Quote of the day: If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be first.

I find these quotes every morning on the little sugar packs.

Yesterday was an emotional day at the zoo.

Emotional because for the first time we had a sort of evaluation talk with one of the Congolese supervisors present. We openly talked about the things that shocked us and the things we admired. What shocked us is already discussed in my previous post but I don’t think I stated what we really admire. That is their ambition and their ability to set goals and make their choices all in relation to that one goal. We had also observed that not all Congolese students were equally accepted among each other. We wanted to know why certain things are the way they are and why some people are the way they are, we were simply suggested to ask, which in hindsight foolishly enough we never did.

It seems like every day we spend with the students from the UNILU (university of Lubumbashi),nicknamed Kassapards because their university is on the road to the prison which in Swahili is Kassapa, is filled with emotions and surprises. Both good and bad, sad and cheery. Every day we discover that things are not always as they seem. That things we thought were so obviously bad and wrong at first are now not so black and white anymore. Talking with them more makes me realize that the differences are not as blatant as we all assumed.

There is for instance one girl, who claimed to hate and detest gay people and who is a little left out in the group because she is sometimes rude and therefore hard to talk to. After our evaluation talk we were determined to get to know her better and find out who she really is. Surprisingly she turned out to be this really gentle and sweet person who despite everything would accept gay people as friends (I’m sorry for continuously using this example but it is just the most readily available example). Turns out she has just had a difficult life, she’s had to fight for her place. Thank you evaluation for making us try harder to understand.

Tonight we will move to our “familles d’acqeuil”. Me and Ikrame will stay with Loreanne (Lolo) who is one of our Congolese counterparts. The other “VUBistes” are placed with families that are not part of the group of Kassapards. I am curious to see where Loreanne lives, she seems to be well off and is someone who is always cheery and open, easy to like and unprovocative.

From Monday onwards we will work on our projects, we will be separated for four days. I think it will be a very interesting couple of days. Well every day has been interesting and insightful so far.

Also BIG RELIEF, Kawel, one of the UNILU supervisors told us that what they said about women the day before yesterday during that awful discussion was not how they felt but more something they had said to provoke a discussion. They had cited a text written by Khadafi (of all people). In that respect it worked for us but that makes me feel like the Congolese students didn’t really react, even one of the girls, who is the strongest of them all and who is usually first to state her opinion as blunt as she likes was very diplomatic in her questions and answers. This is something that needs a little investigating.

Now I will get ready to go to church with Loreanne J, what to wear, what to wear.

Ineke Hulselmans

Fieldwork

The last couple of days have been so eventfull, from a fancy reception party to working in the field.

The fancy reception party took place the day before yesterday at the residence of the Belgian attaché for development cooperation who used to be a physicist. We had to dress up for the party which was a real transformation from the tramp look during the day. Here I can get away with wearing all sorts of colours at once which I do copiously :D


Dressing up was fun, it was the first time I put on something that I would also wear in public in Belgium. Going back we were seated in the trunk of a 4x4, I can assure you there is no elegant way of climbing in and out of that trunk.

During dinner I had a conversation with one of the Congolese students about the position of women here and how he perceived it and about homosexuality. Two of the most sensitive subjects here in Congo. The debate was supposed to be about development but other than some philosophical conversation with the attaché about human nature and the need for development there was not a lot said. We quickly turned to the more sensitive subjects where surprisingly I got the support from a half Congolese half Italian girl whose most prized phrase was “Congolese people just don’t want to work, their ideal is to sit in an office and do nothing”. Even the guy next to me didn’t contest, he just made the comparison with Lusaka where there is no one in the streets in during the day and Lubumbashi where you see people in the streets all day long.

Homosexuality was difficult to talk about, priceless phrases like “why do they choose to be gay” and “There was a gay man who molested children in my church” made me realize they have a completely different idea of what it means to be gay. When I explained the guy it is not a choice but just how you are born he understood a little better but I doubt it had any effect on his dislike of homosexuality.

As it turned out the next day all of our little conversations were only a mild example of the heated and shocking discussions the following day. We already knew that Bora, one of the girls hated gay people which already shocked us the first day but yesterdays discussions were a real eyeopener and made us look at the students in a different way.

It all started with the supervisors of the Congolese students (two doctoral students) who basically stated that it is in a womans nature to stay home and look after the children, cook dinner and clean the house. It went further than that but I don’t remember his exact phrasing anymore. We could cry but instead all of us were just laughing, most of all cause when he started talking we thought he was joking. Womens menstruation is there “pour se discipliner (in terms of sexuality)!!??” is just another line in a series of lines that finally disgusted us.
After this there was some sort of role play where we had to designate a chef de village (me) who had to divide the work to be done in the village. I divided everything equally, meaning everyone did everything and the profits went to the whole family. Then Raphaelle, one of the Congolese students told me what it is really like, men cut the trees and women do all the rest and in the end the man gets the money with which he often buys a bike of a radio which the woman has no access to or in some cases he buys a new wife.

Completely in awe we went to a field near a village about 20 kilometers outside the city where the womans movement had a project around emancipation of women. The work was incredibly tough, after an hour or two we had blisters on our hands and were totally exhausted, RESPECT. Here the men did participate in all the work.
During both the bussride there and and bussride back we enjoyed listening and singing some African songs in close harmony, they really know how to create ambiance.

In the evening we went out to a club which was another lesson in interculturality. The DJ gets payed by clubbers to say something about them in the microphone, it is very annoying and distracting and painful to the ears. Second of all they all stand in a line in front of the mirror to look at themselves while they are dancing, not my idea of fun, I enjoyed it a lot better when they were standing in a circle doing their thing. After all these last few days were eventful. I had fun though, all the way even during the heated discussions.

If all goes well we will go to the Zoo today.

Ineke Hulselmans

Quote of the day: Don’t be afraid to take big steps. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.

It is a perfect thought to start my first full day in Lubumbashi. Yesterday I was introduced to the severely polluted air and old Japanese cars with the steering wheel on the right while driving on the right. I never get to see the drivers cause I look at the wrong side of the car. We also got to know our Congolese counterparts a little better and finally got an insight into what our stay here will look like.

In short our days are filled with confrontation with all kinds of different cultural “shocks”. It started off with some confusion around the introduction. We each had to fill out a sort of questionnaire with questions like “what are you allergic to” and “have you worked as a child”, these two questions were the main source of confusion. We took the allergy question quite literally while the Congolese students answered it in a metaphorical sense. So I answered that I had hayfever and that I didn’t work as a child, just student jobs starting at 16 and the Congolese students answered that they were allergic to angry people, hypocrisy, liars, and most stunningly “noise”. This is stunning because people seem to be incapable of not making noise. There is noise everywhere. But apparently people from Kinshasa are far worse. Something to keep in mind for future reference.

Lunch was another funny moment, we were laughed at for our technique of rolling “bukari balls” with our hands. Not being used to eating with our hands it felt very awkward at first to just dig in with our hands. Now day two I must admit it is nooooo problem anymore.

The afternoon we spent visiting the campus buildings and student homes. We first had to get permission from someone after which we were free to walk around and take pictures. I was in the lucky group that got to enter some classes in the communication department and political science department (yay!). The ambiance and folly surrounding our presence in the classes was indescribable. Hopefully I can attend a class as well, that would be really amazing.

Today we heard about our stay next week in a “famille d’acqeuil”. We will spend five days with them while we work in groups of 4 or 5 (two Belgian and two Congolese) on a project with local NGO’s. I was assigned to the sustainability project which really pleased me cause it was the one I liked best. It means we will also get to visit a mine near the Zambian border. I forgot the name but I will without a doubt write about later on. The rest of the morning we spent debating poverty and under development mechanisms. It is a bit much to sum up here and I don’t feel like I have processed it enough in my head to reproduce a decent explanation. I can just say that it was interesting to hear their discourse which was surprisingly so not all that different from my own. I always thought they would have a completely different view because they live it and for me it is far far away from me.

The afternoon was a walk around Lubumbashi city centre which continues to feel like an oversized village, mainly because of the way the building are oriented and the many trees along the roadside. Dinner was fantastic cause everyone is loosening up and we even danced a little in the restaurant. As a white girl with not that many great dance moves it was frustrating to see them pull off with the greatest ease the coolest moves. But the introduction to Congolese rumba was none the less very entertaining. Tuta onana kesho – see you tomorrow (or the day after, depending on internet access)

Ineke Hulselmans

Brussel-Lubumbashi

Spannend, wachten op de toesteming om te mogen vertrekken, 2 dagen voor mijn vertrek was er een aanslag in Lubumbashi. De dag voor mijn vertrek krijg ik toestemming om te mogen vertrekken. Daar begon ons tocht.

Vanuit Antwerpen vertok ik met mijn familie richting Zaventem. Gelijk gewoonlijk was ik een uur te laat. Mijn vader super gestrest en begreep niet dat ik zo rustig bleef. Maar ik was er gerust in dat ik mijn vliegtuig ging halen. Kwam er net op tijd aan. Eindelijk op het vliegtuig, eerste vlucht is naar Ethiopie. Daar nemen we een vlucht naar Congo in een klein vliegtuig. Wat mij meteen opviel is hoe mooi dat de vrouwen zijn op de vlucht en ook op de luchthaven van Addes Abbaba. Kan oppervlakkig klinken maar die Ethiopers hebben mij toch doen staren.




De dag erna kwamen we eindelijk aan in Lubumbashi.B ij het uitstappen voelde ik ineens een vreugde in mij bij het inademen van het lucht. Dezlfde geur als in Marokko. Het zonneke dat schijnt. Ja, we zijn in Afrika. Ik word overvallen door enthousiasme. Wil meteen aan de slag.
De luchthaven zelf was helemaal anders dan bij ons. Erg klein, ongeorganiseerd en er werkte heel veel mensen. De sfeer was daar vrij nors, ze hadden ons al gewaarschuwd voor politie en leger. Gelukkig was de concierge van de universiteit van Lumbubasi er om alles te regelen. Op een bepaalde moment zag ik aan de bagageband iemand met mijn koffer vertrekken, gelukkig had ik het op tijd door en heb ik hem nog kunnen tegenhouden.


Aan de uitgang stonden de Congoleese studenten te wachten om ons te verwelkomen. Ze hadden hun studenten lied voorbereid en brachten het op een heel emotionele wijse. Was erg geemontineerd door dit gebaar. Je merkte ook dat ze zich speciaal hadden opgedut voor ons, de mooiste kleren uit te kleerenkast gehaald. De gastvijheid in Congo is enorm. Ze stonden er ook meteen op dat ze onze bagage zouden dragen. Wij hadden ook een lied voorbereid, K3 van Afrika tot Amerika met bijhoren dansje . Jah, denk wel dat ze het grappig vonden want ze haalde meteen hun fototoestellen naar boven en we kregen applaus, gelukkig verstonden ze de tekst niet zo goed.

Toen we naar het hotel reden kreeg ik een zicht over het stad. Moet zeggen dat ik meteen terug aan Marokko denken, zelfde infrastructuur, klimaat trekt er ook op en er hing er hetzelfde sfeer. Wist meteen dat ik mij hier ging thuis voelen .



Het hotel was wat in vervallen staat en er waren er heel wat kakerlakken in de badkamer, maar heb ondertussen door dat dit ook wel een beetje bij Congo hoort. De ruimtes waren allemaal wel erg proper. Het hotel paste wel meteen bij mij het had iets prestigieus maar toch vervallen.
S’avonds gaan we wat eten in een lokaal keukentje en het smaakte me wel, bukari was heel speciaal. Is een witte bol dat gemaakt is uit maismeel. Dat moet je dan met je handen omvormen tot kleinere bollen en met een beetje saus opeten. Zag ook dat er vis was wat mij ook meteen tevreden stelde. Na een overheerlijke maaltijd keerden we terug naar het hotel. Was er klaar voor om aan dit avontuur te beginnen.




Ikrame

My first hours in Congo.

My impression is that of cosy chaos and of a city that doesn’t look like a city at all, the buildings are fairly small and the roads are quite narrow and dusty. The roadside shops remind me of those in Cape Town near the town ships and the hotel we are staying in has a colonial feel to it and looks like it hasn’t been updated since. Vergane Glorie as we would say in Dutch. It all has a certain charm to it though, it is like walking into a new world.

So in that respect it is exactly what I expected from it, it will be like nothing I have seen or experienced before. I look forward to everything they will throw at us.
During the flight I had a first glance at the programme and it looks like a packed three weeks. With 5 days spent in a local family during which we will develop a project of unknown content, the lovely uncertainty of it all.


When we landed we also met the Congolese students for the first time, they sang their University song and pulled off a beautiful sound. During our transit time in Addis Abeba we had made an attempt to preparing a wee dance and song and ended up performing a childrens song by K3 (three guesses which one). The Belgian transit passengers got a great laugh out of it.
The sun is shining bright and there is a blistering heat so it couldn’t be more different from cold and rainy Belgium. Even now during my first couple of hours it feels like all that is far far way, and I mean that in the sense of metaphorical distance.

Ineke Hulselmans

Onthaal

Op maandag 07 februari is de ploeg van 9 VUB-studenten (‘VUB-isten’), na een voorbereidingsperiode van 3 maanden, eindelijk toegekomen in Lubumbashi. Ze zullen er gedurende een kleine 3 weken intensieve uitwisselingen kennen met 9 UNILU-studenten (‘Kassapards’) rondom de thematiek van ontwikkelingsprocessen. Dit videootje geeft een beeld van de eerste ontmoetingen:



Binnenkort: hoe ze je ‘ik hou van jou’ in het Swahili?

Guy Capals