All Change

Wow two months since the last blog! That means there is a fair lot to fill you in on.

The biggest change is that I and my appalling French are now staying in the DRC. GOAL needed a new Finco here when Helen left and the Finco in Malawi wanted to extend.

I told Dublin I was happy to stay in the DRC just after writing the last blog and a week later they sent me on a French course to Vichy for three weeks. This goes a long way to explaining the black hole in my posts.

Vichy was a brilliant escape. The French course was very good. I started off at level A1 (yes bottom of the class) and finished, you’ve guessed it at a respectable A1. I do not think this fairly represents the progress I made in the three weeks but it does show that even after three weeks of studies I still cannot speak the language although my understanding is getting better. I now have just over 10 months to learn French in the Congo there is definitely room for improvement.

I managed to spend a weekend in Paris and Suzie came over for a visit. It was lovely to see an old friend and not have to worry about a funny language or work. She even brought muffins from the UK which went a long way to softening my return to the DRC.

I have now been back in the DRC four weeks and the time has just flown by. I had a week and a half handover with Helen before she left. I think everyone was a little surprised when we started preparing salads for her going away BBQ while discussing the finer points of Pooled fund budgeting restrictions. We were a little pushed for time and every minute counted!

With Helen’s departure it has been my turn to pick up the reigns. So far things are going well if a little busy while I try to find my feet.

I had my first trip to the field last weekend. Mannono is our main focus of operations in the DRC. Before the war the town was prosperous. A Belgium mining company was managing the mine and employing nearly all of the locals. When the war started the Belgium’s pulled out but the local inhabitants stayed on and kept the town going. It was only at the end of the war that things started falling to pieces. Retreating soldiers looted the town and left it as it is today, a ghost town. The slate roofs of the European buildings were a prime target for looting and today the buildings are falling down. Local services crumbled education, health and transport.

Today the town is starting to rebuild and like the rest of the DRC there are many who remember what it was like before the war. The locals can still point to the crazy golf course and while the swimming pool is empty and has trees growing in it. It is a constant reminder of what was before. There is a long way to go to build it back up.

Today the local community live in traditional mud huts with straw roofs. Some hold onto the one room brick houses from the mining days but these are harder to repair. Most still work at the mine. You see them leave early in the morning with pick axes and giant buckets for sifting through the rock. Going off to the mines is similar to panning for gold. The locals do not know where the ore is only that there is some somewhere. At the end of each day they hand over their find to one of the local middle men who then travel to Lumumbashi or another large town and sell it for ten times what they paid. In this way the money from the mining never reaches the local community.

Working in Mannono are the WFP for food security and the UN. GOAL is the only development NGO. During my trip I was fortunate enough to see some of our projects.

I visited one of the local villages where GOAL has put in a well and pump and is now working with the community to improve awareness of water bourn diseases. We are also building latrines for the local school.

The local clinic was rebuilt by GOAL last year and is now supported by the medical team for drug distribution and vaccination programs.

One of the successes in the area has been the women’s literacy program REFLECT. It has the aim to educate local women to read and write to demonstrate the benefit of having literate women in the community. The long term strategy is to try to get families to send daughters to school for longer. While I was at Mannono the optician from Goma was visiting to test everyone’s eyesight.

We are just starting up the livelihoods work in the region having secured funding for the next six months. I am learning how much seed costs and how expensive it is to transport.

The main problem we face working in Mannono is getting resources into the region. Goods are not available locally so everything must be shipped in. There is a three month truck journey from Lumumbashi or a 4 hour flight from Goma. Flights are easier but very expensive and liable to be cancelled at the last minute. Flight costs have almost doubled in the last year as planes keep crashing. GOAL can only use a handful of carriers which are deemed safe and only one or two are trusted to fly people.

The war is still a security threat although there is less fighting around Mannono than Goma.

I was only in Mannono for three days but it was an excellent experience. My excuse for going was to go over budgeting and forecast spend-outs to year end with our project managers but I was very lucky my visit coincided with Sophia, our logisticians, birthday. We celebrated with a party on Saturday night and a trip to the lake on Sunday. The lake is the pond left over from the mining. I was told it was safe to swim so long as you did not stay in too long. The arsenic levels in the water are safe in moderation!

I wandered round the market on Saturday and realised my true potential as a stand up comic. The children kept giggling with the phrase ‘femme, pantaloon!’. I was apparently very funny!

Returned to Goma on Tuesday and am very glad to be back in the shade of the Volcano. Mannono is VERY HOT.

I flew back with one of my friends from Airserve, Dave. There are benefits to having pilots as friends. First off you can bypass the cargo restrictions. I managed to bargain a swap between Goma and Mannono for Avocadoes and Mangoes. Dave brought the team 20 avocadoes and we in return gave him 4 mangoes. There had originally been more but our Livelihoods team got a little peckish the night before and did not realise they were eating our bargaining chips. I think I owe Dave a pint or at least 16 mangoes.

The second and more exciting part of knowing the pilot is that you can ask to be co-pilot and sit up front. I even got to fly the plane! My flight stile is apparently meandering. I think that is a nice way of saying I can’t keep it straight and I tend to zig-zag. Nothing a few more lessons won’t cure. The passengers did not seem to notice.

Working in the DRC is a long way from working at home. For now I am more than happy to stay here ‘roughing it’. Sunny days, bad French and flight lessons. It is a long way from accountancy back home!

Got to go our logistician has just informed me we have a last minute flight tomorrow and he needs cash.

Wish you were here.
Julia