The DRC is definitely 4th world!
It is a country crumbling through neglect. The roads are either dirt or lots of pot holes. The buildings are in disrepair. The drive in from the airport is an experience like no other; pot-holes, poor, poor little stands, shops, shanties etc.
One of the bright spots are the women with their colorful dresses and head wraps; beautiful prints of all colors. I have taken very few photos because there are police and soldiers everywhere. If they catch you taking photos they will take your camera. Right now this is basically a police state with both presidents claiming victory. The few photos I’ve take are quick shots while riding in the car and hiding the camera.
We noticed big piles of rocks each about the size of a basket ball or a little larger. Then we noticed lines of men sitting down in the dirt with a large hammer and chisel. These men break the rocks down by hand to make gravel for road construction. That is how poor the country is. But our driver said these men are grateful to have a job, given that unemployment is as high as 80%
Women selling corn on the streets and local shops
It is a country crumbling through neglect. The roads are either dirt or lots of pot holes. The buildings are in disrepair. The drive in from the airport is an experience like no other; pot-holes, poor, poor little stands, shops, shanties etc.
One of the bright spots are the women with their colorful dresses and head wraps; beautiful prints of all colors. I have taken very few photos because there are police and soldiers everywhere. If they catch you taking photos they will take your camera. Right now this is basically a police state with both presidents claiming victory. The few photos I’ve take are quick shots while riding in the car and hiding the camera.
We noticed big piles of rocks each about the size of a basket ball or a little larger. Then we noticed lines of men sitting down in the dirt with a large hammer and chisel. These men break the rocks down by hand to make gravel for road construction. That is how poor the country is. But our driver said these men are grateful to have a job, given that unemployment is as high as 80%
Women selling corn on the streets and local shops
15 feet from the car to the door to the hotel entrance you are approached by all types of
poor folks trying to sell you something. You have to kind of make your way through them.
I expect that is why the doorman has the big club, so if they try to follow you into the hotel, he will whack them.
French is spoken almost exclusively, so it is difficult to converse – very few speak English. We don’t dare go out on the streets. The hotel neighborhood is not very nice (but there are no nice neighborhoods we’ve seen).
In the DRC we felt insecure except when in the church compounds (the mission office or the service center office). Both places were clean, safe and one could feel the spirit. I can’t say I was afraid, but I was never comfortable except in the church areas. There was a feeling of
oppression everywhere; police, soldiers, machine guns. Generally no one
makes eye contact. One never looks directly at a policemen unless he
were to speak to you. The hotel lobby seemed like Indiana Jones – people
from all over the world, different languages, western business attire,
dress for the bush, African attire, black, brown, white, Asian – I
really felt as if I were in a different world.
The mission office and home is in a high rise which is surrounded by 15 high walls, wire etc. It is like an island with lush tropical vegetation all around – palm trees. We are near the equator so it is summer all the time. This is a place of contrasts, men and women in suits and nice dresses walking down dirt roads and filthy streets.
This woman stopped in at the mission office and looked so nice in her bright Congolese dress.
View from our hotel room
The airport runway is very rough, the plane bounces as it rolls down the runway. The airport itself is a major dump, much worse than Madagascar. Traffic is chaotic. The travel company that is taking us to the airport in the morning will pick us up at 9:30 for a 1:30 flight. The airport is perhaps ten miles from the hotel. That explains how crummy the traffic/roads are. Further, it is harder to get out of the country than in, so they *help us* through passport/customs.
We worked very, very hard meeting with staff about visa issues (potential legal problems), the mission president and two of our lawyers. We didn’t get anything for lunch because there is no place safe to eat unless we went back to the hotel. It was interesting, the area service center has a generator so when the power goes off (and it does) the generator kicks in and after a few seconds of darkness the lights come back on. We have mission drivers or church employees take us from place to place, it would be way to unsafe to take any type of public transportation. I was very tired after starting at 5:30 this AM and working straight through lunch. We went to the mission home (flat) for dinner with President and Sister Jamison and also met all the couples that we met when they were refugees in Joberg in December. It was fun to see them.
notes:
The Congo River is awesome. It is huge, must be a couple of miles across her in Kinshasa (the former Leopoldville). Next time we will take the boat across the river to Brazzaville to do some work in the Congo.
Republic - This is not a place for the faint hearted that is for sure.
There are gigantic falls about an hour from here. We can have a real African jungle experience!
All the mission vehicles are trucks or SUVs because of the terrible roads. We spent an hour with the travel consultant who may be helping the Church with visas and passports. It is a big issue, because of corruption and the travel problems. Many of our members live in the bush. One of the cities in the mission has 250,000 residents with no electricity and no running water.
French is spoken almost exclusively, so it is difficult to converse – very few speak English. We don’t dare go out on the streets. The hotel neighborhood is not very nice (but there are no nice neighborhoods we’ve seen).
The mission office and home is in a high rise which is surrounded by 15 high walls, wire etc. It is like an island with lush tropical vegetation all around – palm trees. We are near the equator so it is summer all the time. This is a place of contrasts, men and women in suits and nice dresses walking down dirt roads and filthy streets.
This woman stopped in at the mission office and looked so nice in her bright Congolese dress.
View from our hotel room
The airport runway is very rough, the plane bounces as it rolls down the runway. The airport itself is a major dump, much worse than Madagascar. Traffic is chaotic. The travel company that is taking us to the airport in the morning will pick us up at 9:30 for a 1:30 flight. The airport is perhaps ten miles from the hotel. That explains how crummy the traffic/roads are. Further, it is harder to get out of the country than in, so they *help us* through passport/customs.
We worked very, very hard meeting with staff about visa issues (potential legal problems), the mission president and two of our lawyers. We didn’t get anything for lunch because there is no place safe to eat unless we went back to the hotel. It was interesting, the area service center has a generator so when the power goes off (and it does) the generator kicks in and after a few seconds of darkness the lights come back on. We have mission drivers or church employees take us from place to place, it would be way to unsafe to take any type of public transportation. I was very tired after starting at 5:30 this AM and working straight through lunch. We went to the mission home (flat) for dinner with President and Sister Jamison and also met all the couples that we met when they were refugees in Joberg in December. It was fun to see them.
notes:
The Congo River is awesome. It is huge, must be a couple of miles across her in Kinshasa (the former Leopoldville). Next time we will take the boat across the river to Brazzaville to do some work in the Congo.
Republic - This is not a place for the faint hearted that is for sure.
There are gigantic falls about an hour from here. We can have a real African jungle experience!
All the mission vehicles are trucks or SUVs because of the terrible roads. We spent an hour with the travel consultant who may be helping the Church with visas and passports. It is a big issue, because of corruption and the travel problems. Many of our members live in the bush. One of the cities in the mission has 250,000 residents with no electricity and no running water.
WOW. Makes me count my blessings. What an incredible thing to be able to experience that. Thanks for posting this!
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