Missive from the Congo 018

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.