Kisangani, August 24, 2003

 The blast in Baghdad shakes the MONUC; a petrol station opens and the cars come out of hiding; the “men in uniform” still fill their pockets but not the RCD tax collectors; 40 kidnapped women are not worth a headline.

Kisangani, August 10, 2003

   The barges rolled into town, we gave the RCD-G authorities a hard time and they backed down but not much has changed.

Mbandaka, July 20, 2003

 This week: there is always some place worse; Uruguayan soldiers teach local kids bad English; and Eugene Yololo is a one-man press agency who makes sure Makanza knows.

Befale, July 18, 2003

In June 2002, when the MONUC first came to Befale (a city of over ten thousand people in Equateur province) to set up a Team Site, the helicopter blew off the roof of a school.  The rains then finished the job and more than one hundred and twenty pupils were left without class rooms.

Mbandaka, July 13, 2003

 “Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement.”  John Stuart Mill in ‘On Liberty’ 

Kisangani, July 6, 2003

 This week the Boyamais (inhabitants of Kisangani) celebrated the forty-third anniversary of Congo’s independence, the Kisangani Fair boged down in mud and beer and another case of witch-craft led to the premature death of a white rabbit.

Kisangani, June 29, 2003

 

In which I complain about money-hungry-fishermen, the Congolese complain (again) that  the UN is not fixing their country and I get to visit the city’s prison.

Kisangani, June 22, 2003

 Leon and the kids at the school he ran

This week Malaria kept me in the hospital (see Malaria, June 17) so I was unable to observe very much but I do have a couple of good stories to tell you: UNICEF finds a way to help the warring parties improve forced conscription, young Rappers lash out at the war-lords and Kisangani gets the cell phone before the stage-coach.

Kisangani, June 17, 2003 — Malaria!

I hate Mosquitoes! 

They told me when I got here that no matter how many prophylactics I take I will still get malaria.  “Everybody gets it and more than once.”  They said there are four strains of malaria in the Congo, each nastier than the other.  I was told that “the only thing the prophylactics would accomplish is hide the malaria from the test” when I get it.

Kisangani, June 15, 2003

It has been an interesting and more or less relaxing week for me with a near diplomatic incident due to an Okapi reporter’s blunder, the UN finally learned of smuggling of goods on their barges from Kinshasa and the Welfare Club held a good-bye party for Scotland’s Mike Dora, Kilts and all.