København Kinshasa - and back

Let it snow...

2007-02-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

Should I be surprised? The whole city is covered by a thick layer or snow, and the de-icing is slowly making it safe to move from one part of the city to the other... But what a sight this morning when I woke up and walked to the office: not a trace, a completelly untouched snow, no cars in the streets, no bicycles and hardly anyone walking...
The beauty of it, the flakes being flown by the strong winds, was enforced by this peculiar feeling that there is hardly any sound.

No doubt about it, the city has a whole different flavour when it is completely paralyzed by snow... I had to leave my motorbike under a huge pile of snow (I am not that mad) and hope it will start again next time I put the keys in.
I must admit that despite being in my 4th year in Denmark, I still feel like it is always a new experience to be walking in the snow. Well, it is only recently that I really experienced the white layer that really stays and does not transform into a mushy muddy brown thing as soon as it touches the earth (well, spoiled French from the South: it only snowed 3 times in the 20 years I spend there... Beware, I might just enjoy starting a snow battle all over!)

To make even more special, the office was completely deserted and an email sent around to encourage everyone to work from home. Nice: here I am, sitting in a café next to my flat, working and drinking green tea... Oh, I am not pretending to be that productive, but it certainly is a nice break in the work routine.

Funnily enough, my mind is associating the full whiteness of the snow storm with images from the desert in Egypt... or last summer in Congo. I guess it could not be more in opposition...

Now it is all fun, but I really hope it to be gone soon: I hate being cold...

Dark of the Sun... or How Congo never really leaves you

2007-02-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

Now that I am back in Copenhagen, it is not that Congo jumps to my mind every 2 seconds... Well, I do think about it a lot, but for various reasons (or a Canadian one...). As I was happily cooking in the evening, trying to forget it is freezing cold outside, the danish tv just happened to show Dark of the Sun, an old movie about mercenaries salvaging some precious gems in the Congo. Powerless peacekeepers, mine companies using their influence to fuel a war... Sounds all too familiar? Just change if from the 60s back to some less far away times and it remains the same... (although it is unlikely the MGM would produce a movie about Congo nowadays)

Already in 2007...

2007-01-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

We already are in 2007, and it seems a whole year has passed in the blink of an eye. 365 days definitelly do not look like much, thinking of it, and it will be even less as I grow older. Still, the past one has proven to be a challenging one. A year of discovery, deceipt and pleasures, happiness for sure and a few suffering that will continue stabing my conscience for a while.

So here I am, back in Copenhagen, happily signing on a new contract that will keep me in the delights and comfort of Scandinavia. Working in development, Copenhagen does not quite strike one's mind as being the place where the MDGs would be challenged, where poverty would be so high, HIV/Aids prevalence so threatening that it would be a black spot on the map towards universal happiness...
No, obviously not: Denmark is definitelly not in a bad shape, at least not on that respect... But it is definitelly much better placed than New York when it comes to dealing with the countries that really fight for development, those who really dedicate part of the GDP to these goals. Copenhagen is no New York either... Not that I can complain, but the snow covering the city this morning certainly made me melancolic, eager for a another place.

After 3 1/2 years, Copenhagen is the place where I would have lived the longest ever since I left the lycée. It feels strange to try to follow on where I have lived, two years here, one there... Yet, despite being my home, the place I could call it as such, I still feel like I am always on the verge of moving away... More than 3 years later and 6 flats later, I am still there.

What is next? If I knew... I still consider Kinshasa as a true experience, not something that fills you with pure delight, happiness and merry souvenirs but one that teaches you a lot about what you belived in, what you thought of yourself. A true self-inspection place in the midst of both chaos of the remnants of civil war, disorganisation of an Organisation that can be so shamefully bureaucratic... and me, who is not the person I thought I would be.

Why? Who would have I hope to be? What was I supposed to do to fulfill my own expectations? How was I supposed to behave to prove I am not just a cynical one happily moving from time to time away from the easiness of the most developped world. After living and working in Tokyo, Geneva, London and Copenhagen, it was high time for me to confront my idealism, naivety and self conscience to the hard reality of what life is... After all, I can sometimes be no more than this international brat, one that is happy to be paid to keep my dreams alive.

So, tough, I realised that competencies and nice behaviour do not come as a standard on people... Left-overs from my education and studies were still pushing me to believe that although people are definitelly not naturally well intended, one needed to have a reason, a rationale for being an pain in the neck, or a plain prick. Surprise, one does not.
Same with the work: I honestly thought that to push further the whole Reform and Harmonization, the inconditional element to not only make sure the MDGs can be reached but sustained, the UN needed to rely on competency, accountability and high moral. That it should ensure to have the best person available in the position. Well, no, not quite that plain and simple.
I saw with awe my naivity being shrugged against the reality, that you can still have incompetent people around, those who give up too easily in the face of perceived hostility... and those who are playing the system to benefit as much as possible from it.

So, definitelly glad to be back... Yet, disappointment comes with a lesson, and I am more than willing to go back, do my best again. May be I just need to distanciate myself a bit more from the environment and be solely result oriented. After all, if I believe in the MDGs, why can't I just keep my focus on what can be done and not let the details, the peripheric, bother me?

And after all, I am no different...

What's in your bag?

2006-09-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

Usually, the content of one's bag (or wallet) says a lot about a person.
So my (non-emergency) green bag contains:
- a pile of -very- smelly Congolese Francs;
- some crispy US dollars (in 10's, not that I walk around with 100's and ask the Shegues for change)
- my blue UNLP and my passport
- a flashlight (very practical to open the door when the guard is not there)
- earplugs / eyemask (you never know when you will need to sleep... nor how noisy it will be around)
- my MP3 player (nothing like Franz Ferdinand to wake me up and head-bang while driving a UN car)
- my camera (small... great for drive-by shooting)
- sunglasses
- Danish stamps, bus card and coins (I have been too lazy to take this out)
- my airmiles reward card (in case we get evacuated to Brazza and relocated to the Méridien, I won't be left in the blue)

Emergency pack

2006-09-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

My flatmate warned me: being a former special force, he was taking the risks of Kinshasa seriously and decided to share his expertise with me. Even better, he opted for preparing my "grab pack" in case things turn sour. The idea was to have a small bag with all the necessary item for spending up to 3 days with no access to safety, let alone food, water and entertainment...

So there it is:
- 2 packs of instant soup
- 2 packs of porridge ("eadable with cold water... Might taste like shit but keeps you full!")
- 3 cans of veggies + 1 of tuna (cans that don't need an opener...)
- 1 can of halal corned beef (that can be exchanged with other goods)
- dry fruits
- gums
- unbreakable plastic glass
- first aid pack
- Swiss army knife
- flashlight and matches
- ... and tampax (not pictured. "Not only can you save the day of your lady friend who may not be as prepared, a tampax is the best aid for gunshot wounds". Hmmm, would would have thought?)

What was missing? Oh yeah, the bottle of Saint Emilion... But I drank the bottle so I had to buy a new one everyday.

Pas de chance...

2006-09-11T02:51:00.000-07:00

When you live in Kinshasa, you cannot expect everything to work all the time... At least that is what I learned: even the trusty battered 4wd refused to start at the end of the evening. May be it had less petrol than I had gin&tonic?

So I called the garage and waited while my friend was talking to her boyfriend on the phone, reassuring him over the "coup de la panne" and being stuck at night with a French.

The future of Congo?

2006-09-06T01:04:00.000-07:00

It was an easy title, I admit: a policeman with his gun on his laps looking a baby in the the arms of the mother who is about to vote... I guess that was what made me so optimistic on that day, when the country queued to cast their ballots.
After all, not all development workers turn cynical...

Do you feel secure?

2006-08-31T02:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to training programme put in place by South Africa and Belgium, the Congolese police is supposed to manage riot control and demonstration dispersion. I took this photo in front of the CEI, on avenue Lukusa, on my way to Elaies...
Maybe it's because in France, facing riot police is part of all university curriculum, but I wonder who are the most scared: the police or the few demonstrators (not on the picture though: there was hardly anyone in a 10 meters radius, beside the 2 guys happily passing behind).

Seeing is believing...

2006-08-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

When those posters appeared on the streets of Kinshasa, before the elections, it sounded like naive goodwill - or a gesture to the worried international community. After last week fightings, there is definitelly a sweet taste of irony in the message "à bas la violence".

Some blue (and white) in the streets

2006-08-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

It was an unusual feeling when, driving on the Boulevard du 30 juin, we were overtaken by a convoy of white UN armoured vehicle. The big gun in the front is also a change from the usual APC, let alone from the usual fleet of MONUC white Toyota 4Runners flowing on the streets of Kinshasa...

At least the message is clear

2006-08-28T02:27:00.000-07:00

This is the main gate of Bracongo, the brewery that produces most of what is drunk in Congo. I guess beers and guns don't match that nicely.

Who will shoot first?

2006-08-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

This is when you hope there is no misunderstanding and that taking a picture will not be considered an hostile act.

Soldiers in the street

2006-08-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

This is taken from the former Embassy of Yugoslovia (or ex-Embassy of ex-Yugoslavia), in front of the residence of the Auditeur militaire and next to one of Bemba's residence. There are always guards and armed militiamen walking around, casually holding their AK-47. Occasionally, the gun is the way to settle a dispute between guards...

At least this is better then when the house guard is armed with a rocket-propelled grenade!

Leaving Kinshasa

2006-08-24T02:21:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago, I left Kinshasa with the feeling that everything could work out there. The elections had happen without major trouble, people had been happy to be able to vote, for the first time in 40 years...
Too bad that the last few days are just a harsh reminded that, whatever the issue, there will always be spoilers waiting to derail the process.

3 months in the Congo and, surprisingly, I miss it a lot. Being back in Copenhagen, the difference is too obvious to be able to re-adapt. Definitely a tale of two cities... From the heart of Darkness to the rotten kingdom of Denmark (Shakespeare said it, not me), let's see if my mental sanity will last long.