso. Mr. Congo has been in this position for three years, paid by the above institution. These courses together with the emphasis on training doctors for rural areas are intended to extend educated leadership to all areas of the nation.

The university is a church-related institution without sectarian emphasis. It is ecumenical in point of fact which is open to faiths other than Christian. It receives, however, strong support from the Church of Christ of Congo (Protestant). It had its birth in 1959, one year before Independence in Congo. It began as a theological seminary in Lubumbashi, supported by five protestant denominations by providing missionaries as staff and teachers. They are: American Baptist, British Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian USA, and United Methodist. Through the years, other denominations have assisted in supporting the university. The history of the university includes several cities and locations until it began on its own campus in 1963. In 1971 Congolese universities were nationalized with theological schools being separated from the other faculties. Under pressure from foreign governments the Mobutu government withdrew control and the present structure of the university as a united school became the present UPC. Its campus is now located in the heart of Kinshasa, capital city of the D, R Congo.

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NOTICE

This page will be revised this month following the departure of Dean Cornwell, Creator and Director of the Public Relations Office for UPC. These letters are an example of his warmth, friendship, and commitment to this job.

Oct. 4,2007

LISTED BELOW ARE LETTERS FROM DEAN TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS RELATING DAILY LIFE IN CONGO AS HE WORKS WITH THE UPC PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

In my prayers, I remember you daily as you all are with me as partners. I have begun to get some responses for used dictionaries and adolescent level reading material. I have also had one stroke of luck through my old college roomy, Lloyd Lambert. He has got us fifty medical books. Hurrah.

It’s Sunday afternoon October 15 and it occurs to my readers will be on my case about what’s going on in Congo. I have a cup of hot tea beside me. The hot rainy season concurrent with your winter is here, so I’m glad for power today to keep the ceiling fans going. It is really hot!

This week I leave for a little trip across the continent to Mombassa for a Congress of AHILA association. That is the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa. I had wanted my assistant, Clement Lomji to go, but the powers that be nixed it. Clement is much more knowledgeable about libraries than I am. But it didn’t seem like a good use of funds to the boss, and it is after all his money, so o.k. I was reminded by my mentor that this university has a tradition of strong leadership by the administrative council. I will have a good time in the cool climes of Kenya, and I should bring back some useful information and have some new contacts for our building library. I’ll be there for a week and will enjoy it. I have decided to take two days in Nairobi to do some tourist stuff.

Also tomorrow classes start for the new term. The campus will be filled with students again. Among them will be about 1,500 new students, of whom 200 are beginning in the new Faculty of Medicine. It has been interesting for the past fifteen days as both former and new students were taking tests for entrance in the new term. I was invited to sit at the front of the auditorium for orientation last week. There was double the number of young people that we have space for. That is nothing compared to the number of young people wanting into the medical school. We had more than 800 who took entrance exams. Two hundred fifty were allowed in for the orals. That number was reduced to the final 200.

We are still in the chase for money. We are encouraged to believe that were going to get some soon. I am still working on funds for an English lab and a book store. The Canadian Embassy is giving money for library books; we’re waiting to learn how much. I have been here for a year this month. It has gone by quickly and it makes me worry about achieving what I hoped to do in the year that remains.

I should not end here without mentioning the second round of elections you may be reading about. This will be the runoff for the presidential position, and importantly, local elections. These will determine what party and what individuals will be running the provinces and towns and cities. For positions in the parliament, one of our professors was elected, and one of our graduates from the old ICC at Bolenge was elected upriver in the Equator Province. It was a real victory considering the numbers of candidates. Many very good people lost out.

My personal life continues happy. I have not had any house guests for about a month now. It suits me fine; I am long since accustomed to being alone. I do have lots of visitors almost daily. Many come in to the office to find out if I can get them scholarship money. Others want to study in the United States. I can’t give much time to this sort of thing. At home people just come mostly to chat. They have a genius for catching me at mealtime. It’s an interesting life! Last week I was tricked into visiting a clinic run by two young Mennonite doctors. They call it Le Bon Berger (the good shepherd) it is in a part of the city you just would not believe. Hundreds of children running on the streets. The worst sort of poverty! These men have a clinic with the two of them and two nurses working there. They have a half finished building which they’re looking for money to finish. Meantime they practice medicine in small dark rooms with no conveniences and little equipment. Clement is a friend and hearing that I try to raise money, they offered me a great opportunity. I have no idea where to look, nor whom to ask, but having seen the place, I can’t get it out of my thoughts.

Best wishes to all. Thanks a million for all those helping and praying for this work

Congo Connection 2-15-06 [this is a letter to the editor of the news bulletin "LOKOLE" sent to former Disciples Congo Missionaries]

Margaret has asked me for a letter about the Congo. I was collecting some thoughts, and remembered the old axe the French have: "le New York n’est pas l’Amerique." That probably applies here; I have only just been to the edge of Kinshasa. I have not yet been anywhere to the interior, so you will have to remember that I’m here in Kinshasa and really only have reflections about life in this city. I did take a drive to the downriver edge of the city, past the ferry to Brazzaville to the head of the rapids going to Matadi. I’ll attach a photo of me there, which Margaret may not be able to use. It is a beautiful place there—a very nice picnic ground with dozens of people there. There were some Asians and other foreigners like myself, enjoying a nice Saturday afternoon.

In general as I experience life in this big city, it is nothing like the Congo of my early years. The charm of village life is nowhere to be seen. Streets are lined with little shops of comercants; Africans who refuse to get caught up in the life of thieving or graft, but have some means of earning a living. Most of them have a pitiful amount of merchandise: a dozen small loaves of bread, or pineapple or papaya or avocados. Some of them sell really good fruit and I buy there for my own use and to benefit these people who are trying. In the parts of Kinshasa which the Belgians named the "cite indigene," life is terrible and sometimes shocking. The streets are huge masses of garbage, potholed from the rains with masses of people living in close quarters. I went there with my driver one day to get his kids, sick with malaria, to the clinic. I was not invited to see the actual house, just waited in the car until his wife got there with her wig on and the children in arms.

We drove to the clinic behind the dark nine foot walls, and I was pleasantly surprised when we got in. It was very clean with tile floors, orderly, with good nurses. It is a Pentecostal clinic, provided by Swedish money. I was also shocked at the cost of services, but the kids got medicine which eventually got them over the fever. Lab tests were available, at a price, but one assumes that fever and malaria are synonyms. (I am constantly thinking in terms of our medical school start-up in October. I thought, this will be a good place for upper-class students to get their internship work in a few years.) It will be much better than the university hospital at Louvanium which is a virtual chamber of horrors.

I try to paint a picture of reality without meaning to give a totally negative impression, but the streets are crowded with people, old Kombis, old trucks and other vehicles working as taxis. The working population is dependent on them for travel to work. At busy hours every intersection is a "bouchon." The streets are lined with two-wheeled vehicles referred to as "pouspous" with men giving up their lives as power for trucking, like the Chinese did years ago pulling rickshaws. Again, I admire these men because they refuse to turn to theft to find the price of a meal for today. No wonder the average life span for a male is now 46 years.

Now, on to some very upbeat stuff: my work on the campus is very encouraging and my days are filled with contacts with young people who are poised, intelligent and hopeful for the future. I already mentioned a wig; well one sees very beautiful hair styles on women today. Also colors artfully used to enhance their beauty. Many, not all, students are very well dressed. Seventy percent of them are coming from families who do afford the tuition, and drive up in good cars, bringing sons and daughters to class. Our students know they are attending the best university in Congo. They are proud of it, and of themselves. There is seriousness about their attention in class. And there is very sweet interest in each other. Sexual contacts are limited to the European three kisses on the cheeks, but numerous pairs of students are seen engaged in private conversations. I cannot believe the high rate of HIV infection elsewhere is true here on campus. And there is a continual emphasis on AIDS (SIDA) awareness. You may know that estimates are that one out of four adults in Congo is HIV positive.

I am charged as one of my duties, with meeting the some of the 30% of students on scholarships. You are sending much of that money and I am working with Ben to get thank you notes and pictures of students to you. There is never enough bourse money if you listen to the students. But, our administrators refuse to be patsies to this talk. I hear Dr. Ngoy and M. Mamba saying in no uncertain terms "don’t wait around for a bourse. Get out and find your own money!" I am the real patsy here and have got myself into trouble trying to help poor students. Believe me; I won’t do it again without it being underwritten by the Administrative Committee. For a while I had a knock on the door every half hour.

I am now into the serious Public Relations work. It is fun and sometimes very exciting. All of the institutions you have heard of are represented here. USAID, UNESCO, WHO, the World Bank, all of the embassies. Big business is here. They will give one an appointment and hear me out. It is too early to begin asking for donations. I can only say, "the Europeans and Americans are supporting this university—not the Congo government. We need help." I am looking in particular right now for money for the medical school library. One can ask for assistance there. USAID is working on a plan to "twin" us with Tulane University. When that is accomplished, money for library or actual books will come available. Also the Canadian Embassy has a program to help the medical infrastructure. As time passes and I am able to make friends for the university, I am sure that financial support will come. Meantime, I am treated with respect and offered assurances. I have an aid in the office, whom I am trying to get the administrative council to hire using my work fund money. He knows all the contacts—has more connections than a telephone switch-board, (not a very good saying anymore). He has been a wonderful help and will continue so.

My personal life is very good. I found a 4 bedroom house, fully furnished belonging to missionaries who are home for a time. I now have a house guest, a Swiss man who is working with the elections board of the ECC and the UN. He will be with me until the person he is replacing goes home. I do my own cooking for the most part since I have done so since Sarah’s death, and I have to watch my diet and salt intake. Most foods one would like are sold in the local grocery stores. I am finding that is is easer to live on my pension income here than in California. The house has hot and cold running water although there are frequent breakdowns in water and electric service. And my house is very close to the American School many of you remember. I have really not made it a center of my social activity as many people do, but it is always there.

I have been here just more than 6 months. I am now looking forward to visits from my son and daughter, Karen and Wes, and a niece, Laura Avalis. They will be here in April. Also coming will be Lucy Hobgood-Brown with a group of friends of the university. So, it is going to be a good time in your spring of the year. Children of missionaries are a big part of things here. You doubtless read of the wife and daughter of the Seattle football coach who is here. I went to the Embassy to get info about her whereabouts, but they knew less than I did. She is upriver, apparently in the Ubangi country.

I see now that I have gone past the two pages requested. Margaret will have to edit, or find a way to expand the pages of the Lokole. I am very grateful for the help you have all given for this project. I just this morning got a financial report from Ben, showing that I have received an even thousand dollars in the month of January. That is just what I had estimated needing, so I have no financial worries. And many of you have been good to send encouraging emails and second hand messages. Thanks and Bessesos,

This morning, November 29, 2005, I had a new experience. The secretary to someone in the University came in and said she was taking an offering for a colleague who has died. I asked the name of the person and it was someone I did not know—which is not surprising since I am new and there are a lot of people on the campus. I asked, "Well, how old was this woman?" She was thirty years old. "Oh really, well what was the cause of death?" "Elle etait malade" was the answer (she was sick). Then I asked if this giving a fund is a regular tradition at the at university at the time of a death, and the reply was affirmative, so, I contributed to the fund.

All morning as I worked, I had this in the back of my mind. I decided to go out to lunch so I went to the Restaurant au Gare, a location that has fond memories for me. It was into this gare (railway station) that Charles and Joyce Dawson and Sarah and I arrived in Leopoldville 48 years ago. As I enjoyed lunch I thought more about a thirty year old woman dying because she was sick. It was really the first time I have confronted the AIDS epidemic here in my country. It has again become my country, and its problems are mine again and I take them personally. I thought about the fact that here in this country when I go down the streets, crowded with busy people trying to scratch out a life, one out of four of them is HIV positive.

This situation of a personal pain is not new to me. I understand the pain the young woman’s family is going through because my family and I went through it. Our son, Tom inherited a condition from his grandfather: hemophilia. When he experienced a "bleed," an injury where bleeding was caused, he would rush to the hospital to received a packet of cryro-precipitate, derivatives from human blood which would stop the bleeding. When this AIDs epidemic began, nothing was done to protect the blood supply; as a result, 6,000 American hemophiliacs were poisoned, and like Tom, died. We lived with this illness for eleven years before his death.

:Here on campus, we are doing what we can to change the situation. There is a campus AIDS \Awareness program to make students knowledgeable about the issue. It is headed by a Catholic Sister, a student in the university. Regular meetings are held to discuss the danger, and alert students to the fact that zero incidence of sexual contact is the only sure prevention to infection. I pray for the time when there will be an immunization or cure for the disease for those other than the rich.

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A week from today is Thanksgiving and I awoke this morning thinking of it. Then, I thought, it is also always the day when those disgustingly well-organized people have their Christmas letters in the mail.

When I was at the MPH hostel [hotel and temporary boarding place for missionaries in Kinshasa], there was an artist selling Christmas Cards for only a dollar apiece. They are attractive but I would have had to figure a way of getting them home; maybe it will be an idea for next Christmas.

Christmas in the Congo is nothing like our season in the U.S. In some ways it is much more a Christian Holiday than ours. I remember fifty years ago when I was asked to drive a big mission truck through the quartiers of Coquilhatville, (now Mbandaka) so that church members could sing Carols. The choir had a wonderful time, and when I went back after two hours they were not ready to quit. They went right on singing Carols, clappping and dancing. At Christmas time in Congo--

there are regular Sunday worship services, much mention of the birthday of Christ, choir offerings, but in my experience few other ornamental offerings. There may be gift giving in private homes, but nothing like the ostentation we experience.

There are a few things I will miss—being with family, choosing presents for grandchildren, the morning family breakfast with Christmas Bread. I will miss the Christmas Eve program at South Bay Christian Church [California], hearing the twenty or so old Christmas records from years past. I will miss fruitcake and a box of See’s chocolates, and the nurses’ Christmas Party from Same Day Surgery at Little Company of Mary Hospital [Dean worked as a volunteer in CA].

But, believe me, I will not be sad, and it will not be a day of wistfulness for me. I am so happy being here and doing the thing I am doing—having the opportunity of completing the mission Sarah and I began—that I won’t give a moment of thought to turkey or standing rib roast.

. Coming everyday to the university, seeing and greeting these poised young men and women, and knowing I am going to be contributing to their lives and the life of this new country, this is enough of a Christmas for me.

If I have not said it clearly before, let me say it now: Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Many of you receiving this letter have given sacrificially so that I can be here. My office now is looking, good freshly painted—a new air conditioner, a wire in to connect me to the internet. Today or tomorrow, we go to buy a new computer with printer and scanner and the additional parts needed for good communication. Next week, we will complete arrangements to buy a good Mitsubishi 4 X 4 costing $11,500.00 all of this has been accomplished because of money from you. And I will be receiving gifts regularly to support this work and office. What a great Holiday Season I will be having.

A word about my family: this has been a real test for Karen and Steve. I did not get my house rented before my departure. I got it painted and cleaned and most of my stuff moved out, but they have had the burden of finding a good tenant—never an easy thing. They are working on this everyday. Karen will be taking care of my vast financial holdings. Kendell and Codyanne are well and happy. In Colorado, Wes, Becky and their three, Jessica, Adam and Jeffery are fine. My sister Carol Skaggs is well again, thank God. Phyllis in Washington is fine; their husbands are well and healthy. Their children and grandchildren, same.

[edited for clarification in brackets. This personal greeting gives insight to Dean’s life in Kinshasa.] 12/6/05

I have been here for three weeks now. Travel was fine—I stopped over in Paris on the way. I have been met and welcomed with open arms, and am at the moment in my office writing this message. Later today we’re going shopping for an air conditioner. The University has no funds for it, so money given for my work will be used to make the small office more comfortable. I’m also getting the maintenance crew to paint so that it makes a good appearance for visitors. I have already found two students who are computer savvy, each of whom will assist me in the office. I will teach them how to take pictures with the digital camera I’ve brought. Then we will interview students who need scholarship assistance and forward picture and a brief biography to the U.S., and to Europe.

Kinshasa is a huge sprawling third world city. When one arrives, he sees poverty everywhere, but obviously in a rich country. Hundreds of autos of every description and condition fill the streets. Along all the streets people are in booths selling everything from bread and eggs to watches. Yesterday I was offered an Omega watch, the price got down to $30.00, just because the seller needed money today. Smog is the worst I have ever seen. (That says something coming from a resident of L.A.) Most of these cars would not pass the smog test. The American dollar is the medium of exchange for any major purchase. I bought a cell-phone, my first ever for $85.00 and received change back in dollars. The air conditioner, my car and rent will all be paid in dollars cash. There are no banks here and credit cards are only a dream.

As for the university, it is very upbeat and I feel that God has opened a miraculous door to me. Students are now on campus taking entrance tests. There is no SAT nor are there any records from previous schools. They must pass oral and written tests to show that they qualify at grade level. If they don’t and many do not, they must enroll in remedial courses until they can pass muster. Last week I met two students from our station at Lotumbe who have been here five years, though they are only second year students. It has taken them three years of “prep” courses to get where they are. Now, they have run out of money and will have to work in order to save and come back. Most of them see a goal so important that they will do it. We see many students who are advanced into the thirties, hanging in there. It is wonderfully inspiring. My job here will be to find ways to get the story out so that more scholarship money will come in for the one in three students who need help.

I am engaged, for the moment, house hunting, and wheels hunting. Both will come, but it is a slow process. I am today looking at a house which a Mennonite couple may sub-lease. It is the first good chance I’ve had. Meantime I am in this hostel MPH, a comfortable two room apartment with air conditioning and meals optional. So, I am not suffering by any means. The university chauffer gets me here and back home every day. Art and Madeleine Mehaffey, the Disciple missionaries here, have been very welcoming and aided me in finding grocery stores and other essentials like a barber shop. I am well and am getting a lot of respect and honor because of my advanced age. I meet Nkundo and Mongo people from upriver who ask me for my losako—proverb. I have held on to a good number of them. It is fun to rap with them. Most do not speak much of the old language, and we revert to French which is good for me. After forty years one can forget a lot of an unused language.

This epistle should let you all know that I’m alive and things are going well. As house mates for two weeks I have had 7 Canadian Mennonites who came on a work program. They have been good company and I shall miss them after Sunday when they leave. I hope all who read this letter may have good health.

It is a very hot Wednesday morning. We are into the wet season, so it is raining every day, and then the sun comes out to make us all suffer. I am a bit frustrated this morning because, yesterday I got "a" university tech to accompany me downtown, spent $465.00 of your money for an air conditioner, brought it back and was promised it would be installed and make my office happy. I get here this a.m. and the real technician says, oh no, that is much too big, it will drive you out of that little office. So, I am sitting in my hot office, waiting for the tech and the chauffer to come so we can go back and exchange it. I am betting we will have trouble getting what we want. Trouble is, I told them at the dealer, this is a small office, a2 X 3 meters. Remember my resume "knows Africa."

There is happy news. I have found a house to live in, in a very good neighborhood. It is fully furnished, a missionary home, and has many amenities I will enjoy. It is just a hundred meter walk to the American School, a high school campus for embassy, missionary and other youth. It is a dream campus, large and well protected with multiple residences and school buildings. The community includes many Americans and other expatriates. I will enjoy this home and social opportunities connected to it. It has four bedrooms, two baths and a nice large room which I will use for guests. There is a large yard surrounding the house with a patio for hot afternoons, a wonderful mango tree overhangs my yard so I get about a third of the fruit.

Classes are well underway now and it is interesting to be on campus.[Dean is now referring to the campus of the Congo Protestant University where he will work for 2 years.] I am beginning to know some students and to recognize even more faces. As I am readying my office, I have engaged two young people on campus to assist me in the office. The young woman smiled as she told me her name is Bijou (Jewel in English). I will be able to afford them experience using the computer and in many cases the use of English when we send bios of students to the U.S. I plan to give them use of the digital camera to get pics of students and some campus scenes. We have begun learning how to send pictures on the internet. It is more difficult that the same thing at home. The infrastructure is not up to the amount of usage we have here. I myself have been reduced to getting up at three in the morning in order to get through. In fact, I’m putting this letter on Word, because I have invested hard work on longer letters and then be unable to send them. This way I can catch a window of space at odd hours.

I am getting my body used to this climate again. There is an entire list of issues to be concerned about here. You don’t drink water from the tap. Frequently, you don’t GET water from the tap. Power failure is a daily occurrence—usually at about 6 p.m just as you have sat down to dinner. Carry a flashlight to dinner! These are only minor adjustments however. Over all, I am pleased at how well things do work. In a city that has twice too many cars and no traffic lights one rarely sees an auto accident. Traffic police are at intersections trying to make order out of chaos, and always saluting cars with old white men in them.

Church attendance us always a pleasure. Sunday, I wanted to go downtown to the old American Baptist church, because I am trying to meet as many of the community leaders as possible. This service was in French, with the pastor preaching from Psalm 23. Congregational participation is something to see/hear. He called on us to recite the entire Psalm and it was one hundred percent. (I don’t have it memorized in French) When I got there it was two thirds full, but by the time things got going, every seat was filled. Preachers, eat your hearts out.

I am often thinking how lucky I have been to have this opportunity again, and it is due in large part to the willingness of friends like you to help. [reference to all of us who're contributing to a fund to suppliment his ministry. Dean draws no salary from the university. He volunteered to live on his own assets. Disciple Global Ministries has funded his travel over and back and provides health insurance. Listed below are email addresses for more information]

I have not yet found a car we can all agree on and that I can afford. But there is abundance of them available and like the house, I will find one. I am sending this epistle to Bob Gartman and will let him figure out how to use it. I am conscious of the fact that I have "fresh eyes" now and soon many of the impressions will become old hat.