Relatively Historical Event
Relative to every day, the violence is not historical. That’s a “normal” aspect of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today, the country is supposed to hold the first “free” elections in over 40 years. And in spite of the atrocities that happen here every day, the rape and pillaging, the impunity, and on and on, the media have finally decided to give some attention to this, the third largest country in Africa. Is this right?
One candidate, Mobutu’s son, said that his father would win if he was alive because, as he put it, the Congo needs leadership.
Bemba was described as 2-meters tall, 160 kg with his own Boeing 727.
As bizarre, or benign, as this might seem now, it's the aftermath that I fear.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
You did it MY WAY (apologies to Frankie Sinatra)
Why does one get into overseas relief and development work? There is an altruistic vein running through some of us. There is also a hedonistic vein, in some of us, having once experienced the excitement of being in another country and culture, exploiting the “aura” of being an American/vazaha, gringo, khawaga, mizungu, whatever, that it is a lot of fun to see the world from a different perspective, and to enjoy from another, as well.
In any case, the point is that once a “development” action has been put in place in some forsaken place in the world, there are consequences on other aspects of day-to-day life in the village. For example, some well-meaning soul sees water-borne diseases causing many deaths in some very remote village next to a wilderness area. Immediate response: deliver healthcare services that will save lives. What is the chain of possible events? Well, people, in their living state, consume resources to survive. If people die, the birth rate may be offset, and the number of people remains stable. If, because of improved access to health services, less people die, then there are more people seeking resources. Most rural-based populations subsist on the natural resources that are at hand. In this example, it would be the wilderness at their proverbial doorstep. All of a sudden, the conservationists are up in arms because the rate of deforestation has increased because need to grow more crops to feed their ever-increasing families. In turn, the deforestation causes sedimentation and degradation of the quality of the water sources, hence an increase in water-borne diseases. So, the government, backed by a Big International Non Governmental Organization (a.k.a., BINGO), restricts the local villagers’ access to the wilderness that has sustained them for centuries. Outcries of social injustice sound, armed militias might come in, depending on what type of resources (timber, gold, etc.) might be found in our wilderness, and we spin forlornly into a crisis situation.
Of course, the “well-intentioned” donor, albeit an individual or a government, would not invest any money unless they feel the identified problem is important enough to merit attention. But how do the different issues take on such different levels of importance depending on who observes? The mid-90’s genocide in Rwanda was “important enough” for the USA to look away… The ongoing an worsening crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo has not drawn much attention from donors.
Some of the factors that earn a given situation a good ranking might include:
Simplicity: if we throw money at it, will it go away?
Reputation: if we don’t throw money, will it damage our image?
International economics: would our resolving this increase / secure our access?
Domestic economics: “what this economy needs is a war”
Whatever the reason, money talks.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
DON'T JUST SIT THERE!
Did you ever wonder about why things are as they are? Or why we see atrocities in other countries but not in our backyards? It's all a manifestation of human nature. In the end, we're all screwed, but we can at least get some satisfaction from understanding and anticipating human behavior.
I just had a series of conversations with a colleague from Ghana who is in on a temporary duty assignment with us in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is based in Kindu, and I have to admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Kindu because I spent three weeks there in April 2004 on a short-term contract. The interesting aspect is that, for some reason, Africans think that there is little variation in conditions, customs, and context between the different places on the continent. Then they either come to the DR Congo (for the foreigners) or they take a trip to another country in Africa (for the Congolese), and it is like a slap in the face for them when they see the differences.
For example, a few of our staff in the Finance Department spent a week in Nairobi for workshop recently. Now, Americans sometimes refer to Nairobi as “Nairobbery” because of the crime rate and the frequent theft of items from baggage in the Kenyatta Airport. But these Congolese staff came back wondering why their country could not be at least equal to Nairobi. Why were the differences so stark and obvious? Kenyatta Airport is relatively clean. Ndjili Airport in Kinshasa is a shit hole relative anything but a sanitary landfill. And the airport staff are the equivalent of the scavengers in the dump.
So, getting back to my conversations with my Ghanaian colleague, whenever we spoke of some glaring injustice or downright shitty conditions, I found myself frequently shrugging my shoulders and saying that it was normal, with the qualifier that “normal” is relative to the context. Normality has many implications.
In Egypt, a largely (+/- 90% of the population) Muslim country, a discussion with my staff led us to the following: A man slaps his wife around every other day. So, it is normal. Does that make it right?
In southern Maniema province in the DRC, a baseline study found that at least 1/3 of the women had been raped, and that to visit family members in the local jail (families must provide food), they usually are subjected to rape. It’s just normal.
I just saw an article in the news that a “political party” in the Netherlands (Neverland?) wants to lower the age for females to become prostitutes from 16 to 12…Normal?
It’s all relative, I guess, depending on your frame of reference.
Another colleague, a Kenyan, was with me in a small Cessna airplane. As we flew into Kasongo in rural southern Maniema, he asked if we would see any animals from the plane as we landed. Well, just outside of Nairobi, there are game / safari parks and you may see giraffes or other wildlife from the plane as you come in. Personally, it had never occurred to me to look for animals in any space touched by the Congolese. They’d have eaten them all already. For example, on a return trip to Kinshasa in the same small plane, as we taxied up to the hangar, we saw five boys attacking some brush with sticks. They were hunting field mice…in an urban environment…so, I guess that makes them rats. Normal, or maybe not, because tonight, they were putting MEAT ON THE TABLE!
This is the first country where I have worked that does not habitually use a reference to God or some superior being. You know, the Muslims say, “Insha-allah,” the Latin Americans, “Si Dios quiere,” the Malagasy, “Manenteina,” and on and on. Here, it’s “Débrouillez-vous.” Loose translation: “It’s your problem, deal with it!” How could they possibly have any social cohesion in this context? However, sometimes I see a sort of “community spirit” when the Kinois (people of Kinshasa) gang up on foreigners who have been obliged to stray into their domain. But I am never sure about whether the spoils are actually shared or just shown off as a sign of superiority. I had a conversation once with a boy of 11 years old who had been demobilized from a militia. He said he had no problem to break into a neighbor’s home, killing him if necessary, to rob his riches if they were relatively abundant as compared to those in the community. I then asked him how he would feel if he was the one with the abundant resources. He replied that he would have already distributed his wealth to others. HA! I may be jaundiced on this, but once he has his hands on it, he would only spread it around to increase his position in society, and he would make a big deal of his “generosity”, no less.
People aspire to be like those they envy. Their degree of moral flexibility is probably directly related to their degree of poverty and desperation. The powerful ones here get away with so much it sickens me, and makes me want to leave, after smacking them in the face, of course.
One of the most frustrating aspects of working here is the impunity that will impede any changes at the necessary level to get rid of the thieves at the top. I enjoy my work because the objective is to work myself out of a job. It’s something to aspire to. And it is particularly gratifying to see someone who has learned and taken over, in a competent manner, the work you so diligently performed, and you can walk away and not feel that things would fall apart as soon as the door slammed behind you.
Did you ever wonder about why things are as they are? Or why we see atrocities in other countries but not in our backyards? It's all a manifestation of human nature. In the end, we're all screwed, but we can at least get some satisfaction from understanding and anticipating human behavior.
I just had a series of conversations with a colleague from Ghana who is in on a temporary duty assignment with us in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is based in Kindu, and I have to admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Kindu because I spent three weeks there in April 2004 on a short-term contract. The interesting aspect is that, for some reason, Africans think that there is little variation in conditions, customs, and context between the different places on the continent. Then they either come to the DR Congo (for the foreigners) or they take a trip to another country in Africa (for the Congolese), and it is like a slap in the face for them when they see the differences.
For example, a few of our staff in the Finance Department spent a week in Nairobi for workshop recently. Now, Americans sometimes refer to Nairobi as “Nairobbery” because of the crime rate and the frequent theft of items from baggage in the Kenyatta Airport. But these Congolese staff came back wondering why their country could not be at least equal to Nairobi. Why were the differences so stark and obvious? Kenyatta Airport is relatively clean. Ndjili Airport in Kinshasa is a shit hole relative anything but a sanitary landfill. And the airport staff are the equivalent of the scavengers in the dump.
So, getting back to my conversations with my Ghanaian colleague, whenever we spoke of some glaring injustice or downright shitty conditions, I found myself frequently shrugging my shoulders and saying that it was normal, with the qualifier that “normal” is relative to the context. Normality has many implications.
In Egypt, a largely (+/- 90% of the population) Muslim country, a discussion with my staff led us to the following: A man slaps his wife around every other day. So, it is normal. Does that make it right?
In southern Maniema province in the DRC, a baseline study found that at least 1/3 of the women had been raped, and that to visit family members in the local jail (families must provide food), they usually are subjected to rape. It’s just normal.
I just saw an article in the news that a “political party” in the Netherlands (Neverland?) wants to lower the age for females to become prostitutes from 16 to 12…Normal?
It’s all relative, I guess, depending on your frame of reference.
Another colleague, a Kenyan, was with me in a small Cessna airplane. As we flew into Kasongo in rural southern Maniema, he asked if we would see any animals from the plane as we landed. Well, just outside of Nairobi, there are game / safari parks and you may see giraffes or other wildlife from the plane as you come in. Personally, it had never occurred to me to look for animals in any space touched by the Congolese. They’d have eaten them all already. For example, on a return trip to Kinshasa in the same small plane, as we taxied up to the hangar, we saw five boys attacking some brush with sticks. They were hunting field mice…in an urban environment…so, I guess that makes them rats. Normal, or maybe not, because tonight, they were putting MEAT ON THE TABLE!
This is the first country where I have worked that does not habitually use a reference to God or some superior being. You know, the Muslims say, “Insha-allah,” the Latin Americans, “Si Dios quiere,” the Malagasy, “Manenteina,” and on and on. Here, it’s “Débrouillez-vous.” Loose translation: “It’s your problem, deal with it!” How could they possibly have any social cohesion in this context? However, sometimes I see a sort of “community spirit” when the Kinois (people of Kinshasa) gang up on foreigners who have been obliged to stray into their domain. But I am never sure about whether the spoils are actually shared or just shown off as a sign of superiority. I had a conversation once with a boy of 11 years old who had been demobilized from a militia. He said he had no problem to break into a neighbor’s home, killing him if necessary, to rob his riches if they were relatively abundant as compared to those in the community. I then asked him how he would feel if he was the one with the abundant resources. He replied that he would have already distributed his wealth to others. HA! I may be jaundiced on this, but once he has his hands on it, he would only spread it around to increase his position in society, and he would make a big deal of his “generosity”, no less.
People aspire to be like those they envy. Their degree of moral flexibility is probably directly related to their degree of poverty and desperation. The powerful ones here get away with so much it sickens me, and makes me want to leave, after smacking them in the face, of course.
One of the most frustrating aspects of working here is the impunity that will impede any changes at the necessary level to get rid of the thieves at the top. I enjoy my work because the objective is to work myself out of a job. It’s something to aspire to. And it is particularly gratifying to see someone who has learned and taken over, in a competent manner, the work you so diligently performed, and you can walk away and not feel that things would fall apart as soon as the door slammed behind you.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Something I really like about working overseas is the chance to visit places that you only see in books or movies. But having been in the DR Congo for more than 18 months now, I find myself wishing to live someplace where I am not pissed off from the moment I leave my apartment at 7 AM until I get home at 7 PM. This place really sucks. On a recent trip back to Madagascar, one of my former mentors reminded me that if there isn't a single thing that I like about the place, between work, social life, environment, etc., then it's time to get out.
Maybe it is time to hole up in the shack we built in NE Madagascar. Decision-time is fast approaching.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
On one of my trips to Madagascar...
Geez, I came across an old, old file that should (not?) have posted long ago. Abouy…
02 July 2005
I don’t know if I’ll ever get this posted, never mind all the earlier ones that are lurking somewhere on this computer. I’ve been on a “vacation” to Madagascar, and things have gone incredibly well. Primarily, I am speaking of the travel. Air Madagascar, the perennial nemesis of the traveler, has given us spots on flights, people in Antalaha, Maroantsetra and Tana have gone way out of their respective ways to help us out. I am hoping that his is payback for some good things I might have unwittingly done during my five years here, and not the proverbial luck that comes and goes.
I try to repay favors and others’ kindness with random acts of kindness, but I never know if I am credited. There was a Kevin Spacey movie, called something like “Pay It Forward,” in which one built up good fortune by not asking anything in return for kind acts. Not a great flick, but the idea may have merit. It touches on religion, do-unto-others,
The other day in Antalaha, we were with the priest who performed our marriage ceremony. As we walked through his church, which was under renovation, I told him about how I left the Catholic church when I was 17, and how in spite of my belief in God, I saw little value in organized religion. My wife later asked me how I could say such a thing to a priest, and I told her that this particular priest and I talk like friends who understand each other. He seems to understand that I have no interest in being “devout,” yet I dedicate my efforts to helping people in need through my work.
02 July 2005
I don’t know if I’ll ever get this posted, never mind all the earlier ones that are lurking somewhere on this computer. I’ve been on a “vacation” to Madagascar, and things have gone incredibly well. Primarily, I am speaking of the travel. Air Madagascar, the perennial nemesis of the traveler, has given us spots on flights, people in Antalaha, Maroantsetra and Tana have gone way out of their respective ways to help us out. I am hoping that his is payback for some good things I might have unwittingly done during my five years here, and not the proverbial luck that comes and goes.
I try to repay favors and others’ kindness with random acts of kindness, but I never know if I am credited. There was a Kevin Spacey movie, called something like “Pay It Forward,” in which one built up good fortune by not asking anything in return for kind acts. Not a great flick, but the idea may have merit. It touches on religion, do-unto-others,
The other day in Antalaha, we were with the priest who performed our marriage ceremony. As we walked through his church, which was under renovation, I told him about how I left the Catholic church when I was 17, and how in spite of my belief in God, I saw little value in organized religion. My wife later asked me how I could say such a thing to a priest, and I told her that this particular priest and I talk like friends who understand each other. He seems to understand that I have no interest in being “devout,” yet I dedicate my efforts to helping people in need through my work.
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