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DR Congo is a vast country, almost
as big as
Europe, situated in the very heart of Africa; Joseph Conrad already
called it "Heart of Darkness". 500 years ago Congo was not even a
country. It only became a country after the area was attributed to King
Leopold II of
Belgium,
who did not even attend that meeting. After that moment, the Congolese
have suffered from endless violence, which still has not completely
ended.
Even though the country is very rich of minerals, most of its population
is extremely poor. The infrastructure has been devastated as a result of
the war and it takes at least a week to travel from one side of the
country to the other. Often, there is no electricity or hot water and
the total absence of water is not rare, either.
The capital Kinshasa is situated on the border of the mighty river
Congo, which separates it from the capital of the other
Congo, Brazzaville. Small boats go up
and down between the two Congos; you see many blind and invalid men,
dragging large piles of stuff. They are used by exporters because war
invalids can import and export goods tax free.
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You find Lake Kivu between North and South Kivu. The capital of North Kivu,
Goma, is on the north border of the lake and on the border of Rwanda. The
city is practically flat. The volcano Nyiragongo is close by and as a
result, the earth is black and you see a lot of large rocks all over the
city, a result of the eruption on 2002.
Bukavu, the capital of South-Kivu, a more hilly city, lies on the south side
of the lake and is closer to Burundi. In the large Lake Kivu you may find
methane gaz. The people tell a lot of stories about it, like that you may
die if you are to close to the lake or that it may cause a mini tsunami. The
fishermen are not scared away by the stories.
All over the country you find as many churches as army camps, not seldom
side by side. It seems the missionaries were as active as the soldiers are
now. Lets hope for some peace for the people soon. |
