Missive from Ottawa

So it’s been two months now since I got back from the Congo. I’ve been thinking about writing something to close out this chapter of my relationship with the Congo for a while now. Last time I wrote my closing remarks from Charles de Gaulles airport in Paris. This time it’s much less timely but better late than never.

The trip home was a long and boring process. Before leaving the mission the UN makes sure that all of the paperwork is in order; that you’ve returned all of your equipment, don’t have outstanding claims against you, that you’ve properly accounted for all of your working days, and so on. You do some of this where you worked (in Goma for me). The final checkout is either in Kinshasa or Entebbe, depending on whether you were posted to the Eastern or Western half of the country. I spent five days in Entebbe Uganda. I’d say I was actively involved for half a day in checkout activities: handing over paperwork proving that I’d returned my equipment and so on, or preparing my return trip. The other four and a half days were spent waiting for the wheels of the UN machinery to turn or the weekend to go by so I could catch my Monday morning flight. There’s not much to do in Entebbe, or nearby Kampala (the Capital). I ran, tanned, and watched NCIS. As a parting note on this topic, if ever you’re in Entebbe I recommend staying at the Boma Guest House. Nice place. Clean. Good kitchen. Friendly and interesting owners.

Buckingham Palace

The next leg of the trip home was via London. I flew British Airways to London on Monday morning, stayed overnight in London and then flew Air Canada to Ottawa. The flights were unremarkable and went well. Pretty much all you can ask for. If I never have another Heineken beer it will be too soon though. It must be the official beer of airlines around the world. Unfortunately the layover in London was too brief. I didn’t get to see much of the city. I did get to have supper in a pub, eat fish and chips, and do my morning run through Hyde Park and past Buckingham Palace. I saw a few other landmarks you hear/read about. I guess a more thorough visit of London will have to wait.

The first half done (that's me on the right)

One of the things I did after getting back was take a short “vacation”. Think of it as a getting to know spouse again trip. In 2007, we went to New York City. This time it was Vegas. As I mentioned in a previous missive, one of my goals upon my return from the Congo was to run my first marathon, which I did. So in addition to shopping and a little gambling I ran the Hoover Dam Marathon on the shores of Lake Mead (about 25 miles southeast of Vegas). My goal beyond completing the race was to come in under 4 hours. I arrived in 3 hours 55 minutes. Mission accomplished.

Meet TaTiana

My other goal was buy a little sports car, specifically an Audi TT. I’ve always liked that car. We rented one in Spain while we were on vacation there in August and that just confirmed that I really liked it. Most CF members get some kind of post-deployment “gift” for themselves or their family when they get back. Last time it was the hot tub and backyard makeover. This time it was Tatiana. She’s not brand new; can’t afford that. But she’s been well cared for and the price was right. My brother says she’s a mid-life crisis car. I disagree. I’m not in crisis and I haven’t reached the mid-point in my life. I plan to live for a very long time you see. I just think of her as a treat for a job well done.

One thing I learnt while in the Congo is that I would not make a good reporter. Nobody said anything but I’ll be the first to admit that my blogging was sporadic, at best. It started off strong and I got regular posts written and then it the energy and drive and posts dropped off precipitously. The same thing happened on my first tour. I now realise that writing the blogs, and finding something interesting to write about, became a chore and that I was good at procrastinating, something Chantal would readily confirm. Anyway, sorry about that.

I write this missive on the eve of the announcement of the electoral results for the presidency. The vote, which took place last week, went relatively well by most accounts. There was some violence and, if memory serves, 28 people were killed in electoral violence. Deplorable but pretty minor in relative terms considering what has happened in the Congo. There have been some reports of vote rigging but again pretty minor stuff by African standards. All good news but the real test will be this coming week when they announce the results. Africans are notoriously poor losers. The signs are not promising this time in the DRC either.

This tour was, for me, generally easier than the last. I pretty much knew what to expect, how things worked and so on. I lived in a different part of the country and got to see a number of new places and sights, both inside and outside of the Congo. The job wasn’t as challenging as my previous tour but it was interesting nonetheless. Speaking of which, lots of people have asked me exactly what I was doing in the Congo. My job was to be Senior Liaison Officer between the UN and the Congolese Army. My area of responsibility encompassed four provinces (Orientale, Maniema, North Kivu, and South Kivu). Within each of these provinces were two majors who acted as local liaison officers. My responsibilities were generally to supervise the local liaison officers and address issues that spanned two or more provinces.

Finally, just a couple thoughts on the experience as a whole. As with last time I met a number of people who I will think of as friends for the rest of my life. I hope they feel the same way. I had the opportunity to visit places and meet people that simply wouldn’t otherwise happen. It was a rewarding experience; professionally and personnaly. I learned/confirmed that as Canadians we are incredibly well off. Frankly we have nothing to complain about. Not even potholes. Will I do it again? I don’t know. There is nothing on the books and I’m not seeking another deployment. I wouldn’t say no but not in the near term and preferably not in the Congo. As a parting comment, I would like to thank everyone for their good wishes and encouragement. And most of all Chantal for allowing me to do this again.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili)

Missives from the Congo 026

First of all, I’ll apologize for the long drought to missives. There are a number of reasons for the delay including a fabulous vacation in Europe, and some less pleasant happening as well. In any event, I’ve only got a few weeks left so I’ll bear down and do my best to become productive again.

So this week’s missive concerns language; specifically the English language. English is the language of this and most UN missions. Most internal communications within MONUSCO are in English, notwithstanding the fact that the Congo is a francophone country. The reality is that English is a much choice for a cross-nationality language between the contingents. However, most of the military and civilian personnel are not native English speakers. Event those persons who speak English fluently often use a grammar and syntax that is difficult to understand and at times incomprehensible; and that’s in writing. When you factor in the accent it’s sometimes very difficult to understand what is being communicated.

All of that is normal and perfectly understandable but it sometimes leads to very interesting reading. What triggered my desire to write this missive is a memo concerning security in Goma which I just had to share. I have transcribed it below.

“Dear All,

The aim of this missive is to raise the awareness of UN staff members about the new criminal trend involving street children with a plausible underhand support of uncontrolled security forces in Goma.

In fact, one incident has occurred recently involving one UN car and a band of street children who used distractive cunnings to draw the attention of the UN driver on the front of the car while another group of street boys attempted to open the doors of the car and steal valuables.

The incident took place at the sight of the security forces that remained inactive and seemed to be the mastermind of the band of thieves.

Nonetheless, all UN staff members especially vehicle users are advised to exercise caution and keep all car doors locked while driving in the City of Goma as the phenomenon of naughty street children has spread all over the city and continue to operate dubiously in connivance with uncontrolled law and order personnel.

…”

This memo is pretty typical. You get the idea of what is being communicated but I would certainly not write this way. Or at least I don’t think I do. I especially like the “distractive cunnings” and the “phenomenon of naughty street children.”

In other instances you get people who just use words that we are not used to. My former operations officer was very fond of the word “intimate” meaning “To make known subtly and indirectly” (ie. Hint). I would “communicate.” I actually changed “intimate” to “communicate” for a while but it kept popping up so I looked it up in the dictionary. It was being used in a reasonably correct fashion so I let it go. This time my pet peeve word is “shifted” in the sense of “To move or transfer from one place or position to another”. The problem I have is that they are referring to people not things. So if a person is medically evacuated they get “shifted” to a hospital.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter much. As long as people understand the message you are trying to convey but it does make for interesting listening.

Missive from the Congo 025

As I mentioned in the last post, there are relatively few recreational activities in Goma. I also mentioned that I would be undertaking one of them this past weekend; namely climbing the Nyiragongo volcano. The ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) is actually pretty well organised. Your expedition starts by booking a spot on the one day or two day tour at the ICCN office in downtown Goma. You can do this weeks or perhaps months in advance. Then, shortly before the expedition you go down to the Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique du Congo and pay the fee into the appropriate ICCN account. You then take the bank receipt to the ICCN and they give you the vouchers for the tour. You can opt to be transported by the ICCN to the base camp if you choose as well, for an extra fee.



From L to R: Régis, Jean-Luc, Luc, Marie-Eve, Jonathan and myself

 We drove ourselves to the volcano base camp. It’s only about 15 minutes north of town. Once there you register with the actual guides. You are offered the option of hiring local porters to carry your bag for you if you want. The porters cost $12 per day, or in our case $24 for the overnight trip. All but one of us chose to hire porters. I hired a porter because not everything I wanted to bring fit in one backpack I had and I didn’t want to try and carry two bags at once. Besides it helps the local economy.

Our group was composed of the four Canadian military members in Goma and two guys from Kinshasa (a Canadian and a French officer). Also on the climb that weekend was a Canadian civilian working for a Canadian charter airline under contract to the UN and about eight Belgians. The Brit who lives with us couldn’t make it because he had to herd a group of 15 Members of Parliament who were on a fact finding trip to Goma.

The trail cuts through the jungle at the base of the volcano. The trail alternates between hard packed earth and what I can only describe as lava rock of varying sizes. The slope of the part was relatively gentle for the first little while and gets progressively steeper. The last segment of the climb is very steep and completely barren. The ground is composed entirely of lava rock and fairly treacherous.

I brought a GPS along to calculate distance and altitude. We left the base camp at 1056 hrs and arrived at the summit 1535 hrs. So our trek took four hours and forty minutes. We stopped four times on the way up to rest, hydrate and get the group back together. Also in those four hours and forty minutes we traveled 7.6 kilometres and climbed over 1.4 kilometres.

The weather for the climb was just about perfect, from a climbing perspective. We had a mix of sun and clouds and moderate temperatures (about 23-24 celcius). So not too hot, not too cold, and no rain. We were still very hot and sweaty from the exertion but that’s unavoidable. The down side of the weather was that the mountain top was shrouded in clouds.

The top of the volcano, as mentioned above, is a barren and desolate place. It was also very windy and cold. None of that is particularly surprising. The lava pool was about 700 metres below the rim of the crater so obviously we couldn’t feel any heat. It was also somewhat difficult to see because of the clouds, and perhaps smoke, in the crater. We had limited visibility when we arrived and for an hour or two afterwards, but it came and went. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the volcano was the sound. There a sound very much akin to crashing waves on the seashore coming from the lava pool. It was quite interesting.

After some a celebrating, and supper, we hit the sack with the promise from the guides that they would wake us up if the weather cleared. I went to sleep quite hopeful since we could see stars above us and occasionally see the lights of Goma below us. The accommodations are in the forms of small buildings with two single beds. Not the world’s most comfortable hotel but certainly better than the tent I expected to sleep in. I woke at about 1 AM to use the facilities. When I went outside I noticed that the cloud cover was even denser than before and knew then that I wouldn’t be getting the picture of myself with the lava background that I had climbed the volcano to get. Oh well.

The trip down the next morning was relatively faster but certainly no easier, at least not at first. Overall the climb was difficult but quite doable. The last kilometre or two are fairly tough because you’re tired, it gets steeper and the air is getting thinner with the increased altitude. I didn’t have a particularly hard time. Having spent two months one mile above sea level probably helped acclimatise me to the altitude somewhat.

The one disappointment was not getting the picture that I so wanted. I guess I’ll have to continue being jealous of Herman and Christina. Chantal mentioned that I still had plenty of time left in Goma and could do it again but at $200 a pop, and the better part of a weekend, I don’t think I will. Besides, there is no guarantee that the weather will be any better. Nonetheless it was a fabulous experience. Not many people can say that they have looked down into the crater of an active volcano.

Missive from the Congo 024



Lakeside at the Chalet restaurant



This week’s missive is on entertainment in Goma. Life in Goma is pretty good, all things considered, and the UN doesn’t work us too hard but some recreation is a necessary part of life. The opportunities, however, are somewhat limited. There are no movie theatres. No bowling alleys, bike paths or ski hills.

 There is a large and beautiful lake but there are no public beaches. In any event the medical folks back in Canada have pumped us full of tales of nasty things (mostly microscopic) that live in the waters of the lake and would like to live in your body. So I (we) treat the lake like a beautiful women. Look but don’t touch.



Karibu Hotel

 There are a couple of pools in town, at two of the hotels. The Karibu Hotel is less than 500 metres from the house. They have a nice pool, serve a buffet in mid-afternoon, and of course cold beer. They charge eight dollars for the use of the pool but don’t have any lounge chairs and the area around the pool is grass. But it’s also relatively quiet place on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The Ihusi hotel is a much larger complex just outside the downtown core of Goma, only a few hundred metres from the border with Rwanda. Its pool is larger and much reminiscent of a North American hotel. They too serve cold beer and food. They have lounge chairs and other seating. They charge ten dollars but are much busier. They have a kiddie pool and a shallow end to the main pool and so draw many more kids and families.



Ihusi Hotel

 There are a number of restaurants around town that we go to. This can be a form of recreation, after a fashion. However, considering we eat lunch at a restaurant pretty much every weekday, and that the menu from one restaurant to the next is pretty much identical, it doesn’t really do much for me.

There are some nightclubs in town though I personally haven’t been to any. The problem is that most of them are out of bounds. Unfortunately the folks in the UN have a considerable amount of disposable income and there are a significant number of them who are in the “men have needs” camp. Prostitution has been, and continues to be, a significant problem in the Congo, though it is hardly unique to the Congo. The UN has taken a number of steps to curb the involvement of MONUSCO personnel with prostitutes. Nightclubs that allow prostitutes to operate are placed on the prohibited list. There is a 6 PM curfew for contingent troops and 11 PM (2 AM on Friday and Saturday) curfew for other UN personnel including military observers. The military police do their best to enforce the rules and the penalty for SEA (Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) violations is generally repatriation.



Umojo at Eastern Region HQ

 The one “club” we do go to is the Umojo. This is the outdoor cafeteria in the headquarter complex down by the lake. Friday night is happy hour and they have a DJ and a bar. Because it is within the headquarter complex, only specific personnel can access it. So no prostitution. The music is generally ok and the atmosphere is festive. Of course, the attendees are generally your coworkers so if you are tired of talking shop this is not the best place to go. Still, not a bad place on a Friday night.

There are also a number of private parties around town. They are typically hosted by international staff working for UN or non-governmental organisations. We’ve even hosted one or two. As you might expect they are by invitation only. The crowd tends to be more varied than at the Umojo. You can meet some interesting people from around the world. Though once again the recreation is mostly centered on music and alcohol.



TV and DVD collection

 Closer to home we have a very large collection of DVDs and a TV to watch them on that's better than the one at home, all courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer. The Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency sends us a regular stream of DVD and magazines as part of the Personnel Support Program (PSP). We probably have the single biggest collection of DVDs in Goma. So we have no lack of movies to choose from. We also have a number of TV series on DVD. I’m almost done with season one of NCIS.

The PSP also funds the satellite TV service we get from South Africa. So we literally have hundreds of TV and music channels to choose from. We regularly watch about five. Pretty typical. It was the same four years ago in Kisangani. Nonetheless we do appreciate the channels we choose to watch.

There are two other more unconventional recreational opportunities that exist in Goma. The ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) offers two tours that you can purchase. The first is to scale the Nyirangongo volcano just outside of Goma. The other is to travel to visit the gorillas in Virunga National Park. Unlike many things in the Congo these are well organised and run expeditions that deliver what they promise. The reason for that is that the ICCN gets to collect and keep revenue that is not diverted into people’s pockets. And the tours are not cheap. The overnight trip to the volcano is $200 USD and the gorilla expedition will set you back $400 USD. However, they are unique experiences. You wouldn’t do them every weekend. Canada House is scaling the volcano next weekend.

So what do I do? Well, a little from column A, a little from column B, and a little from column C. During the week I generally watch a little TV or an episode of NCIS in the evening after supper and workout. I go out to happy hour or a party about every other weekend or so. But most of the time I just relax in the back deck with the housemates, catch a few rays if it’s sunny, and read a book or play cards.

Missive from the Congo 23



Canada House Goma



This week’s missive is about Canada House. The Canadian contingent moved into the current house in December. They moved out of the previous house after a dispute with the owner. Our current house is a large bungalow on Avenue du Lac. The house originally had five bedrooms but a sixth bedroom was created by enclosing a large veranda. As it turns out, this new room is my room. Compared to the house in Kisangani, this house is quite luxurious. I’m not sure how old it is but it certainly wasn’t built by the Belgians’. The house sits on a fairly large lot with a big front yard and room for four cars in the driveway. The backyard has a large garden with tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and a few other veggies. As with most houses in the Congo there is a wall around the entire property. Portions of the wall are topped with razor wire and parts are topped with broken glass. The windows and doors all have steel bar grating.

The house is quite large. As mentioned there are six

Canada House Goma

 bedrooms, five full bathrooms, a powder room. My room has a vestibule that I use as a work area, an on-suite full bath and a large bedroom, of course. There is a huge living room and large dining room. The kitchen is quite small but that is not too surprising. Large kitchens to be used by the home owners to entertain is a North American concept, or at least not an African one. If you can afford this house, you can afford to have a cook. You are not going to lavish a large, well appointed kitchen on the hired help. That’s just the way it is. The floors are all tile. There is an indoor garage though we don’t use it and a small room adjacent to the garage which we use as the gym. Both of these are in the “basement” of the house, at street level.

Living Room

However, as beautiful as the house appears on the surface, it is built in typical Congolese style. The roof leaks so the ceiling tiles are stained and small puddles form in the house. Fortunately none of them form on someone’s bed. The finish is always just a little off. Nothing major, just little things like wooden curtain rods that sag and lock faceplates that aren’t quite strait. The absolute worst though, are the stairs leading to the basement. Stairs are a tricky thing to make. People will notice even very small variations in the rise of a set of steps. People will trip because of a quarter inch variation. The stairs in this house must have been made by drunken lemurs. The rise is different for every step. The shallowest step is 7 ½ inches while the tallest is 12 ½ inches. The runs are not any better. We approach these steps with great care, going up and down very slowly and deliberately.

Dining Room

Naturally the house is connected to the city grid. However electrical service is somewhat variable and apparently not equal for all. I gather they had significant problem when the Canadian contingent moved in in December. A partial solution to this problem was to convince the local authorities, including the Governor, that Canada House was the equivalent of a consular office and should be connected to the same portion of the grid as the Governor’s office. That went a long way to solving the supply problem. Naturally we have a generator as a backup. However, the generator cannot supply the entire demand of the house. So whenever we need to switch to the generator, we need to disconnect the four electrical water heaters. So if we’re out of electricity for a while we also run out of hot water.

Bedroom

The water supply is somewhat more reliable though for a while we had problems with water pressure in the morning. Naturally the problem was that there was no pressure. After several days, and a little serendipity, we noticed that the water pressure problems occurred primarily when the guards were filling the buckets with water to wash the cars, which they did every morning after dawn, or at about the same time as we want to shower. It seems that if the outside tap is on, the all of the water pressure goes out that tap. Fortunately that was a fairly easy problem to solve.

Bedroom

All things considered the house is a pretty good place to be. It’s spacious and reasonably well appointed. Most importantly my fellow residents are a good bunch with whom I get along quite well. And that is something worth its weight in gold.

Kitchen

Missive from the Congo 22

Keeping fit in the Congo. Staying fit while deployed is not just a good thing to do; it’s an operational necessity. People who are fit cope better with stressors such as changes in diet, sleep patterns, etc. Exercise itself is a good stress and tension reliever. Fitness is essential to operational effectiveness.

 

That’s the why of soldier fitness. The how is a little trickier. In a place like Kandahar, you’ll find a huge fitness center with just about every piece of fitness kit you can imagine. With a couple thousand Canadian soldiers alone, it makes sense to have a purpose build facility. However, in the Congo things are little different.

 

As I mentioned in a previous missive, there are a number of private gyms in Kinshasa one can belong to. I don’t know how much it costs but we can get reimbursed for reasonable expenses. To my knowledge there are no private gyms in Goma. There is a small gym at the headquarters which costs $50 a month if I recall correctly. However, apparently it’s locked during the day. After all the UN brought you here to work not workout.

 

In any event, we don’t use that gym. We’ve been provided with a reasonable amount of fitness equipment at public expense. The gym has been set up in a small room in the basement. In it we’ve got a spinning bike, a rowing machine, a weight bench, an assortment of weights, and an exercise ball. There used to be a multi-function workout machine in Kisangani. Not sure what happened to it. The probably figured it would be too difficult take apart and reassemble correctly to bother moving it.

 

Canada House Goma gym

Of course, you can go running if you can find a suitably smooth surface. The streets here are horrible for cars, let alone runners. One guy working at the headquarters goes running on the airfield early in the morning, before air operations start up. The airport is much too far for me but luckily there is a small hotel about 500 metres up the road. It has a sort of ring road which circles the property. I go run there. One lap is approximately one kilometre so it’s a reasonable distance and it has a hill as an added bonus. A word of caution, do not think about the upcoming meeting or you might not notice the rock jutting up on the path and go down hard, giving yourself a very thorough exfoliation of leg, arm and palm. Just saying.

 

Canada House Goma gym

Having the facilities is only half the battle though. Those weights don’t lift themselves. Our secret weapon is Royal Navy Lieutenant-Commander Nick Reed. Nick has spent a lot of time at sea, including quite a bit of time on submarines. He is also a small unit fitness instructor. So he has lots of knowledge and experience with fitness regimes in environments where equipment and space are limited. And he’s a great motivator. So us guys head to the basement three to four times a week to workout. We were four last night. Nick has created a training circuit with weight, abs, leg and arm stations.

  

Here is what the the weights and abs portion of the program looks like:

 

 Depending on how many people are there we’ll do three or four stations. The person doing the weights drives the timing. When they’re done with their 10 repetitions, we go to the next station. We normally do this three times with a minute break between each complete circuit. Takes about one hour, give or take. The room is relatively small and there is no air circulation so we come out of there drenched in sweat. But it’s well worth it. In fact it’s necessary given the diet high in fries, pop and beer. I, for one, don’t intend to gain weight like last time.

 

So that’s the low down on fitness here in Goma. One last point. Goma is almost a mile above sea level. About the same altitude as Denver. In any event, at this altitude the air is somewhat thinner and your body has to compensate by producing more red blood cells. This a significant though somewhat short-lived advance when exercising at lower altitudes. So my personal goal during this tour is to take my extra red blood cells for my first marathon upon my return to Canada. We’ll see how it goes. If nothing else the training will help keep the middle section from becoming too mushy.

 

 

 

Missive from the Congo 021

Feeding Canada House – A tale of two cities. Preparing meals and eating generally is something we take for granted. We all have our different routines at home but generally we shop, we cook, we eat. Pretty straightforward. However all of that is much more difficult here in the Congo. The first thing is to establish the division of labour. The people living in Canada House never lived with each other before. They are thrust together for a few months and have to sort themselves out. Who cooks? Who shops? And for what? All of these things need to be decided in a much more explicit fashion than back in Canada.

Shopping is a real chore. One reason is availability of ingredients. Although you can get quite a bit more stuff in Goma and Kinshasa than you could in Kisangani, it is still limited as compared to Loblaws, for example. Time and space is often an issue as well. Shopping is much more time consuming because you need to go to more places to get what you need and getting from A to B is generally a much slower process than it would be in Canada for similar distances.

Cooking is also a different process. Back home I know that my role is that of sous-chef and BBQ master. Here these roles have to be re-negotiated based on a new situation. The approach to this task is very different in Kinshasa and Goma.

In Kinshasa they have decided to cook supper for themselves (ie. no local cook). And because they are a large group (currently 9 but sometimes up to 12 with visitors) they have a posted duty schedule. The duty cook gets to choose what meal they want to prepare but they have to try and please most of the dinners with their selection. No really off the wall stuff (as far as I know). The cook has to identify the necessary ingredients and pass the list on to the clerk whose duties include grocery shopping. The cook then cooks the meal. This is generally the most challenging part. The kitchens in Kinshasa are small. I say kitchens because the residents are in two adjoining town houses. One of the houses seems to have become the de facto supper house though sometimes the cooks needs assets from both kitchens. The stoves are not the most powerful cooking appliances going. And you need to cook for a relatively large group. Hopefully you have good power when you’re the cook. Otherwise things go pear shape pretty quick. During my stay in Kinshasa I got tagged for one meal. I chose Indian butter chicken. We managed to get all of the ingredients. The meal turned out quite well but cooking it took considerably longer than I had expected because of quantity and equipment limitations. I’d say we ate about 40 minutes later than I had originally planned but I guess the others had a more realistic time appreciation because there was no complaining. The upside of being the cook is that you are excused from clean up duty. And of course you get to eat something you like.

Kitchen in Goma

The folks in Goma opted to get a cook. Our kitchen is somewhat bigger than the ones I Kinshasa. We have two butane powered burners and a small (24”) stove. Apparently the oven works now. And I purchased a microwave oven last weekend. We used to have one in Kisangani, which was purchased while I was there four years ago but I guess it gave up the ghost because it’s lying in pieces in the backyard. At least I think it’s the same one. Charlotte’s daughter Carmeli cooks supper for us. We check off on a sheet whether we will be there or not and she prepares a meal accordingly from a fairly finite set of meal ideas. I’d say there are about 10 meals on a rotation. Generally good but pretty basic. She and Charlotte do most of the shopping. On the weekends were on our own. In those cases we either go out or someone volunteers to cook something. It’s a much more informal arrangement but with a smaller group, we’re 5 in the house, it works.

Butane stove

One last thing about suppers. Meals in Goma are rarely a collective activity. The meal is prepared before Carmeli leaves and sits in the Kitchen. People go in and serve themselves. Some of us workout before supper. Others eat right away. I don’t think we all sit down for a meal at the same time more than three times a week. Again, a much more informal approach. In Kinshasa, they make an effort to all eat at the same time. They also always toast the cook at supper. Everybody has to acknowledge the toast of everybody else at the table, and you have to look everybody in the eyes. Eye contact is essential apparently. Nothing wrong with that I guess, it was just a bit weird. Those Kinshasa folks are eccentric.

As for the other meals, ie breakfast and lunch, the approach is the same in Kinshasa and Goma. You’re on your own for breakfast. Go to the kitchen. Find something and eat it. The maid does the dishes. For lunch people generally go out to a local restaurant. In Goma, the text messages start flying at about noon to see who’s going to be part of the group and where we are going to eat. There is a lovely patio with a fabulous view of the lake at the headquarters. We often eat there because it’s easy, relatively inexpensive, and generally good. There are a handful of other places we go to. The menus are generally similar and they are all uniformly slow. It took an hour and a half to get and eat a cheeseburger last Friday. There is no such thing as fast food in the Congo.

Missive from the Congo 020

This week’s missive is about Rwanda. Last weekend being a long weekend (Easter), five of us drove to Kigali, Rwanda for a change of scenery. In this missive I will discuss some of the similarities and differences between Rwanda and the Congo.

Someone, I don’t remember who, when referring to Rwanda, called it the “Switzerland of Africa”. The metaphor is apt. Rwanda is tiny. It has a total area of approximately 25 million square kilometres or about half the size of Nova Scotia. As with Switzerland, Rwanda’s neighbours are much larger. In comparison the Congo is almost 100 times larger than Rwanda. Rwanda is also very hilly. It is referred to in French as “le pays des milles collines”. The entire west and center of the country is mountains. It took three hours to drive from Goma to Kigali and the entire time was spent climbing and descending mountain passes. As an indication of how much up, down and around the road does, the distance from Goma to Kigali as the crow flies is 106 km but the actual road distance is 155 km. That’s a 50% premium. Needless to say it was an exciting drive in darkness.



New pavement in central Kigali



Having said that, one of the first things you notice the relative quality of the roads. The entire road between Gisenyi (the town on the Rwandan side of the border) and Kigali is paved, as are all the major roads in Kigali. Moreover the pavement is not leftover stuff from colonial days like much of the pavement in the Congo. It’s relatively recent and in good condition. In fact they were laying some fresh pavement while were there. The road east of Kigali to Akagera National Park was also well paved, at least up to the town just outside the park. Now to be fair, the side streets in Kigali weren’t any better than those in Kinshasa. Nonetheless there is a very significant contrast between Kinshasa and Kigali.

The means used to get around town in either city are pretty similar. Generally that involves collective taxis (mini buses), motorcycles and bicycles. The main difference though is quality. The vehicles in Kigali appear to be in good order. The relatively good condition of the roads helps keep them that way I’m sure. There are also a great number of motorbikes, as with Goma. Again the difference is quality. The motorbike taxis in Kigali appear to be regulated. The drivers have jackets with some kind of numbering scheme. All drivers have helmets and a spare helmet for the passenger. No such luxuries in Goma. There were also some “normal” taxis in Kigali. Again no such luxury in Goma and I don’t remember seeing any in Kinshasa.





Public service announcement



Finally, the thing that struck me the most is the language. Rwanda is a former German colony that was part of what was known as German East Africa. Following the end of WWI, the League of Nations declared Rwanda a mandate territory under the control of Belgium. As such, Rwanda became a mostly French speaking country. However, there is now a decidedly English bent to the country. The clerks, wait staff and others seemed determined to speak English instead of French. Public service announcements were in both Swahili (I assume) and English. I saw relatively few French signs, and those seemed relatively older. One of my fellow travelers, who has worked with a Dutch non-governmental organisation, said there was conscious public policy decision to shift to English. English is now taught in schools to a greater degree than French and as mentioned above many of the public service messages are in English as opposed to French. It is apparently intended as a deliberate break from the past.

All in all, Rwanda was a rather interesting study in contrasts. I don’t know how Rwanda and the Congo compared before the Rwandan genocide and subsequent African wars but they have surely drifted apart now.

Missives from the Congo 019

So I've been in Goma for a little less than a week though I've already spent two nights out of town in Bukavu which is at the other end of lake Kivu. Like the other major cities I've been to (Kinshasa, Kisangani, Kindu and now Bukavu) Goma has it's own personality. The first thing you notice is the weather. Goma is 1,500 m above sea level in the mountains of the central African plateau. It is cool here. The average daily high in 25 degrees and the low is about 15 degrees. So perfect weather in my books. There is no air conditioning at the house and you need a blanket on the bed. The altitude also means many fewer mosquitoes though we still sleep under the bug nets.

The other significant difference is the roads. The roads in Goma are atrocious. The is largely because of Nyiragongo, the volcano just 20 kilometers out of town. The entire town is built on more or less recent lava flows. The flows are hard, irregular and jagged. It is very difficult to create a smooth road surface on the lava flows. They cover the base with generous amounts of crushed stone and stone dust but some of it invariably washes away with the rains, leaving potholes with jagged lava rock sticking out. It's tough on the suspension and worse on the tires.

The availability of food and restaurants is much greater in Goma than in Kisangani four years ago. It rivals Kinshasa but at a lesser cost. More on this in a later missive.



Finally, Goma has a more eclectic mix of vehicles on the road. There are many more cars than in Kisangani but not the crush of vehicles you see in Kinshasa. There are also many motor bikes and, unique to the Goma area, chickadoos. These are like oversized wooden bikes mainly used to carry stuff around. Driving is ever a challenge in the Congo. Goma is no different in that respect.

All and all Goma is living up to its' reputation as the best place to be in the Congo.

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Boulevard 30 Juin, Kinshasa

So this is my last day in Kinshasa for quite a while. I take off to Goma tomorrow AM so my impressions of Goma will have to wait until next week. So this week I’ll talk about life in Kinshasa a little more. Last week I said that time seemed to have passed Kinshasa by. While much have remained unchanged in the last four years, after being for ten days or so, I have to admit that there has been some changes. The most noticeable change is Boulevard du 30 Juin. This is the main boulevard in Kinshasa. While is it was one of the better roads fours years ago, it has been rehabilitated with assistance from China. New pavement. New drainage. And new lightposts. It’s as good as any road in Ottawa, actually better than most. There is also construction along an extension of 30 Juin to widen the street and improve drainage.

Collective taxi

Another, more subtle change is in the number of what were referred to by the Canadians four years ago as “spidermen”. These are the guys, and they are invariably men, who hang off the back or sides of the collectives taxis. Four years ago they were everywhere, often four or five to a vehicle. Now I’ve seen a few but they are few and far behind. I mentioned the “spidermen” to my tour guide while on safari in Kenya four years ago. He said that the same thing occurred in Kenya until the government cracked down on this patently dangerous practice. I don’t know if that is the explanation for the change or something else but it is progress of sorts.



One other thing I noticed is that there seems to be more fitness clubs. Four years ago I was only aware of two places; the Grand Hotel and Elais. Now, there are at least two others and perhaps more. There are also bank machines. In fact the banking system has developed to the point there UN staff posted to major cities are now have their mission subsistence allowance paid to a local bank.



So I guess Kinshasa has seen some progress. It still has a very long way to go to be a liveable city for more than an very small minority but some is better than none.

Missive from the Congo 017

So here we go with the first missive of this my second tour to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The trip over was the usual very long day. The icing on the cake, after the seven hour flight from Paris, was the three hour drive to Canada House. This is a drive that normally takes less than one hour. However there was a rugby match which clogged up the only route from the airport tight. A one point there was eight lanes of traffic on a two lane road. The main cause was oncoming traffic turning left at an unregulated intersection. Some things never change.


In fact change does not seem to have troubled Kinshasa too much these last four years. I didn’t spend all that much time in Kinshasa last time but there is precious that appears to have changed. There are still vendors on the sides of the roads selling, watches, purses, clocks, maps, office furniture, safes, etc. In fact, if there is a market for it, you can probably buy it on the streets here.

Canada House "Blue"

One thing that has changed is Canada House. The size of the contingent in Kinshasa increased by two persons so Canada House had to change. The Canadians here currently rent two three story condos in a small three building compound. There are five bedrooms in each house. I am currently in one of the spare rooms on the third floor, at the top of a very narrow and steep spiral staircase, with steps whose spacing is ever so slightly out of whack. It’s clearly a sobriety test.

The introduction course to the mission starts Wednesday and runs for five and a half days. In it I will get to cover most everything I covered previously at least three times with the possible exception of the course on sexually transmitted diseases. They didn’t cover the use of condoms in Kingston. I believe the highlight of this week will be the English language proficiency test. Can’t wait.

Stair to the third floor

Finally, as many of you know there was an unfortunate airplane craft on Monday. I won’t speculate on the cause of the crash. The investigation will reveal that in due course. I will ask though that, should something like this happen again, you not panic or get anxious. There are tens of thousands of UN and UN-affiliated personnel here. The odds that I would be involved in any specific accident are remote at best. It is also likely that I would be unaware of the accident for hours or days and may not have ready access to the internet to post something to Facebook. So relax. Your stress won’t change a thing except make you feel anxious and lose your appetite. There’s no need for that.


That’s it for this week. Next week, first impressions of Goma.