Malnutrition- Protein Deficiency (5 of 5)

Without a trained eye, malnutrition can be easily overlooked, especially in North Kivu. Caloric intake is not the most pressing nutritional concern here; instead persistent protein deficiency causes many children to develop and often die from kwashiorkor, otherwise known as oedematous malnutrition. 

Kwashiorkor is a confounding factor in nutritional surveys because it causes a child to retain fluids throughout the body leading to deceiving weight-for-height and weight-for age results. Leading the fight against malnutrition in Butembo are two hospitals-  Katawa Hospital and  Université Catholique du Graben’s (UCG) hospital. Both provide three-week rehabilitation to children and mothers but the hospitals limited capacity cannot address Butembo’s nutritional nightmare.

The struggle to acquire sufficient nutrition is faced by a vast majority of Congolese in North Kivu. The diets of many Congolese here rely heavily on cassava, bananas and fruit.

 UCG’s agricultural department is attempting to address one of the roots of malnutrition by developing protein rich varieties of soya and improving breeding techniques for rabbits and guinea pigs but this research is still in early stages. The immediate future looks bleak but researchers, NGO’s and mothers remain hopeful.  

Graft (4 of 5)

...Redacted....

Sample of Monthly Salaries in Butembo
Position	Salary
Primary School Teacher	$47
Immigration Office, Director	$50
Road Maintenance Personnel	$20
Police Officer	$40
Airport Passport Processor	> $50
Gasoline Stand Operator	$80

To be clear, I'm not negatively portraying the government or any public officials. I'm grateful for their public service and the security they provide me. 

Struggling Education System (3 of 5)

Each school day Shakes, a 12 year old boy in Butembo, arrives to school before any other children and is the last to leave. Like many children in his situation, Shakes isn’t going to school to learn, he goes to school to earn money for his family. Shakes sells sugarcane and bananas, earning roughly 75 cents a day. With four brothers and sisters, the income Shakes earns is likely necessary for survival.

Shakes selling bananas to students

Though attending school is constitutionally compulsory and free, in reality even the price of public education is at least $20 and many children are not registered to attend. The argument to send a child to school isn’t always convincing when the cost of school means having to sacrifice somewhere else like food, clothing or shelter.

The low benchmarks of standardized education found during the Buffett survey clearly manifest themselves in the markets in North Kivu where women and children peddling produce don’t understand more than a few words of French.  French is the primary language used in schools so it’s clear these hard working individuals did not receive a standardized education.

Surprisingly, staggering levels of truancy do not correlate with low number of universities in Butembo, North Kivu. Butembo recently shut down nearly half of its 23 universities and colleges for not registering with the ministry of education. There’s a high demand from parents and children for higher education but there’s also a growing concern within the local community that many of the universities are scamming their students by providing educations without providing valuable skills.  

Reputable universities such as Université Catholique du Graben (UCG) struggle to address concerns within their student body about rising tuition (currently $243 a semester). UCG students have demonstrated their concerns in the form of three walkouts within the past year.

While many children’s parents can’t afford sending their children to school, some universities are scams and others are struggling to keep costs down.  Aat least the streets of Butembo are safe enough for the children to go to school. It’s a start.

The Price of Communication (2 of 5)

In an age where telecommunications has been taken for granted throughout the majority of the world for at least a decade, North Kivu struggles to maintain basic contact with the outside world and according to a few benchmarks of communication, North Kivu is regressing. 

In 1930, Butembo, North Kivu opened it’s first and only post office. Today a dilapidated building with hundreds of unused mailboxes remains. With unreliable dirt roads that are prone to rebel attacks connecting major cities, international mail handlers DHL Express and Express Mail Service (EMS) must use expensive air transport for their limited operations. According to the EMS office in Butembo, the minimum shipping rate for a package weighing up to 1.1 pounds being sent from Butembo to the Goma is $62- a price that limits it’s operations to only two packages being sent out of the EMS office per week to Goma. Instead, the merchants of Butembo use a decentralized network of baggage handlers utilizing large cargo trucks and cell phones.

Development of the DRC's internet and broadband market has been held back by the poorly developed national and international infrastructure. Exasperating the scarcity of communication, the three telecommunication providers Airtel, Vodacom and Orange routinely experience outages lasting for days, and because the DRC doesn’t have a fiber optic cable, internet must pass through these sluggish and expensive telecommunication providers. Only one hotel and two or three internet cafes in the entire city of Butembo, population roughly eight hundred thousand, have internet capabilities that allow a user to stream a low resolution video with frequent re-buffering. 

Estimated market penetration rates in the DRC’s telecoms sector – end 2013

Market	Penetration rate
Mobile	35%
Fixed	0.1%
Internet	2.3%

(Source: BuddeComm based on various sources)

When a Plague of Locusts is a Blessing (1 of 5)

From Mid-November to late December swarms of long-horned grasshoppers descend on North Kivu. Instead of fearing these green invaders, children, parents and grandparents alike search every nook and cranny to collect and then devour them. 

Mouths, caterpillars and larva are also consumed in North Kivu. Because of the high protein of insects in this protein deficient region of the world, insects provide a recess from chronic hunger faced by the majority of the local population.

Some ingenious Congolese erect large aluminum sheets with extremely bright lights that attract the insects and then funnel them into baskets where they are collected throughout the night.  In Butembo, North Kivu, a single trap can gather as many as 50 – 400 – 15,000 kilograms of grasshoppers in a single night. At $2 USD per kilogram this is a substantial income.

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!