Missive from the Congo 006

Originally posted on Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:07:09 +0000 (GMT)

Typical house in most Congolese villages

This week I will briefly cover my trip to what I can only think of as stereotypical Africa. I visited a team site for Military Observers in a small town called Buta. It is about 250 kilometres north of Kisangani. This place is straight out of National Geographic. Almost all the houses are mud huts with thatch roofs. All roads are dirt roads. The chickens, goats, duck and pigs roam freely in the town. You have to be very careful while driving by. You wouldn’t believe how expensive a chicken can become when you run it over.

This town has no electricity, no running water, and no sewage. In fact it has not services at all. There are a few houses that have electricity provided by generators; among them the UN Military Observers house, the diamond dealer’s house and one of the local “hotels”. The UN flies in the diesel required to run the generator but I am lead to understand that a lot of if comes in by bicycle, yes bicycle, from Kisangani which I remind you is over 250 kilometres away on dirt road that are impassable to trucks and cars for much of its length.

Ant hill, or perhaps termites,
in village of Buta

This place is typical of most town and villages in the Congo and much of Africa. It is a niche carved out in the jungle. One interesting feature is the termite mounds that dot the landscape. The one in the picture is about four feet high. Also note the house under construction in the back right corner. Most people are farmers but what that means here is that they walk into the jungle and collect the food that grows naturally (pineapple, papaya, bananas, plantain, palm nuts, etc).

It was a good trip. It made Kisangani seem like a teeming metropolis. Everything is relative.

Have a good week.

John