My experiences of Congo

The following is an attempt to capture just a few of the sensations of my time in Congo... a very limited experience of a tiny bit of a vast nation. 

The Sounds of Congo 

1.  Motorbikes - car traffic in Bunia and Beni seems to be limited to large white Range Rovers, most pained with a large "UN" with the rest painted with the logo of a multi-national NGO. Motorbikes (les motos) constitute the majority of the vehicles on the road. I'm told that a Chinese-made motorbike can be purchased for about US$200. There are also official "moto-taxis," for transport within towns and to nearby communities. Taxi-drivers wear special silver vests. Many of them turn off the motors when going downhill in order to save petrol, starting their engines again as they coast up the next hill. The buzzing of these bikes is everywhere.

A dusty road in Beni (forgive the poor photography)

2.  Electricity - or rather the sounds of problems with it. While Bunia has a municipal power plant built in the 1960s that operates at 10-15% capacity, Beni and the other areas between Bunia and Goma (several hundred miles) has no public power grid whatsoever. All power comes from generators and is usually available for just a few hours each evening. The place where I stayed alternated between their own generator and "community power," which was a larger generator shared by several homes in the area. There is a strange little buzzing sound that precedes a "cut in the current," often followed by the revving of dozens of engines as generators kick in. 

3.  Singing - I don't know that there have been many moments between 7 am and 11 pm where I haven't been able to hear some kind of music, either African pop played out over speakers from street kiosks, worship services of some type or another, or sometimes just a circle of women standing under a mango tree singing their hearts out. 

4.  Cell phone ring tones - Most people I've met in Congo in any position of leadership seem to have 2-3 cell phones (I've yet to quite figure out why). Sometimes multiple phones ring at once. Congo is a great example of a country that has "leapt over" landlines directly to a mobile age. 

5.  Birds - I've seen a greater variety of birds here than almost anywhere else. 

A view of Beni, North Kivu, DRC

The sights of Congo

1.  Colors - although almost all of Africa is known for its beautiful, colorful cloth, I don't think I've ever seen dresses with accompanying head-gear quite as beautiful as I've seen in Congo. These tall ladies in striking colors are especially thick along the sides of any road, often with a baby on their back and/or some sort of cargo balanced on their head. 

2.  Green and Brown - it is the dry season in Eastern Congo (although everyone agrees that the once certain lines between these seasons are growing blurrier; few in Africa question the reality of climate change). Roads are dusty and red dust covers my shoes every day. But in Beni, a bit further south into the forest zone, the verdant tropical greenery is everywhere -- the kind of greenery and lushness that appears ready to jump out and wrap a vine around you at any minute. 

Dusty Red Shoes

3.  Mountains - the vast region of Eastern Congo is filled with mountain ranges. The Rwenzori Mountains form a spine near the Ugandan border, part of the Great Rift Valley geographic formation. These mountains are often covered in wispy clouds in the morning hours. 

Another vista in North Kivu

4.  Crumbling edifices - what the economic collapse of the Mobutu regime didn't ruin, the great Congolese wars did. Congo is littered with shells of Belgian colonial architecture and later buildings. In the city centers of Bunia and Beni, many of these buildings are being restored and revitalized. 

5.  Billboards (sort of) - Bunia appears to be a "one billboard town." It is located right outside the exit from the airport. One side advertises a bank, the other side, beer. Beni has a few more, nearly all of which appear to be advertising beer. 

6.  International Agencies - the United Nations has one of its largest missions based at Bunia with another large base at Beni. Most of the UN soldiers appear to come from South Asia and Latin America. The black-and-white UN vehicles and airplanes are everywhere, as are many aid/development organizations, such as the Red Cross, Médicines sans Frontières, and many others. Most of the Congolese I met with did not hold the work of most of these large agencies in very high regard. 

The smells of Congo

1.  Wood smoke - hardly unique to Congo, the air is (rather pleasantly) tinged with the scent of woodsmoke, both from cooking fires and the burning of brush on farms. Partly due to the lack of steady electricity and/or gas and partly out of appreciation for traditional modes of cooking, most Congolese cook over home-made charcoal -- a laborious, all-day process (that is also having major ecological impact). 

A Charcoal Stove

2.  Flowers - even in the dry season, there are lush flowers blooming everywhere. This country is remarkably blessed with natural abundance. 

3.  Coffee - the areas around Beni and Butembo in North Kivu were once major coffee-producing areas. This industry took a double hit from the Congolese wars and a leaf blight that hit the crop in the early 1990s. It is slowly recovering, and the local coffee is excellent. 

The tastes of Congo

1.  Banana - in all forms (raw, cooked, and mashed), all types (sweet bananas, as in the US, and starchy plantains), all colors, shapes, and sizes. You see on the road huge trucks of bananas coming from the countryside into markets, often with 10 or 12 farmers sitting on top of the bananas. Fried plantains (usually accompanied by fried potatoes - frites - and/or rice are usually served with some kind of stew). 

Fried Plantains and Frites

2.  Greens - manioc root often serves as the starch staple, with manioc leaves serving as the green stew on top. 

3.  Sambusas - the South Asian influence on East African cooking penetrates even as far as the Eastern Congo, with Sambusas (basically samosas) and chapati being common dishes, often sold along the streets and roads. 

Making Sambusas in Beni 

4.  Tropical fruits - it is hard to adequately describe the bounty of passion fruit, papaya, pineapple, oranges, and other tropical fruits in this part of the world. Sadly, February-March is one of the few times of the year when mangoes are not plentiful. 

5.  Mayonnaise - the Belgians left many legacies in Congo. Perhaps one of the more benign was an appreciation for mayonnaise, which along with red-pepper sauce (piment or peri-peri) is a staple on the table. 

The feel of Congo

1.  Dust - it is the dry season, and dust is everywhere -- in your shoes, in your lungs, in your hair. 

2.  Breezy - even on hot days, something shifted in mid-afternoon as cool breezes kicked up and the atmosphere grew more and more pleasant as the sky grew golden about 5:30.