congo

Onward!

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The election results were supposed to be announced December 6, which was then pushed to December 8, time to be announced. Yesterday morning we heard they were supposed to announce the results at 6pm. Then a message was sent to change the expected time to 8pm. Then a third message announcing 10pm. This morning we hear it will be delayed another day. This must be what my Nigerian professor meant when he described “African time.”

But this is good news for us, selfishly. Every day this week international flights have been cancelled, then added back, then cancelled again. Yesterday we were thrilled to hear that even though our Ethiopian flights were cancelled, our company charter plane could take us to Ndola, Zambia. It would be a relief to be somewhere with a functioning airport, even if getting to our ultimate destination would take much longer. So it’s even nicer to arrive at the mine airport this morning and find out the original plan is back on! Of course I won’t believe it until we’re sitting in our seats, drinks in hand.

I haven’t yet posted where we are heading for a little pre-Christmas break! And I haven’t told my family yet, either, mostly because it will freak them out. So that’s hint #1. Hint #2 – It’s northeast of us. Hint #3 – It’s very warm. Hint #4 – It’s well-developed, safe, good for tourists, but you wouldn’t think so based on its region.

Any guesses???

Elections, Congo-Style

Congo Bongo, , , View all 6 comments

So, this little thing called a presidential election is happening right now in Congo. No big deal. It might be the country’s second democratic election in the last 40 years… it might be happening in a country that is still considered mired in a civil war… and it might be happening on a continent known for less-than-civil civics, short on smooth-running elections overall… but hey, hakuna matata.

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Jambo Bwana

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I heard this song recently and it stuck in my head for days.  Last night I asked a social worker here if she knew the song.  Not only could she sing it perfectly, but she wrote down the words for me and gave me my first official Swahili lesson!

Jambo (hello)

Jambo Bwana (hello mister)

Habari Gani? (how are you?)

Musuri Sana! (very well!)

Wageni (visitors)

Mwa Kari Bishwa (you are welcome)

Congo Yetu (Congo is ours)

Hakuna Matata! (no worries!)

The song is originally from Kenya.  Here’s for a little listen.  Beware, it’s very catchy!  http://mwanasimba.online.fr/music/jambo.mp3

One Year in Congo!

Year in Review, , View all 7 comments

One year ago today we arrived at our new home in Congo. What a year it has been! The time has flown by, actually. I remember how exciting it was when we first arrived… everything so new, so different. And gratefully, the “magic” is still there for me now. On walks around town or trips to the city or local market, I still pinch myself all the time. So many incredible sights to observe.

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The Accumulative Disadvantage of Congo

Congo Bongo, , , , One comment

A friend gave me a cool collection of books yesterday. The first one I picked up to read is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Similar to another favorite, Freakonomics, it challenges long-held beliefs about how certain things have come to be, and provides surprising correlations among data. Economics made fun. In this case, the notion of “success” is challenged. Economists have uncovered certain phenomena that show a person’s potential for success has more to do with their family, birthplace and even birth date than “traditional” success factors such as natural intelligence and ambition.

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The Culture Shock of Children’s Stories

Teaching English, , , View all 7 comments

Do you remember The Three Little Bears and Little Red Riding Hood stories? I’m using them as teaching aides in my English classes with Congolese adult students. They’re the only books I can get my hands on that have simple French & English side by side. At first I thought they would resent having to read children’s books in class, but we’ve encountered quite different problems. For starters, bears and wolves and riding hoods are completely foreign to them. And many times the English sentence is phrased in an old-fashioned, unnatural way. But today, I realized an even greater cultural divide.

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Funny Money

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All newcomers here love to bring up the subject of money. There are a lot of double standards and funny rules when it comes to cash here. And cash is king – very few stores accept credit or debit cards, though that is slowly changing.

US dollars are used frequently in Congo, except in remote areas. There’s historical basis for this, mainly as a hedge against hyperinflation which occurred in the not-so-distant past. But today, it’s simply practical. The largest Congolese bill in circulation at this time is the 500-franc note, worth about 50 cents. When shopping for groceries where one can easily spend $100 or more, you’d need a briefcase (or at least a paper bag) full of francs. It’s much easier to pay in dollars, so that’s what everyone does. Most items are priced in francs (a can of tuna is marked 4000FC or so), but the store will quickly translate the bill to dollars for you according to their daily exchange rate, some of which are better than others. Then they’ll make change using a combination of dollars and francs. Needless to say, the cashiers are pretty quick with a calculator. The smallest bill I’ve seen in 11 months here is a 50-franc note, worth about $0.05. No need to carry any coins.

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Seb is not a nice man

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Everyone here has a story about run-ins with the local traffic police. Sometimes these stories end with being taken to the police station, where the unlucky ones have to wait for our security folks to show up and negotiate. Of course this is even more of a problem if you don’t speak French. You don’t have to be doing anything wrong — in fact in most cases, nothing is wrong — it’s just that the cops like to pick on vehicles that look like they might be carrying occupants with money. They make a pathetic salary, and as a result rely on bribes and gifts to make a living. I feel sorry for them, actually. But nothing will ever improve if we keep feeding the beast.

So far we’d been lucky; no one had attempted to pick on us, until today.

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Green Wall Hike

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I must have gotten a little spoiled taking all those photos at International Women’s Day last week. Only 8 days later and I’m running from the law because of my damn camera.

Actually I don’t know if the man who stopped to yell and chase us ladies down was “the law,” but he sure thought he was.

Here’s what happened. Three of us girls decided it was a beautiful day and we wanted to take a little hike outside the gates. They let us go out last week and march all over town, right?? This ought to be fine. Continue reading →