KINSHASA: BETWEEN DESPAIR AND HOPE

I wrote the following article after my first deployment to the DRC, which was from November 2010 to June 2011. I was deployed as part of the SANDF Op Mistral XVI, which is in support of the UN Peacekeeping Force (MONUSCO).

This article was submitted for publication to the SANDF Chaplains Magazine, but unfortunately was rejected by the editorial committee, thus its publication here.

What follows is a personal reflection and reflects no other views except my own.

 

Kinshasa is a place that assails the senses. The minute one steps off the aircraft one walks into a wall of heat exacerbated by high humidity. The heat is relentless. Temperatures regularly soar into the 40s. Even in the evenings the heat does not let up. The air is thick with smoke. Smoke from the hundreds of vehicles on the road, smoke from all the open fires, smoke from all the old tyres being burnt. The smoke is pungent but not as pungent as the smell emanating from the decaying and dilapidated sewerage infrastructure. There is litter everywhere. There does not seem to be a place where there is no litter.
 

Wheelbarrow

Cargo handlers



Kinshasa City Centre

Kinshasa City centre




Kinshasa City Centre

Roadside Stalls

Roadside Petrol Stall



Roadside Stalls

And then there are the people. People everywhere, a teeming seething mass of people, on the streets, on the pavements, in the buildings, in the vehicles. Everyone is moving, most are in a hurry to be somewhere. With the people come the vehicles. The battered vehicles and taxis are everywhere, filled to overflowing with people. They too are in a hurry, pushing, shoving, jostling, opening up impossible gaps for themselves, creating lanes of traffic on non-existent roads and pavements, making maniacal manoeuvres to ensure that they are at the front of the endless queues of vehicles on the broken roads. It takes some getting used to.



Roadside Stalls

Traffic Policeman





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving in the traffic is harrowing. One is struck by the impatience and the intolerance of the drivers. Everyone assumes he or she has the right of way regardless of the rules of the road and regardless of the fact that the other person may have been there first. Nobody gives anyone else a chance to pass even if it is abundantly clear that it is the only way to clear the congestion in an intersection. It seems that people would rather stay stuck and frustrated, venting their frustration at one another by shouting and hooting. The disrespect and rudeness is shocking to the extent that it almost seems that people hate one another. The traffic police are there trying to control the flow of traffic, but they too are largely ignored. Those policemen who do stamp down their authority, openly solicit bribes to open paths for vehicles.

Taxi

Even normal human interaction seems to be largely transactional in nature. A simple enquiry for directions will involve a financial transaction. What we accept as common courtesy in South Africa costs money in the DRC. Prices on goods and commodities on the street are exorbitant until bargained down with a reluctant seller intent on fleecing the customer. Foreigners are tolerated as long as they have money to spend. The thin veneer of courtesy disappears completely when it is clear that payment is not going to be made.

 

Traffic



Traffic




Taxi

Poverty is everywhere. It is palpable. The vast majority seem to eke out an existence eating the staple cassava meal and spinach that is sold on the pavements everywhere. Overweight people are few and far between and obesity is non existent. The shops in town are well stocked with expensive groceries, commodities, fruit and vegetables from all over the world, except the DRC. Only well to do locals and expatriates are found in those shops, shielded away from the majority who will never deign to enter there. Those shops are definitely not accessible to the poor majority: they are relegated to the streets and pavements. The paradox of this rich and fertile country having to import basic foods is difficult to understand and impossible to accept.

 

Taxi

The DRC is a damaged country and Kinshasa is a damaged city. Here we are not only talking about the buildings and the infrastructure. It is almost as if the psyche of the people has been damaged too, which makes it even worse. The DRC has a tough history. First it was the colonial masters who took what they could before independence and then left the people to their own devices. A bloody coup saw Mobutu Sese Seko rise to power, whose dictatorial and corrupt regime was followed by a bloody civil war that has only recently ended. There are refugees of war from other conflicts in the region. Rebel groups from other countries continue to operate in the DRC. The people of the DRC and specifically those in Kinshasa, have borne the brunt of it. The scars are everywhere, the damage has taken its toll. The people have suffered and continue to suffer. It at times can cause one to despair.



On the Pavement

And yet, in the midst of the damage and despair there is hope. The people are busy and on the move. Everyone seems to be selling something. Everyone seems to be going somewhere. Time is of the essence to the people of Kinshasa. There is no drunkenness on the streets. There is no loitering on the streets either. People work hard. People are not afraid of hard physical labour. Many earn a living by hauling heavy cargo on small wheelbarrows, pushing their heavy loads for many kilometres. The many stalls and small shops on the streets are always open and always busy, day and night.



In the Traffic

The people of Kinshasa are people of faith. There are churches and mosques everywhere. On Sundays the churches are full. People readily speak about their faith and the hope and inspiration they find in their faith. South Africans more than anyone know the crucial role that faith played in our peaceful transition to democracy and national reconciliation. The religious leaders of the DRC must accept the role they have to play in healing the wounds of the past and bringing about national reconciliation in their damaged country.

 

Police Station

There is hope too in the sense that the DRC is a rich country. It is rich in mineral resources. It has enough water to meet the needs of the whole of Africa. It has the potential through hydroelectric projects to produce enough electricity for the continent. It is a fertile country with the potential to be the food basket of Africa. The trick is to channel the energy and the enterprise of the people into realising this potential. Channelling this potential must be in the context of a transparent and peaceful democracy. All this is a daunting challenge, but as fellow Africans it is our responsibility to assist and to provide the necessary skills and resources. This is the only way to heal a broken nation and to restore people's dignity and respect. It is a lesson we as South Africans have learnt and must share with our fellow Africans.


Let us continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in the DRC, especially those in Kinshasa. In the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu, as people of faith, we are “prisoners of hope.”



Taxi

Traffic