Just the travelling took 3 days. A commercial airline flight from Bukavu to Kinshasa (because we got kicked off the UN MONUC airplane due to the current movement of peacekeepers and reorganisation of their bases), then Aviation Sans Frontiere humanitarian flight from Kinshasa to Mbandaka (capital city of Equateur Province, without electricity, btw!), then from Mbandaka to Gemena, again on a commercial airline. Once arrived in Gemena, we have to drive 12 hours to Dongo, the area near the border with Republic of Congo where all the refugees have resettled.
The two pilots from Aviation Sans Frontiere (French humanitarian NGO operating flights in emergency areas). Small Antinov type planes, better not have a senstive digestive system, because this thing shakes!
View from the plan of Ndolo airport in Kinshasa, just before leaving.
This is a photo I took of the dense forests that cover Equateur Province, incredible.
Mbandaka, Capital of Equateur Province. The relics of the Belgian years are still quite visible. At the time, major agricultural zones were exploited, especially, coffee, palm trees (for palm oil), cacao and fruits like pineapple etc. Now, there is nothing, just forests growing over everything abandoned from years of war and lack of investment.
Palm trees that are 30 years old and not maintained nor harvested and in the middle, coffee growing wild. And this is for kms and kms!
Life in Mbandaka
View of on of the rivers which flows into Bangui river from the house I stayed at in Mbandaka. MAG (Mine Action Group, a demining NGO), gave me a room for a night. One of the guys working for MAG there was an old South African, ex-army officer, incredibly racist and still living in the Apartheid years. We had heated discussions in the evening because I said that I agreed to a certain extent to positive discrimination when it comes to black empowerment. He was only there for the money of course and hated Congo so much he was wondering what I was doing there. I was happy to leave the next morning!
Restaurant in Gemena
Pharmacie in Gemena "Pharmacie de la Colombe", must have been there since the Belgians.
Drive from Gemena to Dongo, got stuck several times in mud and potholes. It took us 12 hours for a trip which should take around 7 or 8.
Still stuck
Populations of villages along the road to Dongo. The great thing with digital cameras these days, is that when you take a photo, you can show them the photo on the screen and their reaction is usually very nice to see. The kids often even screem with excitement at the vision of their own image.
Another village
This kid had the most amazing eyes
Arrived in Dongo. The entire area is inhabitated by returning refugees. All assisted by the UNHCR. The project proposal I wrote is for a project of reintegration in this zone, as well as another zone further north, Buburua, also a reciever of large numbers of returnees.
The more entrepreneurial returnees try to restart some business. This is a hairdresser which works quite well.
This guy has started a bicycle repair business
These are children born in the refugee camps on the other side of the border, its the first time they actually see their country of origin.
