Probably the most consistently interesting Congolese blog is kept by Cédric Kalonji [Fr], whose photographs and commentary bear humorous but often sorrowful witness to the struggles of ordinary life in Kinshasa, the country's heavily populated, run-down capital.
Returning from a recent visit to Europe, Cédric found himself wondering whether the remarkable ability of the Congolese to adapt to hardship might in fact be part of the problem, in troubling times:
Au lieu de se révolter, au lieu de refuser ce qui est anormal, nous cherchons des solutions de dépannage et nous allons tous les jours de plus en plus loin. …Je me demande si le Congo renaîtra un jour de ses cendres. Maintenant il faut faire attention quand on aborde certains sujets. Trop ouvrir sa bouche sur certaines vérités devient dangereux. On risque sa vie.
Perhaps conscious of his growing readership (following an article about him in Le Monde [Fr]), Cédric worries about how he should portray his country:
J’avoue que j’expose le plus souvent de choses qui ne vont pas dans mon pays mais sur ce Blog, je ne fais que parler de ce que je vis personnellement au jour le jour selon mon humeur du jour ou du moment. Je ne vais pas fouiner pour trouver ce qui ne va pas et je ne vais pas vers l’information. Tout ce que j’écris, je le vis moi-même.
As a case in point, Cédric recently recognised the face of a friend from primary school on a poster promoting ‘a great crusade of evangelism and miraculous recovery’. He notes that his friend inherited the church and the business from his father.
Commenting on this in Congo Connect [Fr], Hélène, a Congolese woman living in Canada, was outraged:
Franchement! Où est passé le discernement chez le peuple congolais ? Pourquoi continue-t-il à croire en ces nombreux escrocs qui se font passer pour des pasteurs et prophètes. Au lieu de prôner l’esprit de l’autosuffisance, ils dépouillent les poches des pauvres gens en échange ils leur promettent des miracles, le travail, le mariage, la richesse, le voyage en Europe…
‘One of Africa's most beautiful voices’
Photo courtesy of Atamato (WildlifeDirect)
The indomitable team of Congo Rangers continue to report on their conservation efforts in eastern D R Congo. Atamato reveals how he has named the pods of hippos that he watches after Congo’s greatest musicians. Paulin has posted a series of pictures on his blog, Gorilla Protection, illustrating the threat posed to the forest by charcoal burning. And Ash Vosper shares his diary of a remarkable river journey by motorised pirogue (dugout) through remote areas in search of wild Bonobos:
During the night we came to within a few kilometers of Katopa. They heard the outboard motor coming up river and fled into the forest. How odd! Anyway we came on in the morning and all is calm now. When we arrived and they realized we were “safe” the women broke into song. Apparently they were singing “papa has arrived, the famine is over”. Expectations are a bit high, I’d say.
Like all the villages, they hunt bushmeat and hardly fish at all. And, like in Obenge, traders arrive with goods and depart with bushmeat. I’ve seen one transaction already today!
Lots of hunting dogs here and lots of children. I always forget, in these isolated places there are hardly any old people. People die young.
Have to add this: Just turned on the generator and all the children ran away. They looked really scared. They are still nervous about the lightbulb that came on. Katopa has been isolated for a long time!
We'll finish this tour d’horizon with three contrasting sets of photographs: On Kivu Express [Fr], a Québécois architect called Pierre shows us the beautiful but difficult mountain route between Bukavu, on Lake Kivu, and Uvira, on Lake Tanganika. Back in the big city of Kinshasa, Danny Masson [Fr] is overcome by a colourful opera production and Du Cabiau à Kinshasa documents the banners which announce everything from…
…le dernier “bla-bla” des Nations Unies, le retour au pays d’une idole locale, un rallye de guérisons-miracles ou le nouveau prix du Coca-Cola… quelques mètres de tissu, un peintre, un acrobate et le tour est joué!
6 comments
To help me keep up with the many Congo Rangers blogs (11 at last count), I created a blended
RSS feed which I thought I’d share with Global Voices readers.
Thanks Fred. I will check your blended feed. Congo Rangers blogs is an amazing example of what this medium can do, even to those living on the wrong side of the digital dividel
Merci, Fred.
Thanks to a tip-off from Kim, I have changed the author of the pirogue story from Jo Thompson to Ash Vosper. My apologies to both, and to readers.
bonjour,
il ya un homme qui est né de femme qui dit qu’il est prophete
messager de notre genération qui est au même titre que les prophetes
de la bible. et il dit a part son message personne ne peut allez au
paradi c’est a dire si tu regete son message (ce qui sort de sa
bouche) tu va directement en enfer. car c’est la bouche de Dieu sur
cette terre à notre génération pour mieux le connaitre allez sur ce
cite http://www.prophetes-contemporains.net .
il est le seul sur la terre a avoir les paroles de la VIE ETERNEL !
merci et bon lecture sur le site
http://www.prophetes-contemporains.net et criquer sur KACOU PHILIPPE !
matth.25: 6 et apoc. 12:14 – 17 declarent qu’il y aura un cout message
qui portera les élus loin des espris de divination qui agissent dans
les eglises…
ainsi se revelent les derniers mystères et s’accomplissent les
dernières promesses de Dieu à l’Eglise des nations, lesquelles sont
contenu dans l’ancien et le nouveau testament et dont la comprehention
et l’acceptation sont données aux élus
donc visité ce site http://www.prophetes-contemporains.net
merci et que le Dieu du CRI DE MINUIT vous benisse !