Butembo! When the visitors come the internet leaves.

August 6, 2013

Butembo!

The longer I live in North Kivu the safer I feel, but I continue to encounter new challenges.

I have two high level guests visiting me on Sep. 10^th posting this only after the trip is over to insure their security. 

There are two main telecommunications providers in Butembo (Airtel and Vodacom)- their logos plaster half the buildings in the city. Occasionally one of the two networks will go down so most people have two phones. However, three weeks ago both networks went down and they have yet to come back. The city’s productivity has come to a standstill due to the lack of infrastructure.

Everything was set for the arrival of the two guests but when I was out of contact for two days, everything fell apart. Fighting between rebels and Congolese troops flared up in a southern portion of North Kivu and a blanket no travel directive was issued for the entire province. When staff couldn’t get in touch with me, a staff member suggested they scrap this portion of their trip.

Luckily, I stepped into a local hotel that just happened to have one of the very few satellite connections that was operational. When I read the email suggesting the trip to visit Butembo be scrapped, I went into crunch mode….

I found the new and very small third network in the city (Orange). With this new provider I was able to contact 2 of the 45 people saved in my phone. But more importantly I was able to prove that not all communications were down in Butembo.  (Two weeks later this small provider is inundated with new customers and the network is congested). 

Next, I had to scrap the idea for the luxurious hotel I helped select for the guests,  and instead changed their reservation to the hotel with the highest level of security. Hope they enjoy brown water with bars on every window!

I thought I made it through the worst of it when the trip was confirmed “go”.  However the past two weeks have been a logistical nightmare. Every single one of my contacts now has a new cell number that I do not know. Planning a tour of the local university requires me to be in contact with dozens of people. To top it all off-  a virus on my computer deleted two papers I have been working on, my credit card was turned off, AND the university’s electrical grid is down. I have two days to hope these problems work themselves out. I have a million things to accomplish and I only have two days left to plan for my guests arrival.

Plus, the city was hit by a huge hail storm today. The hail was a beautiful nightmare- blanketed the city in what looked like snow but hail destroys crops.

Butembo!!! 


Update: The two guests where former ambassador to South Africa and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs: Jendayi Frazer and my boss and RPCV: Dr. Ed Price. For security reasons I kept the names of my guests to myself. I just kept telling UCG administrators- "better have your camera charged!" 

Dr. Frazer and Dr Price center