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house,itstartedtorain.Astherainpeltedtheroofofthediningroom,FatherJulesgaveme
some of the Belgian bread that the sisters made along with some cheese, bananas and tea. I
thenreturnedtomyroomtotakeashower.AfterwardsIsaidtheRosaryandsatdownwith
Father Jules for a chat.
He told me that there were about 300 refugees who came from the area around
Lubumbashi- the main city in the Shaba province in southern Zaïre. These refugees were
staying with local relatives (some were living 30 to a house) and many were undernour-
ished. The reason these people fled was due to an ethnically-based resistance movement
from Shaba that was evicting non-Shaba Zaïrians. Incidentally, during a South African ra-
dio interview, I shared this story and predicted that this movement would spread and over-
throw the government in Kinshasa. (It actually happened the following year.) The radio
hostwasbewildered fornothingaboutZaïre'ssituation wasevermentioned ontheinterna-
tional newswire.
In the morning I was given a tour of the mission. We went to visit the sisters' ma-
ternity ward where five Belgian sisters delivered about 180 births per month. There was a
doctor on standby that was radioed in to deliver babies by Caesarean section. The amount
of people who assisted them in running this place was staggering.
I was told that all vaccinations and medication came in from Kananga but because
of the refugee situation, most of the medicine was given for free. The women who came to
givebirthbroughttheir foodwiththem fromthevillage andthosewithalittle moremoney
got a private room.
“You Have Malaria”
Afterwards, I prepared the bike to go and Father Jules asked me if I wanted to stay
forlunch.ItoldhimthatIwouldlovetobutifIdid,Iwouldn'tbeabletoarriveinKananga
bydaylight.HethensuggestedIhavearestdayandvisittherefugeecampwithhim.Itook
him up on his offer and returned my bike to my room.
As we drove off, I sat in the back and began to shiver uncontrollably. Father Jules
was explaining things to me and when he turned around to make eye contact, he slammed
on the brakes and said a startling statement.
“You have malaria.”
He quickly turned the vehicle around and we returned to the mission. I hopped into
bed and one of the sisters brought an anti-malaria treatment and explained how to take it.
The shivers soon stopped and then I began to overheat. I gathered enough energy to drink
water and then slept (without lunch) until 5:00. I dreamt I was in front of my former ele-
mentary and secondary schools giving a passionate speech about this tour and how God
helped me through my troubled times…like at this moment.
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