Try it out...garbage..sounds naturally french! Not so, its camelote...really a pretty word for trash. Kinshasa is turning out to not be so crazy...but maybe I'm still a bit sheltered. As my American seatmate on the flight here said - Kinshasa is the ranger training for African cities. My introduction to Congolese negotiation was a few vociferous discussions about seating on the airplane...and it happens on the street too. Gombe is the area of town that was secured by the UN peacekeepers or MONUC a few years back, and is home to most of the embassies, NGOs, and expat residencies. Tuesday, Bemba a former Vice-president/warlord, was arrested in Belgium for crimes against humanity, indicted by the ICC. This touched off small demonstrations in Gombe where Bemba's thugs battled the army in Feb 2007 after the election. We didn't see much, as protesters prevented us from lunching in the normal Lebanese eatery. It was kinda subdued because people are just kinda tired and hungry with the prices of food. There's not much excitement to report, though I'm finding exercise to be kinda limited to swimming in the pool in our compound. Going out after dark is not recommended and frankly, I don't really know where I'd go. I finally went on the roof of my work building to see the Congo river...man is it huge..pics to be posted soon. Otherwise, views of Kinois life between home and work are tons of people out and about, working hard, trying to make a buck...soda, bags of water, clothes, maps, even a sad looking dog...all offered by hawkers to stopped cars.
Forest conservation programs encounter some odd results these days. Despite all these dollars spent and the DRC moratorium on logging since 2002, relative "stability" has logging at full-force. We're not here advocating fences around the forest, but planning, monitoring, and auditing rather than an all-out pillage....an all too familiar action towards Congo's resources. So now for the first weekend in Kinshasa?! I guess hitting the French and forestry reading hard is a good place to start...exciting ja! Bon weekend!
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