From Glory to Ruins!

Gbadolite is in the very northwest, just east of Bangui.

Rod ends up flying to many different places in Congo.  In August he flew a team seeking to help the Democratic Republic of Congo through Medical Aide.  One of the villages they visited in their survey was Gbadolite.  Gbadolite was the hometown of the late Mobutu Sese Seko who was a dictator/president over D.R.C. from 1964 to 1996.  He chose to build one of his many palaces in Gbadolite, Equatuer.  He also put in an airfield that could handle the Concord's landing.  Gbadolite was blessed with a dam on the Ubangi River that provides electricity for the village, a hospital, and a coca cola factory.  I was told that Mobutu's wife liked Sprite so he made sure she had it by putting a factory in their own village. 

The Mobutu Residence or Palace during his reign.

In 1996 Laurant Kabila marched through Zaire, as the country was called at that time and he took over the government.  Mobutu was already in the last stages of cancer and fled to Morocco for asylum where he died and was buried.

Throughout my life I have enjoyed visiting ruins with my family.  We would go to Arizona and visit the different ruins of the American Natives or stay in California and visit the Spanish Missions up and down California.  I must say that the missions I enjoyed the most were the ones that were not in ruins.  Each of these places visited gave me the sense of visiting ancient History.  When we visited Switzerland very quickly in 2006 we got to see an old castle that was known for torturing the Anabaptists back in the 1400s.  Even that was well preserved but still gave the feeling of stepping into a memory of ancient history.

One of the pools around the palace!

Mobutu's palace today!

The fountain in the driveway!

 When Rod visited Gbadolite, Mobutu's reign had only ended 17 years before.  Yet the palace was in ruins.  The hospital, though it had many buildings was attempting to keep one small clinic running.

Waiting in line at the clinic.

  The dam was still there and the village is still blessed with electricity.  I can imagine it is not as consistent as Mobutu would have insisted it be.  I have not heard anything about the coca cola company there.

The dam that provides electricity!

This makes me wonder about my life and what I will leave behind some day.  Rod and I began our marriage with the desire to serve God overseas through aviation.  We will not be leaving behind any buildings to be remembered by that I know of.  Our investment in this life so far has been in serving people.  So my question is, are we making an impact?  Will the impact last more than a few years or will it last through generations?   Do they need to remember who we are or our names?  Or will remembering their own faith in Jesus Christ be enough of a legacy?  And will they pass on their knowledge of Jesus Christ to others so they might know the truth, accept it in faith, and be set free?



Map: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/dr_congo_map2.htm
Photo of Mobutu's "lived in" palace: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=851800&page=2