What's In A Name?

Titles are very important to showing respect - Misses, Mister, Sir, Ma'am, Doctor, Professor, etc. This is very much true for the Congolese - our title is a sign of respect, importance, prestige, and sometimes value.

When you have children, your name is now given a title to represent your rite of passage - "Mama" Cele, "Papa" Pepe, "Mama" Georgine, "Tata" Oscar (Lingala for Papa), etc. When you have employees, they like to show their respect with many different names depending on how many people you employ - chef and patron are most frequent. A lot of times you are referred to by your job title - pilote (pilot), délégué (delegate), députée (member of parliment), judiciaire (judicial/police chief), etc. When you are married, some people will call you by your husband's name with Madame before it. Vendors like to call you "Mama" or "Papa" to get your attention. Closer friends or beloved employees may call you whatever your child calls you, like "Mommy" and "Daddy."

Now that you have a little background, I would like to present our many names given and used by locals, not our (always) children or family:

Kevin - Papa Kevin, Monsieur Kevin, Chef, Pilote, Pilote Kevin, Patron, Monsieur Spann, Pilote Matthew (Kevin is hard to say when French is you 3rd or 4th language), Matthew, and Daddy.

Tasha - Mama Tasha, Madame, Mama, Madame Kevin, Mommy, and Natasha (one of the national workers cannot say the hard "t" sound because French is his 5th language).

What would some of your titles be?

St. Nicholas Day

Every evening over the past few weeks little girl has told me "Santa is coming." And every time it caught me off guard. You see, our family has not talked about Santa before and our kids have never received gifts from him. So each time little girl said he was coming, I played it off by talking about how yes he did come in her Peppa Pig book or yes we did see a statue of him in the grocery store. But I have never encouraged her imagination. So imagine my surprise when I was proven wrong!

On Friday (December 4th), it was my turn for carpool and I picked the kids up from school. When I got to sweet pea's classroom, she bounded out of the room and squealed that Santa came and brought her presents. I looked at the teacher for more information but she was busy speaking to another parent. So I gathered all the kids up, got them to the car, buckled them in, passed out snacks, and started plying the kids with questions.

Me: So, you saw Santa today

Girls: YES!

Me: What do they call him in French. Père Noël? (Father Christmas)

Elijah: No, St. Nicholas (Ni-cola...like Ricola the cough drops but with an n)

Girls: Oui! St. Nicholas donné-moi des bonbons (he gave me candies)

Elijah: St. Nicholas was big! I even measured him! He was so big!

Ruth: Il donné des bonbons à mes amis. (He gave candies to my friends)

*The kids proceeded to correct one another on their pronunciation on St. Nicolas (NEE-cola vs. NI-cola...I couldn't tell the difference but they could). This followed by the kids pulling out their bag filled with small taffies and a package of Speculoos cookies and caressing it with much relish.

After talking to some of the other moms, one was able to talk to a Belgian friend to get more information. December 6th is St. Nicholas Day, a day where the patron saint (Catholic) is celebrated. He comes to town mid-November and travels to churches, schools, and businesses delivering treats to all, usually special cinnamon biscuits (Speculoos). On December 5th, there is a feast in his honor at all households where he could show up as an honored guest if he wanted. That night, children place their shoes by the chimney or in the foyer by the door along with hay and carrots for his horse and beer or coffee for him. During the night, St. Nicholas will go door to door with his assistant Père Fouettard (Black Peter) who will place chocolate letter candies or small toys in the shoes for all good children. For the naughty children, they will wake up to see a birch branch stick for which their parents are to punish them or if they are especially naughty, Black Peter (either a black man or a man with soot covering his face, interpretations vary) will place the child in the sack and send him to Spain! Sometimes when St. Nicholas is in a hurry, he will leave a bag of gifts on the door step and will knock on the door as he is leaving.

St. Nicholas and Black Peter
What? You were expecting something a bit different, weren't you? 
He wears a Bishop's rope and red cape with a miter 

After learning more about the holiday and knowing that our girlie goes to a Belgium school, I now realize that she had been studying him over the past few weeks, even learning cute songs which I mistook for regular nursery rhymes (I had to look them up after paying attention to the lyrics). So, we decided to celebrate the holiday by making cookies and setting out our shoes for candies. Since girlie is only 3 and actually saw the character I felt kind of bad saying he wasn't real when in fact, he was very much real to her, I didn't mind playing along this year. Especially since it emphasizes that "Santa" has nothing to do with Christmas which is a celebration for Christ. So we can keep our Advent countdown traditions, birthday party, and Christian songs separate.

Cookies for the feast

Making cookies

Making cookies

St. Nicholas came!!!

Med Evac Flights

Kevin talking to Rita Chapman about the situation
(Photo courtesy of Mark & Kelly Hewes, used with permission)

Last week, Kevin was able to do a Med Evac flight. It was for a 12-year-old girl (Masha) who had developed an infection on her left shin (tibia). Back in February, she noticed her leg had started to swell. Her family did what they could by treating her with indigenous medicine. Unfortunately, the medicines could not help the infection, which made it appear worse than before.  So her family took her to the local hospital in Kikongo. The hospital was now afraid to do anything because they feared the infection had spread into the bone. She was in a lot of pain and was no longer able to walk. The hospital in Kikongo was not able to do much for the young girl, so a local missionary family (the Chapmans) arranged for MAF to do a flight to bring the girl out.

Masha (in red) waiting to board the airplane
(Photo courtesy of Mark & Kelly Hewes, used with permission)

Kevin flew the young girl and her mother out to the missionary hospital in Vanga where they were able to take X-rays of her leg (x-rays in the bush of Africa, how cool is that!). The x-rays confirmed that the infection had indeed spread throughout the entire bone, which was now also broken in multiple places as a result of the weakness from the infection. She was now at a high risk for losing her leg. The local missionary, Dr. Tim Rice, said they would try to do surgery this week on her leg to see if it can be saved.

Dr. Rice praying with Masha
(Photo courtesy of Mark & Kelly Hewes, used with permission)

Then two days later, MAF received another call for a 15 year old boy named Plamedie with another open ulcer on his leg. He had been living with an open sore on his leg for 3 years, but had been reasonably well looked after and wasn’t as serious as the little girl. He still required medical attention, so Kevin flew him and his father out to Vanga as well. Dr. Rice informed Plamedie that his x-rays looked good and that he expected him to make a full recovery without surgery.

Plamedie looking at his x-rays
(Photo courtesy of Mark & Kelly Hewes, used with permission)

Please pray for these young children who risked losing their legs to infections that could have possibly been treated with over the counter products found in a local pharmacy, but are not available to those living in remote villages. I will post updates when we find out more information about Masha's situation and Plamedie's recovery. 

***Update 8 November 2015***
Plamedie is in his home village recovering quite well.
Masha's surgery went well but she is still at a risk of losing her leg. Prospects are looking better for her but she is not out of the woods yet. 

Motherhood Moments #16

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

A morning filled with birthday party fun! I am grateful for the days of normalcy and I cherish the memories made with our friends here.

The Gift of Bibles

One evening, I (Kevin) went to wait at the N’djili airport for someone coming into Kinshasa. During that time, he had an opportunity to tour the Air Traffic Control tower. He was able to see how the tower operated and was able to meet the people he spoke to when flying. The people were eager to answer questions and in turn were quite eager to ask all about MAF. They were quite pleased to learn that not only was I a follower of Christ, but so were all the other MAF staff. And they were thrilled to find out that was the purpose of MAF’s existence. One controller asked me if I happened to have a Bible handy, as he had never owned one. Then another asked… and another… and so on.

When the average worker makes about $5 daily, and the cost of living in Kinshasa is so high (an avocado is about $1), a $10 book is essentially unattainable. Upon hearing so many in need of Bibles, I asked how many worked in the control tower all together - 70 was the response. So after setting a goal of providing 70 Bibles for the control tower, I eagerly contacted the church in which I grew up, Highland View Church of Christ, who immediately pulled through with $1,200 just for this purpose! This is almost double the need, but in talking with the resident MAF IT guy here, we learned of some really cool Bible literature programs that can be put on SD cards. So we used the remainder to purchas 150 of those!

When my parents came to visit, they brought the funds with them. MAF then organized the purchase of the Bibles and then arranged for a trip to the airport for my dad and me. In each Bible, Mark added a stamp with the MAF logo and a sticker with John 3:16 explaining the Bibles were purchased with funds from Highland View Church.

My father and I were able to deliver 25 Bibles during the first trip (the tower has three teams of roughly 25 people each, so not all 70 are there at one time). The controllers were very excited and repeatedly thanked everyone involved in bringing the Bibles to them.

Motherhood Moments #15

Sometimes motherhood is yucky business and it comes in the form of this...

This my friends is a mango fly. It somehow managed to attach to our little girl's leg as an egg, hatch, and burrow down under her skin. (Feel free to research the process on your own since I am going to remain vague on details, leaving you to explore or not explore details yourself).

Luckily the internet is full of all things disgusting including videos and tutorials on proper removal to avoid infection. I quickly smothered it in jelly (Aquafor) for 30 minutes to let it die. Then I popped it right out with minimal complaints. I sprayed it with Bactine and used a decorative plaster to encourage sweet pea to not touch it. She was a good camper and it has healed all up with no lingering traces.

Now that this rite-of-passage is in my book, I wonder what will happen next in my adventures in motherhood?

Animals, Animals Everywhere…

*If you clicked on the link out of curiosity, I must provide a secondary warning of the graphic content. While there are no photos attached, I will be talking about a topic that could be uncomfortable to many regarding how animals fit into life here in Congo.

With dry season coming to a close, most animals will have foraged all the food that is available to them; and until the rains come again to bring new life to the plants, it is time to butcher the animals.

My first experience with how animals are regarded in this culture came when we moved here. We were taking care of some rabbits for our friends. Unbeknownst to us, the workers bred two of the rabbits. I awoke one morning to find a few small kits. I hit the internet to research how to take care of the babies, but I did not learn fast enough. Sure enough, the following morning, one had died. I told the worker on duty one had died, but the look on my face must have been one of sorrow or pity. He immediately explained to me that animals are food and that I should not cry if they die (I am paraphrasing since my French and his English were not good). He said my family will not go hungry because one had died, so I should not mourn the loss.

A short time later, another of our friend’s friendly cat went missing. When asked about the whereabouts, the answer was the same, they had seen it before. I did not put two and two together about the cat until I was driving to the grocery store and I saw an animal freshly killed that was hung up and was being butchered. It was a very large dog. It was then I realized that there are almost no stray animals here at all. You see goats tethered. You see ducks with cut wings so they stay close by. You see chickens with strings around their leg. You might see rabbits in a cage. Occasionally you will notice a dog, but the owner is usually selling its pups. And very rarely will you see a cat outside of an expat’s home.

You see, animals are costly to maintain, prohibitively expensive to the level we expect in the US, even if they are only to be eaten. Therefore, there must be a return on the investment. If you feed an animal, one expects to be able to breed it to sell its offspring or one expects to have meat for their family - so forming any emotional attachment would be pointless. It was very hard for me to accept this idea having not grown up on a farm. My grandfather was a hunter but I had little exposure to the meat.

Another tough lesson happened to Kevin, who did grow up on a farm and is not a stranger to hunting. Recently at the airport, he heard a commotion. He walked until he found a group of grown men in battle stances, each with large sticks circled up around a car. They were in hunting mode. Being curious, Kevin looked around the corner to try and see what worthy opponent deserved this level of intensity, but one which could also fit under the car. He imagined seeing something like a large snake, a large predatory lion, crocodile, or even a really short hippopotamus (hey, those things are actually quite dangerous). The men continued arguing over who had the largest family and who needed the meat the most.  The owner of the car arrived, and as he reversed away out of the parking spot, there was a mangy street cat. These men were fighting over an animal that was less than 3 pounds, hoping to feed their family a meal for the day. You would have thought the men had taken down an entire herd of antelope with the cheering that ensued after the deed was done.

On an overnight trip in the bush, Kevin was offered smoked meat from a boa constrictor and not long after, he was offered meat (the arm) from a monkey that he heard them killing. Kevin has also been given a gift of fresh goat meat and was given the honor of watching them slaughter the animal before him so that they may present him with the best cuts, and has eaten snails and other creepy crawlies that are highly valued for their protein content.

Meat is always an honor due to its high cost (both monetary and husbandry). You do not refuse such a gift. So as we continue to adapt our lives here to the culture around us, this is one area of life that needed re-thinking that surprised us. We have to keep reminding ourselves, it’s different, not wrong.

Motherhood Moments #14

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

This is the witching hour. That dreadful time in the afternoon around 3:00 when the kids are hot, tired, and cranky. It is too late in the afternoon for naps and I should be starting dinner. Instead, sister has TV time and I have brother on my back. The battery fan is on full blast as we try to stay cool waiting for the electricity to return or for daddy to walk in and be a distraction. We do what we can to keep up morale and sometimes it requires a TV and snuggles.

You Don't See That Everyday...

Here in the Congo, there are many days where one is a witness to something that just makes you scratch your head and ask yourself, "Did I really just see that?" I have compiled a small collection of photographs for your viewing pleasure so that you may catch a glimpse of the "not so normal" which is actually normal for here.

Photo #1

You are witnessing 7 pieces of machinery attempting to asphalt less than 50 yards of road. Obviously only one piece of equipment is being used but there are many non-workers standing in the way who are telling the workers how to do their jobs. In fact, we were just amazed that they were repairing the road. (It took us nearly 2 hours to through the traffic jam caused by this).

Photo #2

You are viewing a guy on a motorcycle who is wearing a thick, down ski jacket. What is wrong with that? It is 80 degrees outside and we are traveling about 15 mph.

Photo #3

A really neat bumper sticker that says "I am Born to WIN." Pretty ironic for a wrecked vehicle. This was in the junk yard/side of the road/empty parking space beside a few restaurants.

Photo #4

There is a man (on the left with a brown shirt) jumping off the back of this vehicle which he was riding. There is a kid (in the middle with a black shirt) jumping on the vehicle for fun (barefooted). And there is a man with roller blades holding on. This is the first guy I have ever seen here with roller blades and he only rides down this strip of road. This was also the only time I saw him "hitch a ride." But he is wearing a helmet, so score 1 for the roller skater!

Photo #5

You are looking at a stack of ice blocks. The building on the right is a "quincaillerie" (hardware store) and the building on the left is a "sec et nettoyer" (dry & wash/dry-cleaners). I am not sure why there is a stack of ice blocks outside of those buildings especially sitting on top of plywood which is covering a drainage ditch.

We have learned to not ask why (we do find ourselves saying "whhhaaaaaaaaaaat???" quite frequently) and just sit back and muse over our surroundings. 

Motherhood Moments #8

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

A trip to the grocery store can turn into an episode of "Fear Factor." Our little girl's expression is one of sheer joy because the electricity just came back on! Nothing like grocery shopping in the dark to make your toddler want to sit securely in the cart so she can feel encompassed. Brother is safely strapped to my back in the carrier. Luckily I try not to leave the house without my phone, which has a flashlight.

Motherhood Moments #6

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

What's so special about a big pile of laundry? Well, when we start our washing machine, it locks the door. So, when we lose electricity, our laundry is locked. I cannot open the door to hand wash them. I must wait until the electricity returns in order to continue, and our generator is not strong enough to support our machine. What you are looking at is one load of laundry that was started at 6 AM and the electricity cut soon after. It is now 6 PM and I am waiting anxiously for the electricity to return with two more loads just from that day. I have been known to get up in the middle of the night when the electricity returns to continue washing laundry. Yes, I have been that desperate!

"New" Family Welcome

Last Sunday afternoon, all MAF families in Kinshasa got together for a mini BBQ to welcome the newest addition to our clan (minus one family who is in the USA on furlough). The Lind family has returned! They were here roughly two years ago as short term missionaries and fell in love with the Congo. So when their term was up, they went back home to fund-raise so they could return and completed their time in language school. We feel so blessed to have them back here, including all of their kiddos! It felt wonderful to all be together again and see all the little kids that are around to play together. Here are some photos of the day and lots of links to the other families and their blogs or MAF pages. Also note that I did not take all of the photos seen, but another MAF mama helped to pick up my slack!

Lisa and her three kids (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Elijah (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Baby boy just chilling on the porch

Lovely Nancy (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Miss Emily holding baby Joel (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Little Axel (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Waiting on the local charcoal to heat up

Some of the kids playing in the "sand" box (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

Rod and Valerie (Source: Jocelyn Frey)

The whole crew, silly faces and all! (12 kids & 12 adults)

The Bane of my Existence*

*Obviously the following blog is going to talk about something that is "harmful" to me, but I am most likely exaggerating about its ability to cause ruin or death.

There is a terror in the Congo. This predator strikes during the daytime unnoticed until it is too late. It matters not how much I prepare myself, because it always finds me. (*Insert shrieking violin noises*). What is this horror? BLACK FLIES.

These little buggers travel in small swarms, hunting for innocent bystanders, feeding on the blood of their host...ME! It does not matter how much bug spray I use, if I travel outside my house, I must wear protection. It can be 105 degrees outside and I must wear pants, socks, long sleeves, repellent (with Deet and/or picaridin), and constantly stay in active motion to prevent them from landing on me... although the repellent really doesn't deter them, it's just used for placebo to make me feel like I've done something to thwart their sinister plans of feasting upon me for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Yes, that is me being devoured by the vicious
leech, all in the name of bloggery/photography 

These little vampires aren't kind. Not one bit. When they bite, you feel their unpleasant clamp. And when they are done, they leave you with a bright big welt that itches. If you accidentally touch it, the itchy sensation gets worse and will continue to itch for up to a week!

These little nightmare inducing fiends are everywhere here. They breed near water and unfortunately for us, we are located near the Congo River. They can travel miles away from where they breed and we happen to be on their way to and from their breeding grounds.

And of course, these monsters make me feel like a terrible mom. Kids need to go outside and enjoy life. But every time we go outdoors, the bloodsuckers grab hold and take a bite or ten. My poor babies! Thus, I have declared war on these beasts! I will not rest until they have ceased to be...or until I can sweet talk the kids into going back indoors to watch a movie while I apply more benadryl.

Motherhood Moments #4

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

I often ask myself why I don't work out often enough and then I try to work out and I quickly remember why...clingy toddlers. Do you know how hard it is to transition from Chaturanga to upward dog with a toddler on your back? No? In this photo I am attempting a down dog with a high leg but little girl is riding the leg that needs to go up. She knows how to turn basic yoga into a Crossfit workout!

Motherhood Moments #3

Here we are on week 3 of Motherhood Moments. In case you missed week 1 or week 2, just click on the highlighted week to catch up.

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

Boiling water for baths. During dry season there is no rain for a few months (June - September). Because we don't have rain, we tend to have less water flowing from our taps. Often, there is no water coming out of our faucets upstairs because there is no water pressure. So, I have to fill up buckets/pails/pots/pans of water from the kitchen sink and boil it for bath water for the kids and then carry it upstairs for their bath. Lucky for me, they only bathe once or twice a week! And yes, the water is not clear. We do not have the privilege of having treated water (fluoride, chlorine, etc.), thus our water is filled with pollutants, dirt and sediment, rust, and parasites. This is why we do not drink the tap water and use only filtered water for cooking, brushing our teeth, and drinking.

Which is why every morning, motherhood looks like this...

I have to fill up our bottles every morning or we will get behind. Since it is so hot and humid here, we tend to drink on average 3L per person, or two of the bottles in the photo above. Phew!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

The other day, my worker was not feeling well and decided to go to the doctor. I dropped her off after work on my way to run an errand. The next day when she returned for work, she asked if I could help her purchase the medication.  I was comfortable with that option but when she presented me with her list of medications, my jaw hit the floor.

There were 8 separate items listed! No matter how ill someone is, I have (personally) never known a doctor to prescribe 8 medications at one time for one illness. I asked her if she was certain these were all for her and not for different people in the family. Nope. The doctor prescribed them all just for her. I asked her if some were to be taken later and not all together. Nope. The doctor prescribed them all to be taken/used at the same time. Yikes!

Let me interrupt this narrative to provide some cultural information about Congolese doctors.  The average cost to visit a doctor is about 3500 francs, or about $4. Sounds pretty cheap, right? Unfortunately, the average salary for a worker is around $5 daily. So in USD terms, image you make $7.50 an hour for 8 hours (one day of work) for a total of $60. But the cost to visit a doctor must be paid up front at a total of $48. That is a lot of money for someone to pay.

Therefore, if you were to visit a doctor, you wouldn’t just go for something minor like a cold. You would go for something more serious. If you must spend 4/5 of your daily salary to “hire” someone, you expect some sort of return on your investment. And this is what will often happen - the Congolese doctors will prescribe a medication, even if it is useless just because people expect something out of the doctors. This very thing happened to me when I thought I was experiencing a miscarriage with Solomon. I was prescribed a medication for abdominal spasms which if taken, could have been dangerous. The doctor did not know what to prescribe in my circumstance (as far as I am aware, there is no “cure” for a miscarriage) so he wrote a prescription for something he thought would be a placebo. Luckily, I knew there was no cure and was hesitant to take the medication and contacted an American doctor who knew what was going on over the phone.

The other problem is a follow-up visit. Ideally, a doctor will prescribe you something and remind you that if you don’t feel better in “X” number of days, to please call back to schedule a follow-up visit. There is no such thing here. No one can afford to take two days off of work and pay out of pocket almost two full days worth of work in money. Thus, a doctor will often over-prescribe medication in an attempt to cover any and all problems eliminating a need for a follow-up - which in itself is very dangerous.

When my worker presented me with a list of 8 medications, I knew that she was over-prescribed but I could not determine which ones were “placebos” or “useless” and which ones were dangerous if mixed. So I called for back-up! I contacted two doctors, a nurse, and a translator/friend/missionary. A few hours later, we were able to go back to her root complaints and cross-reference the medications prescribed. Only one needed to be purchased and we were able to substitute two others with basic over-the-counter medications we brought with us. In all, had she attempted to take all of those medications at once, she would have felt worse from all the side effects than how bad she originally felt. I am glad my worker trusted me enough to talk to me about what was going on and I am so very blessed to know medical personal here that are willing to help.

Motherhood Moments #1

Continuing with my "Life At Home" theme, I would like to introduce to you a new series (at least until I forget) titled "Motherhood Moments." Each Monday, I am going to post a photo of what motherhood looks like to me while living here, similar to my photo challenge photos. Some photos will be similar to an American lifestyle and others will reflect my life living in Africa. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...

A sad child. Today, we woke up to the proprietor chopping down our "swing tree." Sweet pea had a swing hanging from this huge tree and we are not certain yet if it is still there. Since we are renting this property, we did not have to be informed of their beautification changes and choices. Sweet pea has been standing at the window for the past half hour crying the words "tree" and "swing" over and over. I am hoping they leave the swing and the swing branch but will have to wait and see.

Car Parts and Repairs

One of the challenges we experience here has to do with vehicles. Cars are definitely an indispensable item. They help us to go to and fro running errands, visiting friends, shopping, and going to church. They are a much needed item for my sanity. There are some days when living behind walls can feel like a prison. But our poor cars go through a number of daily challenges.

One problem is the poor quality of roads. There are always surprises that await you - pot holes, ditches, cracks in the pavement (if there is any), and bumps where they paved over anything they found in the way.

Big hole on the right side of the road

Another challenge is the lack of drainage. You might find some drainage ditches in the city where we are located but they don't work well. People will throw trash in them or the street sweepers will sweep the garbage into them. When they are full and flooding, people will come by and dig the drainage ditches and place the refuse right back on the side of the road, blocking much of the flow of traffic. Until dry season when the street sweepers sweep the trash back.

Normal sight right after the rain

A third problem is bridges. Many of the materials used to build bridges are not very sturdy and often break. You never know if you vehicle will be the one the cracks the materials or not. Our car can attest to this challenge as it has lost once before. No one wants to pay for good materials for a bridge because often times people will steal them in the middle of the night. You think I kid? Concrete slabs have been known to disappear in minutes once the sun sets.

Wooden bridge

One of the biggest challenges one faces deals with parts. It is very difficult to find car parts and if you do find them, they are most often used or of poor quality. We don't exactly have an Auto Zone or handy car parts store nearby. We recently needed our breaks replaced. So we paid a buyer to go find what we needed. He then returned with what he could find. We have lost quite a bit of money trying to find parts before. If you find something used and it does not work, you have to find a new seller yourself. There are no "exchanges or refunds" to be found here. Or if the item is of too poor a quality for safety, you have to wait for someone traveling this way from the U.S. to bring a better one.

Used tires for sale

The last challenge I am going to mention is traffic or the in-knowledgeable drivers. Most people will call those lovely little dents and scrapes "Congo Camouflage" on their car, but everyone gets them. These come from cars who have misjudged space and distance in their need to fill in the road gaps and get where they want to go. Too many of those fender benders can be quite rough on a car.

Which direction is correct?

So what do you do when the buyer brings back the wrong parts? You let you daughter play...