Into the Congo

Recently, I spent 3 days in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That was long enough for my first trip there. I can’t say I'll go back, and I can’t say I won’t. Having witnessed things that I had little hope or peace of mind to process during my time there, I came back to Rwanda with a hand that could not stop writing and eyes that could not stop reading about that place. I’ve taken some time away from this blog to reflect on those 3 days. I’m not done processing, and I won’t ever be done processing.

The DRC has remained on the State Department’s Travel Advisory List for the past 33 years. Actually, forget travel warnings. That place has been a pit of chaos since the Cold War, or really since colonization in the 1870s by King Leopold II of Belgium, who called it a “slice of magnificent African cake.” It is the home of the UN’s largest peacekeeping operation in the world. It has acquired a reputation that makes people around the world shake their heads in disapproval, lower their heads in disappointment, turn their heads away for fear of realizing hopelessness. Child soldiers. Rape. Pillaging. An obliterated infrastructure. Severe gender inequality. Perpetual combat zones. Agonizing human rights violations. Natural resource oasis. Corruption central. Brash and illegal political-military groups. More diamonds than Fiddy Cent can wear around his neck. Widespread exploitation of vast mineral reserves. Sex trafficking. All Congo buzzwords. To put it mildly, the negative tends to outweigh the positive when it comes to the DRC’s reputation.

Of course, some people advised me not to go. Others smiled cautiously at me with the knowledge that firsthand insights are the only way that we can turn a country or issue inside-out, and they supported me. No matter who expressed what opinion, I knew that I had to go. If I am studying peacekeeping, there is no way that I would pass up the opportunity to travel 4 hours north and cross the border into the biggest peacekeeping puzzle in the world.

I had contacts there with a couple of women in their mid-twenties working for Mercy Corps (it probably would’ve been foolish to go without contacts). This means that I spent most of my time trekking around on foot or in the Mercy Corps vehicle. These women, in turn, had developed close relationships with some upper-level officials serving in the UN Peacekeeping Forces in Congo. This created an unexpected wave of insight and exposure, as I spent the night hours on and off the UN compound with UN troops (I barely slept in the 3 days I was there). The UN throws a disco party every Friday night on the compound, located at the base of a 2-man watchtower that looks out into black oblivion. So yes, I partied with the UN Peacekeeping Forces in the Congo (as preposterous as that sounds), and I can’t deny that informal conversation with military personnel was immeasurably valuable. I couldn’t have asked for more.

Anyway, none of this is about me going to the Congo. This is about us gaining a better understanding of something that should not be ignored. It’s easy to save a puzzle that is endlessly frustrating and seemingly impossible for another day. It’s easy to put it in the very back of the drawer under everything else to collect dust. But we cannot do this anymore. The puzzle pieces came from somewhere – they were carved from something that was once whole. If they were cut apart, they can be put together again.

I am not trying to be sentimental, cynical, or idealistic. I am not trying to confirm nor debunk all the stereotypes and preconceptions of the DRC that are floating around out there. I spent a good amount of time before the trip clearing my head of everything people and books and journals and manuscripts told me about the Congo. I went with an open mind. What follows in the next post are objective observations of what passed before my eyes in 3 days in the DRC. I’ll also include a snapshot history, so that your very valid question about why on Earth brutal conflict has persisted for so long there might begin to be answered. The purpose of the next post is less about revealing my own viewpoints and reactions, and more about shedding light of some of humanity’s biggest questions. I hope that you will think and you will process. It will be a difficult post to read, but bear with it, because I am going somewhere with it. You’ll see this soon enough.

Photo Captions:

1. An alley, surrounded on all sides by barbed wire.

2. One of the first sights I saw upon entering Congo.

3. Sitting on the porch of my hotel room, the only place I could go to be alone and process things. Nina took this.

4. Lava rock, trash, and UN vehicles. 3 of the most common things in the DRC.