Bingo Bango Bongo
One week and 22 hours into a new country and a surprisingly pleasant introduction to how things are set to be for the next few years. I think its probably time to re-baptise my blogspace, so to all you bohemian frog hunters out there: welcome back and get ready with your wetsuits and blowpipes !
At the risk of disappointing all my adrenaline junkie fellow travellers, this is just not the Congo I was expecting. Two years in the Sudano-Eritrean desert makes any other post conflict setting look a little bit like Surrey on a late summer’s afternoon, strawberries and cream and all!
I am writing from my office in Kananga, the Province of Kasai Occidental in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The office is located within a bungalow that could be described as ministerial were it not for the fact that it needs a little touch of Feng Sui and some magnolia silk paint. Out of the window is a tastefully laid out garden in immaculate condition. The perimeter of the compound is demarcated by a high wall, clad with Bougainville running riot. Out side the compound the ‘City’ of Kananga rolls out in long wide tree lined boulevards, large governmental buildings.. Possibly a Belgian Art Deco attempt at Asmara? The villas of the colonial age are still mostly intact and in spite of no electricity or running water or particularly good road quality, it’s a very attractive town. Downtown you can find a number of decent restaurants, a huge bustling municipal market which is bordered at one end by the railway line (infrequent trains to Mbuji Mayi) and at the other by the big colonial government quarter. They tell me there are a number of places to hang out and dance, although, in a security meeting given by MONUC (the UN Mission to the Congo), they advised against places as being ‘plein de voyoux et putains’ sounds like my kind of place! This it seems is the height of security concerns in Kananga for the United Nations... great job guys!
I am finding it a bit weird being referred to all and sundry as ‘Le Coordinatuer’, I am trying to move towards people just calling me ‘Fergus’, which somehow is a difficult combination of syllables for French/Tshiluba speaking Kasaiyans. The major challenge appears to now be, establishing a strong sense of team here and ensuring that operational structures are in place that will facilitate the efficient running of the programme.
The team is not as big as I expected, about thirty people that I could count, its set to grow though now, with a construction coordinator coming in at the beginning of March and the primary healthcare adviser moving to a new office in Katanga, it looks as if there are going to be plenty of changes here in the coming months. The target of the project: reduced mortality rates in three health zones will be achieved through a combination of constructing better health centres, ensuring the provision of drugs and continued training and capcity building support to the employees of the zonal health authorities. In a way it’s the Sudan project; the same only different.
I have been to visit the thee health zones, again: Ghosts of Sudan, inaccessible places, terrible roads and lots of bumping about in 4x4s; we have a Land Rover here which makes a nice interlude to the ubiquitous Toyotas. Health centres look like they are in need of much support and the morale among health teams is tangibly low, with staff not having been paid for months and months, NGO incentives are the only source of income that many of the health workers have… which begs lots of questions about the sustainability NGO involvement. We are facing the next phase of the project: of making consultations absolutely free, with some small trepidation!
Will endeavour to update this weblog as much as I can, when I am busy maybe slightly less than when things are slack, I will wrap up here saying Come to Kasai! Its not like the rest of the mad house that is DRC, I promise a warm welcome to any visitors.
At the risk of disappointing all my adrenaline junkie fellow travellers, this is just not the Congo I was expecting. Two years in the Sudano-Eritrean desert makes any other post conflict setting look a little bit like Surrey on a late summer’s afternoon, strawberries and cream and all!
I am writing from my office in Kananga, the Province of Kasai Occidental in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The office is located within a bungalow that could be described as ministerial were it not for the fact that it needs a little touch of Feng Sui and some magnolia silk paint. Out of the window is a tastefully laid out garden in immaculate condition. The perimeter of the compound is demarcated by a high wall, clad with Bougainville running riot. Out side the compound the ‘City’ of Kananga rolls out in long wide tree lined boulevards, large governmental buildings.. Possibly a Belgian Art Deco attempt at Asmara? The villas of the colonial age are still mostly intact and in spite of no electricity or running water or particularly good road quality, it’s a very attractive town. Downtown you can find a number of decent restaurants, a huge bustling municipal market which is bordered at one end by the railway line (infrequent trains to Mbuji Mayi) and at the other by the big colonial government quarter. They tell me there are a number of places to hang out and dance, although, in a security meeting given by MONUC (the UN Mission to the Congo), they advised against places as being ‘plein de voyoux et putains’ sounds like my kind of place! This it seems is the height of security concerns in Kananga for the United Nations... great job guys!
I am finding it a bit weird being referred to all and sundry as ‘Le Coordinatuer’, I am trying to move towards people just calling me ‘Fergus’, which somehow is a difficult combination of syllables for French/Tshiluba speaking Kasaiyans. The major challenge appears to now be, establishing a strong sense of team here and ensuring that operational structures are in place that will facilitate the efficient running of the programme.
The team is not as big as I expected, about thirty people that I could count, its set to grow though now, with a construction coordinator coming in at the beginning of March and the primary healthcare adviser moving to a new office in Katanga, it looks as if there are going to be plenty of changes here in the coming months. The target of the project: reduced mortality rates in three health zones will be achieved through a combination of constructing better health centres, ensuring the provision of drugs and continued training and capcity building support to the employees of the zonal health authorities. In a way it’s the Sudan project; the same only different.
I have been to visit the thee health zones, again: Ghosts of Sudan, inaccessible places, terrible roads and lots of bumping about in 4x4s; we have a Land Rover here which makes a nice interlude to the ubiquitous Toyotas. Health centres look like they are in need of much support and the morale among health teams is tangibly low, with staff not having been paid for months and months, NGO incentives are the only source of income that many of the health workers have… which begs lots of questions about the sustainability NGO involvement. We are facing the next phase of the project: of making consultations absolutely free, with some small trepidation!
Will endeavour to update this weblog as much as I can, when I am busy maybe slightly less than when things are slack, I will wrap up here saying Come to Kasai! Its not like the rest of the mad house that is DRC, I promise a warm welcome to any visitors.
posted by Gabriello Princip at 10:24 PM
3 comments
