Work

What kind of work does your dad do? And your mom -- does she work outside the home? If so, what kind of work does she do?

A lot of people in America (Canada too) work in offices, don't they. Does either of your parents work in an office, maybe in a big office building? From what you've learned about Congo, how many office buildings do you think you'd see in the rainforest? In the grassland?

Some people in the Ubangi area of Congo have been lucky enough to go to a university or another training program. They become teachers, doctors, nurses, accountants, pastors. Some specialize in nutrition, or in soil and crops, or in other helpful things.

Some have learned through experience how to repair machinery or keep vehicles running. Some make bricks to sell to others who are putting up a school or church or hospital.Others saw wood into lumber, or make soap to sell, or press palm oil from the nut of an oil palm tree, and sell it.

There are also many people who have not been able to go to school to learn a profession, and who don't have enough money to buy what they need to start one of the jobs we've talked about.

So many of the people in the villages of the Ubangi simply don't have any way to earn money. They grow gardens with enough food to keep their families from going hungry, but no more. This is called "subsistence farming." They could get money if they grew extra food and sold it, but it's hard for them to take loads of vegetables to market in another town. One of the projects of the Paul Carlson Partnership is to create ways that a subsistence farmer can grow extra food that he will sell to another person, who will carry it to market. That way, they both earn some money!