Dispatches from the Congo – A Journey of Love (Part 17)

By Erin Pohland
Days 20 and 21

Good evening from Kinshasa-

In 48 hours, I hope to be on a plane back to the U.S.  In 48 hours, I hope to get through customs with the help of someone called a “protocol,” who will deal with the paperwork relating to the baby for me.  In 48 hours, I hope to say au revoir to Kinshasa, possibly forever.

But what to do between now and then?

Today, I spent some time packing; I certainly bought more African art than I expected.  Between that and Andrew’s scooter (handmade by his foster family in Goma, and one of Andrew’s favorite things), my suitcases are getting full (even with leaving so much behind…I’m putting my carry-on into one of my suitcases, because Air France is absurdly strict about carry-ons and I’d prefer to not get tagged with another $200 fee to check it at the gate.).  The power has been out for a grand total of about 6 hours so far today, rendering most activities, like watching TV or even doing the dishes (the water apparently comes from some sort of cistern and requires electricity to pump it), completely moot.  I already read the one book that I brought, and I’m not a huge fan of reading on my iPad.  Even when the power is on, TV isn’t a great option; most of the channels are in French or an African language (everything from Yoruba to Swahili to Kirwanda), and the English language channels are random (largely kids’ programming).  And the internet here is maddeningly slow (although J says that it’s pretty fast for a 3rd world country.).  In short, I’m bored.  I’m trapped in this gated apartment complex, which is certainly safe — but it’s also VERY boring.  Andrew took two long naps today, making him unavailable for my general amusement (although he’s less and less amusing, what with refusing to be anywhere but in my arms or on my lap unless he is sleeping).

Even if I were at the hotel, I couldn’t have done much today.  There was a political opposition meeting/demonstration scheduled for today near my old hotel at the 30 de Juin plaza, and I couldn’t have gone anywhere.  Running around from place to place with a hot, exhausted baby and being mobbed by people wasn’t very much fun, but it might actually be better than this (actually, I’m exaggerating.  At least I’m not spending money now.  When I get John for the day, it’s $80.  Then I pay bribes/tips to just about everyone we see, it seems, and I end up having to spend money on something else.  So it feels pretty good to not be hemorrhaging money for the first time since I’ve been here).

I did talk to John today, to ask him to please offer more money to Simon to ensure that I get my exit letter by Tuesday at the latest.  That’s my scheduled flight, and I want to be on it.  If K could get her exit letter around 4:30 yesterday and then be on a plane at 10 p.m., I should be able to do the same on Tuesday (and if I get it tomorrow, I’m just staying until Tuesday.  I have spent so much money in the past 3 weeks that I can’t stand the thought of paying ANOTHER $500 to move my ticket up 24 hours.).   John promised to do his best, and even helped me out with my Congolese cell phone — I was out of minutes, but I couldn’t exactly go out and get minutes without calling John to ask him to come get me (although they sell minutes along the road and just about everywhere you can think of, so I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the guards were selling minutes.  Or I could probably give one a few hundred francs to run down the road and buy some for me.  But at the time that my cell ran out, it felt impossible).  So John bought some minutes for me, and texted me the PIN numbers. When you’re out of minutes, apparently you can get incoming calls and texts but you can’t send them out.  What’s amusing to me is that one PIN number was good for $6.25 and the other for $3.75 (I had asked him for $10).  I have no idea how they’re selling minute cards in such random increments, but whatever — my phone works again.  Of course, he didn’t send instructions for putting the minutes onto my phone, but thank goodness for the internet — you have to enter a long code with lots of *’s and #’s, and then your PIN number.  And all of a sudden, you have credit!  Ahh, the Congo.  I don’t know what life will be like when I go back to the land of monthly billing for cell phones.

Right now, I’m listening to the sounds of a party at the Namibian Embassy next door, and contemplating my Spanish words list for John (I’m teaching him Spanish).  Montana comes tomorrow, hopefully with some homemade pili pili (the local spice blend) for me to take home.  I’m looking forward to a freshly-cleaned place — I’m seeing the need for a domestique here, given the amount of dirt and dust in this city!  The floors are all white marble tile, and they show absolutely everything.  I see lots of little J’s dirt footprints all over the floor — cute reminder of him, who should be in the States by now and meeting his father and two big brothers.  I hope the transition goes well.

So, one more full day to get through — and the 4th of July at that!  Let’s hope that I can celebrate the holiday with an exit letter, aka independence from the Congo!!  Happy 4th of July from Kinshasa!!

Love, Erin & Andrew

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Happy 4th of July from Kinshasa!

I wish we were there to celebrate with everyone, but alas…we’re still here.  With a little luck, we’ll be on our way back to the U.S. tomorrow.

Andrew and I just hung out today.  Montana was here to clean, which was great, since Andrew loves him (and I really was ready for the place to be cleaned)!  He has offered to make Congolese food for Andrew on Wednesday, but I’m hoping that we won’t be here to sample it!

I got an email from Andrew’s foster mother this evening, and in English no less.  I’m not sure how she got access to the internet, or who helped her write the email. I suspect it’s through the church, although Reverend Timothee doesn’t speak much English.  She speaks no English, but it was so sweet of her. When we met, I gave her a thank you note (written in Swahili), along with my email address and some money.  I honestly didn’t expect her to email me, and was very pleasantly surprised that she did. She mostly wanted to check on Andrew and see how we were.  I can’t ever explain to her how grateful I am to her for caring for Andrew.  The way that he’s bonded to me makes it clear that he was very loved.  I am going to try to sponsor her directly through Women for Women International, an organization that helps women rebuild their lives after war. I’d love to help her out given what she has done for me and for my son.

My friend Krista asked me for suggestions for good books about the Congo the other week.  I’ve read a lot, and can recommend a few.  The classic book about the Congo before independence is King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild.  This book is about the horror of Belgium’s colonial rule in the Congo, when unimaginable atrocities were committed in the name of King Leopold in order to exploit the natural resources of the colony.  A more modern book is All Things Must Fight to Live by Bryan Mealer, which deals with the Congolese civil war (also known as the Great War of Africa).  I’ll warn you that both this book and King Leopold’s Ghost are difficult to read, in terms of the sheer violence that is described.  Both are essential reading, however, if you want to understand the Congo. The author and historian Gerard Prunier has an authoratitive guide to the Congo’s civil war (aka Africa’s World War), but it definitely is a dry read.

A more uplifting book is A Thousand Sisters by Lisa Shannon.  The author was inspired by a segment on Oprah on the violence against women in the Congo to start running to raise money for the women of the Congo.  Now, Runs for Congo Women take place all over the country, and thousands of Congolese women have received crucial support as a result.   This book is the story of how Lisa started the run and the charity, as well as her trip to the Congo to meet some of her “sisters.”  This book will inspire you to take action; the statistics about rape and sexual violence in the Congo are astounding.

Before I left the U.S., I purchased a new book that is supposed to be fantastic, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters by Jason K. Stearns.  It’s another story of the Great War of Africa, told from the perspective of a journalist covering it (like All Things Must Fight to Live).  Given that I was on my way to the Heart of Darkness, I didn’t want to read it beforehand — I already knew too much!

I should know by 11 a.m. Congolese time (6 a.m. EST, 2 a.m. AKST) whether or not I’ll have my exit letter tomorrow.  I’m almost finished packing, and I’m ready to get out of town.  Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, we will be on our way to Paris.