Fishing

fishing on Lake Albert (from USB website)

Flying from Entebbe in southern Uganda to Bunia, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is not for the faint of heart. The flight across the planes and hills of western Uganda at relatively low altitude gives a sense of the contours of African communities. But the amazing part of the trip comes when you come to the Ugandan shore of Lake Albert and begin to see the outlines of steep mountains rising from the Congolese side of the lake. Lake Albert, along with many of Africa's Great Lakes, is formed by the geographic colossus of the Rift Valley, which stretches down from the Red Sea, across Ethiopia, before splitting into the Great Rift Valley of western Kenya and another, westerly Branch, that forms Lake Albert, the dramatic peaks of the eastern DRC border, and the other African "Great Lakes". As our flight came up over this ridge of mountains, the broad planes of Ituri opened up and the city of Bunia began soon spread across the horizon. 

Bunia has near trebled in size since the end of the war in the region in the middle of the last decade. Part of this has been the influx of security through the presence of United Nations peacekeepers. But mostly, this growth has resulted from a combination of urbanization as people from the surrounding countryside move to the city as well as through natural population growth.

Like a lot of smaller African cities, Bunia is spread out with broad, dusty streets and few tall buildings. Many buildings in the city center date to the era of Belgian colonialism. The city center is dusty in the height of the dry season, but neat and orderly, with traffic police in bright yellow shirts directing the modest flow of traffic at the city's main intersection, where the airport road meets Boulevard de la Liberation. Such a name begs the question "liberation from what?" It turns out that the avenue was named Mobutu Boulevard until his downfall in the late 1990s and the "liberation" for which the avenue is named was liberation from the Mobutu regime. 

One of the most striking aspects of central Bunia is the presence of dozens of poissoniers, or shops selling fresh fish. They are everywhere, ranging from tiny wooden kiosks to fairly imposing brick buildings. I'm told that fish is brought by way of a rather treacherous road up the mountains of the rift valley from Lake Albert. Since the 1990s, however, fish has grown more expensive as fish stocks have been depleted on the Congolese shores of Lake Albert. Ironically, much of the fish sold in Bunia is actually imported from Uganda, where it is caught in the Ugandan waters of the very same Lake Albert. Poor fishing practices have led to this decline.

Central Bunia

The Christian university I am visiting in Bunia, Shalom University of Bunia, has a program in fishery management, one of a large number of practical yet deeply rooted programs that have emerged in this remarkable place. In the post-war Bunia, Shalom University, with its sizable campus just off the city center, was one of the few social institutions remaining somewhat intact. Founded in 1961 as a theological school by five mission-founded denominations in Eastern Congo, the school has made a marked transition since 2005 into a vibrant Christian university with faculties of community development, agriculture, theology, business, and a number of other disciplines. These departments are not developed in order to form a coherent liberal arts program. Rather, they were founded because they were perceived to answer a glaring need in society. The whole place is permeated with an ethos of integration of Christian faith with active practices that truly respond to needs. I have to admit, this was the first time I've ever had a conversation about what it might mean to teach about fisheries management in a way that integrates Christian faith. 

Professional internships form a core of every training program at Shalom University. Last year's fisheries students spent several weeks at the lakeshore interacting with fishermen as well as government workers overseeing the nation's fisheries. All lamented the increasingly small catch and the attendant fall of incomes and taxes from fish. Over the course of their internship, the Shalom University students were able to suggest some small but meaningful steps to help strengthen the fish stocks of Lake Albert. Six months later, local officials from lakeside communities were asking the school to send more students for internships, as a noticeable uptick had been seen in fish stocks in those communities. While it will take years or decades for fish stocks to recover from overfishing, something changed. Motivated by a care for their country, a concern for stewardship of the environment, a concern for the good of their society, and some practical knowledge about fish, a few students made a fairly dramatic change. It is this sort of rooted and applied learning, it seems to me, that will help make this world just a bit better place.