Video of Butembo

I'm about to board my flight back to D.R. Congo. Before I write about my great vacation, I'm going to take advantage of America's amazing high speed internet.... I hope you enjoy this video. This is the main street of commerce. 

Congo Update

It’s been months since I wrote a blog entry. I’m waiting on some paperwork so while I’m waiting I'll just keep writing- Excuse the grammar.

These guys are just outside of Butembo.

I’m still in the DR Congo.

Former Ambasador to South Africa Jendayi Frazer (middle) traveled with us.

Last month, I took part in Texas A&M’s institutional assessment in the DRC. We visited about 13 institutions (mostly universities). Our team of 3 traveled to Butembo, Beni, Kinshasa, Kisingani, Bukavu and Goma. I have no idea why but we were told to have low expectations.  We found the quality and dedication of professors was incredible. Considering the context, I was extremely impressed.

Last week I traveled to the capital of the DRC (Kinshasa) to take part in a agricultural development conference. The conference was intended to impart confidence in investors but between the power outages, late starts and missing Congolese dignitaries, some people might have left with a negative perception. But the day before the conference, the M23 rebel group surrendered. I bet the Prime Ministers absence was attributable to that. If I were an investor, satiability in the country is more important than power and it’s definitely excuses his absence.

Flight from Goma to Kinshasa

This is the type of plane I take to Butembo and the last time I took it I was the only passenger!

During the conference I enjoyed meeting with the provincial ministers of agriculture. They are down to earth and approachable. They always seem genuinely interested in the work I’m doing.

Minister of Agriculture for North Kivu Province. I'm clearly a lot more excited to meet him than he is to meet me!

I was very sick during the conference so I didn’t get to enjoy the huge free buffets, ice cream, or open bar (ok being sick didn’t stop me from making myself more sick with ice cream). I went to the meetings, took notes and crashed each night.  If you are going to be sick anywhere in the Congo a nice hotel with AC, internet and TV is not a bad place to do it.

That huge container is filled with ICE CREAM! I'm eating with Dr. Makia! 

Bugs are in season in Butembo. BUGS. I’m not sure if they made me sick but I think I’ve had my fill. My neighbor has a large homemade trap for the bugs. It consists of reflective metal and a very very bright light. The light attacks the bugs (moths and grasshoppers) and the metal sheets funnel them into bags where they are collected. Throughout the night I hear kids laughing and screaming as they collect the bugs.

Bug Trap

Ladies selling bugs. They sang as I ate my first one. It tasted like it looked. 

One of the four types of bugs I have eaten. 

I’m currently assisting Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service and the University Catholic of Graben (DRC) develop two research projects- sever malnutrition recovery and child soldier reintegration. We are still in the preliminary phase of research that consists of obtaining information.

I asked UCG to provide me with four students to work with. This could be one of my best ideas or worst. I hope to learn more about the university, train people to assist me with data collection and maybe delegate a little bit of work. I hope the students gain valuable experience while having some fun. Everyone that has worked with me before knows the having fun part is not the concern : ) Motivating the team to work without financially compensating them might prove to be difficult. Last week I had my first meeting with the students and I was impressed- two agronomists and two medical students.

Picture of me with the four students I will be working with.

During my first day at the malnutrition clinic I witnessed a priest preforming last rights on a two year old who weight just over 10 pounds. It was really sad. Fortunately since my first day I have seen a lot of malnourished children recover at UCG. UCG maintains a 97% recovery rate for malnutrition- extremely high. It’s incredible how enflamed, grief stricken, and sick the children look when they are brought in, but just a few days after receiving food every two hours the kids look happy and are energetic. A majority of the cases of malnutrition are not attributable to a lack of calories. Instead the children are not consuming protein.

Protein deficiency causes the children to retain water.

The feet give away this child's malnutrition. If you were to gently press on your thumb against them the indentation would stay for a few seconds- so I have read. I don't want to cause any more discomfort than they are already in. 

 I spend a lot of time at UCG’s health clinic. They have what might be the fastest internet connection in the city. Their connection costs $700 a month and provides speeds that might allow me to watch a youtube video on the lowest setting with occasional buffering. I don’t watch youtube videos. I do upload and download documents for work.

I have started working out. It’s not easy when calories are so difficult to come by. I lift “African water jugs” and run up the hill to work. 

That's custom made for $15

Renewing my visa in the DRC proved to be a wild ride. To make a long story short, I ended up giving a large tip ($10) to a low government official that didn’t ask for a dime when she helped me find something to eat the exact taxi fare ($1) to the big shot official that demanded $30, my plane ticket for his own use (I didn’t give), left me waiting in his office for three hours and repeatedly demanded extra compensation for his services- which were abysmal. Normally because I’m positive and make people laugh I excel in these types of situations. But this big shoot official said something horrible about a female friend of mine. I didn’t immediately react to what he said but I also didn’t forget it… I shouldn’t have thrown the dollar on his desk and handed the female official the large tip with a warm thank you but at least I didn’t say much.  I should have handled the situation a little more diplomatically.  I will next time.

This parrot lives at the hotel that I often visit to use their internet. The bird sticks its head out tempting people to give him a scratch.   The bird sells this enjoyment by shutting his eyes and fluffing his feathers but suddenly the bird jerks his head around and bites. Luckily, I tested the bird intentions with my pepper spray bottle so I wasn’t bitten. Every time I visit the hotel I scratch the bird head with the pepper spray and every time the bird suddenly jerks his head around and bites it.

Trickster 

Butembo Trafic 

Never take picture of anyone with a gun. Those guys on the bottom right are military. I only noticed them after I took the picture. I ducked into a hotel to avoid an awkward / potentially dangerous situation. 

In Butembo every day is bring your child to work day

The malnutrition center raises rabbits, guinea pigs and rats for the children to eat. 

The one thing I have not tried eating!

Butembo doesn't have a single paved road.

My walk/run to work.

Medical School is blue in the foreground. General classrooms are red in the background. 

Did I forgot to say I love it here? Well I do! I'm looking forward to returning to the States for Christmas but I hope to come back!

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

Everyday is take your children to work day in the DRC

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Despite the backdrop of war, poverty, diseases and violence- women in the DRC are holding families together. In Butembo, DRC, women play many different roles:  care giver, food preparer, collector of water and fuel.  Often you see women working in the fields as they care for their children.

In Butembo, everyday is "take your children to work day".

North Kivu, DR Congo is burning. Well, that’s what I hear on the radio.

August 24, 2013
  

Signs of conflict mitigation abound in Butembo, D.R. Congo-

I hear daily reports by foreign journalists who generalize about the violence in the North Kivu province- Today (8/24) the UK government is pulling out all non-essential personal from North Kivu (BBC News

24 August 2013). But from my experience, Butembo, North Kivu is a center of conflict mitigation, not conflict. While United Nations forces (UN) and DR Congo military (FARDC) battle M23 and former Uganda troops in other regions of North Kivu, the local UN detachment here in Butembo are assisting Mia-Mia rebels come to the peace table; the University Catholic at Grabin (UCG) reincorporates child soldiers; and rural communities continue to strive for development on their own, because many organizations assume it’s too dangerous.

This week the Université Catholique du Graben (UCG) provided me with a tour which included the Program of the Supervision and Socio-Economic Reinsertion of Ex-Combatants and other Vulnerable (CEFADES) dorms that are part of UCG’s ongoing expansion project.

Three years ago these dorms housed child soldiers during a reincorporation project. I was told by Fr. Emmanuel, the Academic Secretary of UCG, that one hundred children were taught agricultural, sewing, carpentry, and masonry skills to provide them with steady employment within the community.  The university plans to expand the dorms to house rural farmers during training workshops.

Recently several priests in town have invited me to accompany them as they visit rural parishes. My first trip was to Holy Cross Church in Mulu, Lubero territory, North Kivu. It was difficult to see the effect of poverty during the day, because the joy in the faces of each member of the community was nearly overwhelming. They had something that money couldn’t buy, something that I haven’t ever experienced.  

According to the priests I travel with, the countryside is safe enough for us to travel comfortably at night; of course I was only told this once we knew we weren’t going to make it back to Butembo before the sun had set. After the sun disappeared behind North Kivu’s giant rolling hills, the houses and people that once lined the street melted into the forest. The level of poverty is difficult to describe but it was clearly apparent during the night; only the headlights of our car pierced the darkness as we drove down the derelict dirt road.

As soon as I returned, I wrote this in my journal:

“I just got home and I keep asking myself if I saw a miracle today.... I spent the day in the deep country of the Congo on the verge of tears because I kept meeting countless families who were poor but rich in spirit, family and happiness. I realize they struggle to put food on the table but they also know what it means to live. I'm blessed to have felt that today, so blessed. Today was one of the best days of my life. Maybe not a miracle but I saw something new in the world and I’m so happy it's there.”

My second trip to the countryside started in a similar fashion. I traveled with a priest to Bunyuka Parish to visit the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bunyuka is a 30 minute drive outside of Butembo. Even though I tried to prepare myself to be moved, I still found myself humbled and overwhelmed when the young orphans of the mission church and the primary school students sang a welcome song for me.  The song basically said- “You might come by foot, you might come by car, you might come by plane, it doesn’t matter, you’re now here and you’re welcome!”  You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved. After they were finished I made sure to thank each one of them and I took a group photo that I will have one of my colleagues bring back to share with them.  

The visit to Bunyuka provided me with a more realistic portrait of North Kivu. During this trip I saw the reality behind the smiles of North Kivu- the people here live life full of joy but they do so while intimately experiencing the struggle to survive and all too often the heartbreak of death.   Preventable diseases, malnutrition, disabilities, violence… All are painful. This realization made the smiles of the orphans all the more moving.

Not all the children were smiling during the second trip. Four children were temporarily bedridden with malaria.

I quickly realized the nuns of the mission had an agenda for my visit- they were trying to secure a source of funding. According to The Invisible State  (Jeffrey Herbst, 2013), the DRC is the second largest recipient of aid after Afghanistan. The trickle of aid that makes it all the way here will probably be turned off as aid organizations continue to pull out.

I’m always upfront that I don’t have access to money and only do research but the nuns didn’t care or didn’t believe me. I reiterated countless times that I couldn’t help, but they remained insistent, and informed me that I was going to be presented with a project proposal this week. Their project would address the lack of protein in the community and especially at the orphanage. They are currently unable to properly feed the 20 children they are caring for (2 weeks to 5 years old in age) and would like to take in even more children. At five years old the children are typically adopted by the community.

The nuns have, pigs, rabbits, ducks, chickens, guinea pigs and goats to feed a large number of nuns, three parish priests, the 20 orphans, and parishioners in need.  Any project ideas I had, the nuns seemed to have already implemented. It’s not always clear what aid organizations are doing in the DRC but there are a large number of nuns here and each one of them carries a zeal that profoundly shapes the communities in which they serve.   I am very interested to see what they propose, but to make sure I don’t raise expectations- I will continue to reiterate that the only help I can provide is a helping set of hands.

Panic, it's not war, it's Mother Nature

August 20, 2013

After two days of being served spoiled meat for lunch and dinner, I decided it was time to treat myself to one of Butembo’s finest restaurants. For $4 I receive a ¼ serving of chicken and a plate of French fries.

As I was finishing dinner a hush came over the restaurant. I didn’t think anything of it but instead of waiting for the check, I promptly stood up and went to pay my bill at the desk. Half the restaurant followed suit. As I was paying for the meal a strong gust of wind swept through the restaurant. The gust of wind brought a faintly veiled séance of panic to each of the guests- rain was intermittent.

It didn't feel like just a typical shower was approaching, it felt like a full on assault by Mother Nature was imminent. Exasperating the panic was the collective realization that everyone in town was going to be searching for a motorcycle taxi and the sun was going to set soon- no one want to be out on the cold, wet, dangerous streets of Butembo at night.

When I stepped outside the restaurant I was shocked to see the sun still shinning. People were clearly in a rush to get home and the countless motorcycle taxis that line the street were gone, but it looked like another beautiful evening in Butembo. I took advantage of the panic by walking across the street to a bank to make a withdrawal with no line to wait in.

Just a few minutes later when I stepped back out onto the street, the sun was replaced with dark ominous clouds and huge raindrops periodically crashing into the dirt road. One of the rain drops hit me square on the noise and for a second I thought it might be hailing.  There was no way I could make it home dry.

I joined the mob of Congolese briskly walking and a few running to their homes. As the clouds began to open up, a young boy running by me yelled, “TAXI!” The only taxi man without a passenger gave the boy a dirty look when he realized the boy wasn't actually interested. I didn't say a word; my eyes did all the talking- I clearly wanted that taxi.

I flew down the street into the heart of the storm on the back of the motorcycle taxi, the rain began pelting my face. As I passed the Congolese now running down the street, I regretted taking the taxi. I had some important papers with me that I didn't want wet but I felt like I was missing one of the few opportunities to be normal here. When I was briskly walking with everyone no one called out to me, no one stared at me; I was just another person trying to make it home. I love Butembo but I never thought I would have the opportunity to be completely normal.

The motorcycle pulled up to the priest’s house and I got off under the protection of the roof. I gave the taxi man double the fare as the rain started to fall in sheets.  I was probably the only one that made home that night with a few dry patches still remaining.

 I almost always have a group of people just staring at me when I go out.

I showed the kids how they could see themselves in the camera. They went CRAZY!

I got to Mass an hour and a half early. The kids went in with me when the doors open and a few minutes later a nun came and yelled at us. We were having a little too much fun. Screaming in church I guess is not tolerated in any country!