A Tale of Two Cities: Brazzaville (part 2)

If you ever get the chance to go to Brazzaville from Kinshasa, don't do it.  Really. Take the advice of those old anti-drug campaigns and just say no.  Much like meth, it's nowhere near worth it.  One of Delphin and Régine's friends, Gertrude, works in the foreign affairs office and does all the travel documentation for government officials. She managed to get me a visa to the Republic of the Congo in a day!  My visa count is up to 5 now I think. Anyway, we left to get on the ferry at 7:30.  Guess what time we finally boarded?  Noon!  We spend the whole morning just waiting for our documents to be processed at the ferry dock.  Oh, and did I mention there were 9 kids with us?  Such good times.  The ferry was a little speedboat, and all of the adults had to take responsibility for a child (no childrens' life jackets, for one).  Crossing the river was, no contest, the absolute best part of the trip (not that there was any competition).  On the boat:

Looking ahead toward Brazzaville:

And back toward Kinshasa:

It took about 20 min to cross, and we had to wait another half hour for our documents in Brazzaville.  Finally we got them a little before one, and were informed that the return ferry left at 3.  Fantastic.  We got some croissants to eat (after more fruitless waiting in a restaurant), then we all crammed into 3 different cabs (8 adults and 9 kids) and took a mini tour of the town.  The first stop was the De Brazza mausoleum.  Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was born in Rome but later became a French citizen and explored/claimed for France much of the current Republic of the Congo.  He founded Brazzaville (hence the name) at the site of a native village.  In addition to his tomb and those of his family, there were a bunch of journal pages, photos, and drawings on display from his expeditions.  I would have really liked to spend more time there and read it all, but we had to run off to the next stop after 10 min or so. The outside of the mausoleum:

An informational plaque, and doesn't that look like a movie poster above it?  

De Brazza:

The tomb (he died of dysentery pretty young, as you can see):

Apparently he was also a big fan of harem pants:

Next we drove to the new airport, which the cab driver seemed very proud of.  With good reason- it's as nice as any airport in the west.  Apparently the Chinese built it.  Anyway, we looked around for a bit and everyone decided to ride up the escalator, which was quite fun to watch (they don't really exist in Kinshasa). In front of the airport (clearly no one else is paying attention xD):

After that, we drove through the town some more, and stopped at a huge street market.  Brazzaville pretty much looks like Kinshasa but with paved roads.  Oh, and all the cabs are green:

After the market we swung by the Basilica of St. Anne, which has a really neat roof:

It was closed though, unfortunately.  We made it back to the ferry just in time, but guess what?  We had to wait anyway.  Until around 4:30 or 5.  Everyone was in a pretty bad mood at this point, and I'm pretty sure Régine was contemplating beating Stan with the world's largest sucker:

We finally, finally got on the boat, crossed, and waited another 20 min or so for the documents on our side before finally driving home.  It was pretty much a disaster of a trip. Below is one of the big barges that ferry people and goods across and up and down river:

We took one of the small ones though, as it's apparently faster.  Ha!  I feel very sorry for the people on the big one.

A Tale of Two Cities: Kinshasa (part 1)

So, as promised in the last post, here are the rest of the photos/info from last weekend.  Pictured below are two of my new UN friends.  Jones (left) is an Ethiopian engineer and left last Wednesday to Bukavu (over by Goma).  Ricardo (right) is a Brazilian human rights lawyer and left Tuesday to somewhere in the middle of the country that I don't remember.  There was also an Italian, Elisa, who went somewhere near the ocean, though I can't remember exactly what she was doing there.

 And these are some of my mosquito bites.  The other foot also looked like that, as well as both legs below the knee.  I originally counted 87 bites, but now that the swelling has gone down and they've become little red dots and scabs, I've counted 116.  They itched like crazy for the first half of the week, too.

Anyway, backtracking a little bit, last Saturday Delphin and I went to the National Museum.  Apparently it used to be Mobutu's (the dictator from 1965-1997) residence. Well, one of them anyway. The view below is from the entrance.  Kinshasa is on the right and Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) on the left.

 The museum had a bunch of traditional masks, pottery, statues, etc, and information on some of the different cultures.  It was pretty interesting, though small.  There was also a huge statue of King Leopold out front, which I found surprising. It's kind of like having a huge statue of Hitler outside of the Holocaust Museum.  For a history of the Congo and the atrocities committed there, I would highly recommend reading King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. I borrowed Delphin's copy here and read it in two days.  The short version of the colonization and recent history: King Leopold of Belgium managed to finagle personal ownership of the entire Congo. He treated it like a completely unregulated factory for ivory and rubber, and some pretty horrible stuff happened that I won't get into here, some of the worst human rights abuses in history (the population was reduced by half, estimated around 10 million people).  Leopold was essentially forced to give up the country to the Belgian government in 1908, and while the situation improved slightly, it was still one of incredible exploitation.  Eventually the country gained it's independence in 1960.  Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister, but he made the mistake of seeking an alliance with the Soviet Union during the cold war.  With the help of the US, Colonel Joseph Mobutu overthrew the government and executed Lumumba.  He was pretty much the African version of Leopold and held power until 1997, when the leader of a rebel group, Kabila, took over.  Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and now his son rules the country.  Below is a map of all of the languages spoken in the country, as well as the official language of the area (large color blocks/words):

 A map of the different tribes, with Delphin pointing out his:

 Delphin is originally from Kikwit, and Régine's family comes from the Kasai region in the middle of the country.  They don't speak each others' languages, so speak in French and Lingala.  The kids speak mostly French, but are also proficient in Lingala.  Because there are so many linguistic and ethnic groups, the people here like to say that there are no ethnic issues because everyone is a minority. The war going on near Goma right now is actually rooted in the Rwandan genocide. The ethnic violence spilled over with the refugees and now it's the Congo's problem (and all of the Congolese I've talked to are quite upset about the "imported war").  One of Mobutu's chairs:

 Some traditional masks (does anyone else find these really creepy?):

 Yet another mask (check out the photo in the lower left to see the outfits that go along with it. You're welcome for the nightmares):

Anyway, after the museum we drove to a site overlooking the river.  Well, in the rainy season anyway.  In the dry season, a huge patch of land is uncovered and used as a rock quarry:

 A bit closer:

 We could hear the pickaxes clinking, and occasionally a boom of dynamite.  We walked down and climbed over all the rocks to get to the river (really fun, though I'd recommend wearing appropriate shoes/not a dress if you ever try it):

You can't really tell, but there was a giant whirlpool in front of the rocks.  I actually couldn't tell which way the river was flowing!

People swim in the more protected areas between the rocks, but this guy decided that the open river was the place to be.  Nothing like risking death to make your swim extra invigorating:

 I dipped my foot in the water and it was actually pretty warm.  I tried to ask Delphin if schistosomiasis was a big issue there, but I didn't know the word in French.  When I tried to describe it, he thought I was talking about leeches and assured me that there weren't any there.  Well, I still don't know about the schisto, but I'm glad the water's leech free I guess.

 Some of the rocks were enormous.  Hence the dynamite (or other explosive, I don't really know):

Mystery meat and mosquitoes

I've been so behind on this lately! Mainly because the internet is really slow (and also because I forget).  Well, after the bonobo adventure, my camera stopped working.  Just... stopped. It turns on but none of the buttons work and it won't turn off.  So, I'll be sending it in to the company when I get back.  Anyway, all my pictures from here on have been taken with the iphone.  Anyway, as my sex ed class was a hit, I ended up holding open seminars all week.  So many people showed up! The church (where all of these types of things are held) was packed by the end of the week as word spread.  Apparently people are still asking this week if I'll be giving more talks. I'm glad it was so well received. :)  

Some people looking a bit skeptical on the first day:

 Explaining the calendar method of birth control (Delphin translated for me into Lingala. I'm not sure why I was needed, as he could have explained things himself... free publicity perhaps?):

Papa Mwaku translating (plus check out my new African outfit (and the other one above)):

 This is why the sex ed seminars are needed.  This girl is 16 and has a 7 month old baby. Her father died two weeks ago, her husband died last week, and her baby almost died of malaria this week. He's doing fine now though:

This week I spent the first three days doing a mini evaluation of the water and sanitation program and helping (i.e. providing publicity) to inform people of the importance of savings and all of the services the microfinance office offers. Counting money (all of these francs came to about $25):

When we were in Italy, Drew joked about making a photo album titled "Pictures Drew just wasn't ready for".  I think I'm going to make one called "Pictures where Brittany looks like a bird of prey".  Though come to think about it, that would be most of them.

 Anyway, the evaluation results have been overwhelmingly positive so far. All but two families use the water purification method, and the vast majority wash their hands correctly.  Most can't afford one of the spigot buckets, but they've been using a pitcher or something similar to pour clean water over the hands instead of just using the same basin. They also use soap and are aware of when they should wash their hands.  So, go team!  Some water being treated:

I helped out with the nutrition program again Wednesday morning, and helped do the culinary demonstration.  The funding for the program runs out in September, but they're trying to find the money to keep the culinary demos going at least.  It's arguably the most important part of the program anyway, getting at some of the root causes (ignorance, superstitions, etc).  Speaking of superstitions, there's an ad on tv here where they go around with a picture of a malnourished child and ask people on the street what is wrong with it.  Most younger people say that it is malnourished, but a lot of the older people say it's suffering because someone in the family must have done something wrong (morally, I mean). There's also a belief that if you feed children eggs, they'll grow up bald.  A lot of the work here is just educating people.  Stirring the pot (also, people kept telling me I was stirring/mashing/whatever things wrong, then would show me how to do the same thing I was doing. I'm not sure if I was missing some subtlety or what, but I'm pretty sure I know the basics):

Yesterday and today I held a mini training seminar on the planning, organization, and evaluation of community projects.  While they do a fantastic job already, it's good information to have for partnering with other organizations or applying for donations and being able to make reports or plans in the correct formats. Though they'll undoubtedly never read this, thanks to Shannon Sennefeld and CRS for some of the content.  Check it out, I get an acronym! (POEPC)

Also, this little kid was hanging around the clinic and thought my camera was just the coolest thing.  He went around taking lots of pictures of his mom and the mundele:

Last weekend, if you're wondering about the title, I had several adventures.  I'll talk about Saturday in another post due to all the pictures.  Sunday we went to church, as always, then Régine's sister came over and made lunch.  She has a one year old son who has more energy than Stan, though I didn't think it was possible.  Anyway, they make this pasta with meat sauce here that is incredibly delicious.  It has kind of an unusual flavor though, and I couldn't figure out how to make it.  Well, I got to help make it for lunch.  Wow do I wish I hadn't asked.  It turns out it's really simple: boil some onions in oil, then add a bunch of canned corned beef.  Yes you read that right.  Canned corned beef.  There are just no good adjectives there.  Apologies to anyone who eats it, but it's kind of like the caterpillars- good flavor but kind of ruined by the knowledge of what exactly you're eating.  I of course had to eat a big helping of it after (still delicious, though), and kept telling myself it was probably better than hot dogs. I'm pretty much desensitized to any weird food at this point.  Also, I can't stand bananas or peanuts usually, but that is often our snack/lunch at the clinic.  However, the bananas here are delicious.  Not only are the normal ones good, but I've become obsessed with fried plantains.  I bought some plantains today (from a street vendor!  I feel very accomplished) and will try to make them myself soon.  Apparently someone named Jeanine decided to claim one of our bananas:

Also I've trained myself to eat peanuts without feeling sick. Progress! Anyway, Sunday night I was actually social and talked to some of the other hotel guests.  They were from the UN.  I ended up hanging out with them all evening and we even ordered sushi!  Who knew sushi existed here? It was very good too, and delivery!  I think that's the most wasabi I've ever seen in one sitting:

The last few pictures are refusing to load, so I'll have to continue in another post.  One thing I will say, though, is that it's very true that Anopheles mosquitoes like to bite feet and ankles. Wearing a dress and fairly open shoes at night in Africa is a horrible idea.  My legs and feet looked like they had smallpox all week. 

Bonobos!

Last Saturday, we went to see the bonobos.  First, though, I came out of my room to see this bird:

 Apparently it hit the window and the hotel guys attached a string to its ankle.  We decided to take it with us and release it into the forest.  So, it got to ride like this:

 I was very concerned for it the whole way, but it made it and is living happily in the bonobo reserve now. As for the bonobos, wow.  They're so much like us!  They live around 60 years, reach sexual maturity at 12, and have 8 1/2 month pregnancies.  Some of the older ones were almost hairless and looked like wrinkled little old men.  Plus they would stand on their back legs occasionally (including when they threw dirt at us... good times).  There are 67 bonobos in the park in 3 different groups.  There are fences between the walkways and the forest where the bonobos live (and I assume around the entire reserve?), but it feels like we're the ones who are fenced in and there for their entertainment.  Some of them decided to hang out and go swimming:

There's a separate area for orphans they find.  It reminded me a lot of a preschool actually.  Snack time:

The bonobos' diets are supplemented by special fortified milk/protein shakes, and they drink them out of water bottles. It's pretty entertaining.  We came around the time when they pass out the shakes, as the bonobos are usually in the forest otherwise.  There is a smaller cage where the bonobos can come and get their shakes (and check us out too). A mother and her baby:

She reached out and wanted to hold my hand:

Then one of the males decided to try and pull me into the cage. Not recommended:

I watched this guy crack open a coconut on the concrete:

Yay bonobos!

Delphin got one to fist bump him, but I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that.

There were three other families with us who taught at the international school in Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of the Congo across the river).  One was from Cameroon, one from New Brunswick, and one from Kansas!  Honestly it was kind of weird speaking English after so long.  Anyway, The forest here was spectacular!  Just look:

A baby pineapple! So cute:

 A bunch of people were swimming and partying by the river when we left:

 Afterward we went to Regine's sister's house for dinner.  Check this out:

Actually she and her husband and baby live in an apartment in there, but it's in a really nice area.  The husband's grandpa lives in the US and has a lot of money, apparently. The tree in the foreground would be perfect for reading.

That night, we went to a concert at the French Institute.  It was supposed to be some moroccan guy and Papa Wemba, a huge name in Congolese rumba and African music in general. He didn't end up coming, unfortunately, so it was just the moroccan guy.  He was pretty good though, and we had a good time.  This post is already photo heavy, so I'll leave it as is for now and have updates this week tomorrow.