Sixteen days left before we climb on the plane and fly back to Africa. I received our air tickets yesterday. This move means that we will be a united family again, that I’ll be able to do the type of work that I love, that I’ll be with the people I like being with and that I will live my preferred lifestyle.
I’m so excited that I can hardly keep my attention on what needs to be done… the shitload of things that need to be done before we can leave. I guess I should make a list to add on top of the lists that are on the cork board or the refrigerator…
Organize five person household shit in storage, Household effects to Africa, unacc air baggage to Africa, what stuff goes with us on airplane, give to Goodwill, toss out. Packout is this wednesday, thursday and friday. pack stuff into suitcases night before leaving.
Purchase consummables
Sell Car
Get school transcripts
Get house ready for renters [gutters, clean upstairs rug, install new rug in living and dining rooms, small things that need fixing or replacement]
Prepare sugarladysweetcakes for NJ trip. Dachshund weighs more than 11 lbs and therefore cannot travel in the cabin with us. The other two dachshunds will go with us. Sugar can’t travel in cargo until after September 15th pet air travel embargo is lifted. sugar has to live with my sister brachy until she can join us in Africa.
So it’s Sunday morning and I am sitting here roaming thru sdmb…adding a thoroughly mindless new thread… oh, well, I guess I need to get my second cup of coffee, do the crossword puzzle and start packing. I’ll miss those good sdmb debates.
Kinshasa… the proverbial “Heart of Darkness”. I’ve lived in Brazzaville which is across the Congo River from Kinshasa, but have only visited Kinshasa for a couple of days, here and there. While West Africa has alot to offer in terms of culture, history etc. [think Timbuctu, Senegal, Abidjan], I really like the people in Central Africa… I know that’s a stereotype.
Kinshasa! :eek::eek::eek:! The Heart of Darkness is right. What’s it like there now? Has it stabilized a bit with Kabila Jr. in charge?
I visited Zaire in 1993. I went to the Ituri Forest in the far northeast, which I reached via a missionary flight from Nairobi - it wasn’t feasible to fly there from Kinshasa. The closest I’ve been is the Brazzaville airport, from which I could see part of Kinshasa in flames due to an army revolt.
I’ve been working recently in Gabon, which is an island of stability in the area because of its oil and other resources and low population. I’ve been there three times in the last 12 months, and will go back in October for a couple of months.
I’ve also visited Nigeria (Lagos - :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:! ! ! ), Cameroon, Madagascar, Kenya, and South Africa. I like Africa a lot, but working there does have its challenges.
I’ll be “doing public health”. The situation has improved with Kabila fils; Uganda, their rebels and the govt have signed off on a peace agreement. Rwanda and the govt are “poised” to sign off on another - whether this will actually happen is another matter. The Rwandan-backed rebels say they should be included as well. Whether the Congolese will be able to get rid of the klepto-mercernaries like Zimbabwe is an entirely different issue. There are signs that there may even be steps taken to be more politically open which might not say much since we would compare politics to Mobutu and Kabila pere…
It’ll definitely be a huge challenge to get results; the positive is that there are some well trained folks [there is a public health program out of the university], somewhat of a civil society that operates outside of the govt [can’t say that about Zimbabwe], potential riches, and a healthy attitude about public health from the Ministry of Health. The negatives… sigh too depressing to even think about. I guess I like the challenges of places like this compared to relatively ideal countries like Mali which has all the right ingredients except for a highly motivated “let’s get it done” attitude.
Haven’t been to Gabon altho I understand that it is very much like where I live now in NE Florida. The powers that be sit back on their porches and the “imported/guest workers” get everything done.
Lagos !!! I’ve never been there - not even thru the airport. Folks were actively trying to get my husband to go, but we both rolled out eyes …
Good to hear that things are improving a bit in the DRC. I had heard that peace agreements were being negotiated, but I didn’t know how they were progressing.
When I was there, a beer cost a million zaires (Colibri’s First Law of Economics - when a beer costs a million in the local currency, the country is in deep crap.) I have a souvenir million-zaire bill with Mobutu on it.
Gabon is better off, but hasn’t lived up to its potential. Although it’s not in bad shape now, it could have been a lot better. The oil wealth could have been invested in education and infrastructure, but instead it’s gone to line a few pockets. And now the oil is starting to run out.
I think my concern in a place like Kinshasa would be the safety issue above all. I have a good friend who works for WHO in Papua New Guinea. He finds it very depressing living in Port Moresby because he has to live in a barbed wire compound with armed guards due to the level of violent crime there. I trust Kinshasa isn’t as bad as that.
Definitely a scary place in 1993 - I don’t know if it’s improved any. Basically one enormous and very ugly slum.
I went there for a conference in Enugu, an hour or two’s flight away. The night I arrived I was met by a “handler” arranged by the conference organizers, who whisked me off to the VIP lounge at the airport. He would reappear periodically to ask me for another $10 until finally he had greased enough palms to get my luggage through and passport stamped. He then arranged a taxi for me to my hotel, for what I later found out was five times the going rate.
The next day I was supposed to be met at my hotel by another handler to get me to the local airport to fly to Enugu. He never showed up, so I took a taxi to the airport to try to arrange a flight myself. The tips and bribes ended up costing more than the ticket itself.
Well, kiffa, I’m putting Sugar on a diet - no more Snausages. I’m tough, I’m strong: no soulful puppy dog eyes can weaken my resolve. I guess I’ll be taking her back to New Jersey this coming weekend (I’m leaving Brat at the bird hotel for the weekend). Make sure I get all her pertinent papers for her flight.
I checked out prices to Kinshasa/Brazzaville and they look much much better than those to CAR. Maybe I can persuade Mom to spend an African Christmas sometime. I wonder what prices are like between Kinshasa and Lusaka? It’d be great to get together with our brother!
Don’t see Signs before I get to Jacksonville on Saturday!
Such mixed emotions - I’m so happy for you and the kids, to be back with mr. kiffa now that the restrictions have been lifted. But I’m going to miss you so much!
Total solar eclipse, 4 December 2002. The path goes through Angola, follows the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe, and exits Africa out of Mozambique. Not quite Kinshasa, but close enough! For anyone who hasn’t seen one, a total eclipse is an absolutely unforgettable experience. Woohoo! AfroDope, anyone?
It wasn’t the best beer I’ve ever had, but it was a liter bottle and a million zaires at the time was only worth about a buck. It was pretty easy to be a multi-millionaire in Zaire.
The army mutinied because Mobutu tried to give them their pay in new 5-million zaire notes he was running off the press. I would have loved to have seen one of those.
I’ve only been to South Africa, but I want to see so much more of that fascinating continent.
Don’t know if Kongo would be my place to start, though. :eek:
Maybe Kenya or Tanzania will be next. And I hear Namibia and Zambia are gorgeous too. South Africa is easily the most beautiful counry I have ever visited.
I visited in 1998 for the International Ornithological Congress held in Durban that year. Before the Congress, I went on a birding tour from Bloemfontein to Durban. Golden Gate National Park near Lesotho was very scenic.
I also visited Capetown, and stayed with my brother’s in-laws (he’s married to a South African). That surely is one of the loveliest cities in the world.
I would highly recommend Kenya and Madagascar. Of the countries in the tropical forest zone, Gabon, Cameroon, and Cote d’Ivoire would probably be the least hassle.
Wow! Solar Eclipse DopeFest! What a fabulous idea!!! Would anyone want to bring over Sugarladysweetcakes? She’s a lovely little [relatively speaking] minidachshund who thinks she is a greyhound.
As for beautiful sites in Africa:
.Along the Oubangui River as it rolls past Bangui,
.the Congo Atlantic coast where the forest is split off the ocean by a swath of sand,
.the island/city of Djenne, Mali especially during the rainy season
.Brazzaville seen at night from Kinshasa or Kinshasa seen at night from Brazzaville on a full moon night with the moonlight hitting the Congo River rapids.
Kinshasa might well be safer than Nairobi. That’s the most recent scuttlebutt I’ve heard. I’ve learned the best crime prevention program you can initiate consists of: getting to know your neighbors and letting them get to know you [works best with nationals and, sorry, works worst with the French], giving the neighborhood night guards lots of high caffeine tea and sugar, keeping your dogs INSIDE the house [less chance that they will sleep with the guards or go off on walks in the neighborhood].
But back to December 2002: full solar eclipse - a real wonder to see, dancing to Congolese music at one of the riverside boites, eternal thanks for bringing sugarladysweetcakes to Africa… sounds like a winner to me!
