One of the perks of living where I do is that I occasionally come into contact with old friends and acquaintances that I would otherwise never see. I was surprised and delighted a year or so ago to see Jean Kapenda, who I had known during my mission in Ecuador in the late 1980s. Jean was in Provo to look into the possibility of applying to BYU's MPA program. He happened to run into a friend of mine, Daryl Lee, who teaches in the French department. Long story short: Jean and I ended up chatting briefly again and I was glad to hear that he would be applying to BYU.
Fast-forward a year: Jean and his family (his wife Marianita and his daughters Christie and Mary Ann) are all in Provo while Jean works on his degree. A trained sociologist originally from the Congo, he has taken an active interest in the history of Black Ecuadorians and has done some important work on African emigration to Ecuador (here’s a link. Here’s another one). I'm not even sure how many languages he speaks: at least Lingala, French, Spanish, and English fluently and probably a number of others besides (He published a Lingala/Spanish dictionary with support from UNESCO). Anyway, Jean and his family came over for dinner on Sunday and it was a delight to visit with them (I can’t believe that Marianita was pregnant with their older daughter, Christie, when I knew them in Ecuador. Now Christie’s a student at BYU). They’re really a wonderful family: kind and generous to a fault. It was wonderful to see them again.
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