Ferris Wheels

Thought I’d give you a quick update on our travels for the last two days. We’ve spent time meeting with government officials and learning about the customs clearance process here. They have quite an involved process, but everyone seems to be working quite well together. The officials we met were all very welcoming and very friendly.

The customs clearance area is quite amazing. Trucks everywhere! They have to stay at the agent until all the appropriate processes are completed, so drivers may need to stay two or three days with their trucks.

Yesterday, we ventured out to a community about 35km from Lubumbashi. This is really our first trip outside of about a 3 mile radius. I’ll tell you more about who we met with in the next post, but a few general observations quickly today before I lose my internet connection.

First, they seem to drive here generally according to general rules of the road. That said, I can’t figure out the placement of stop signs and stop lights. People obey them, but they seem to be placed at non-busy intersections. At busy intersections, they have either a ½ roundabout – it’s a roundabout on one side and straight on the other – very confusing. Or they have a policeman who stands on a box in the middle of the intersection directing traffic. He has a whistle, that he blows seemingly continuously, and he waves his arms a lot. The first time I saw this, the policeman seemed to be pinwheeling his arms. I thought maybe he was about to fall of his box, and he was trying to catch his balance. But in fact, he was directing traffic. Somehow everyone either knows what the pinwheeling means, or they are just ignoring him and somehow making it through the intersection.

Mining is a very big industry here, but with the financial crisis of the last few years, many of the mines have closed. This has left communities which were once doing fairly well, suffering. The community we visited yesterday is one of these. You can see evidence of well laid out streets, community parks, markets, etc., but much of that now is in disrepair. I did see one thing though that was very different. We were driving down a dirt road, when off to one side, we saw many buildings. Then we saw a diving board next to a swimming pool, basketball courts, and a ferris wheel. Can you imagine a ferris wheel and a swimming pool in the middle of what seems to be nowhere in the DRC? We asked about that, and were told the mining company wanted to make something fun for the children, so they built this entertainment complex. Although the mine is closed for now, the community has managed to keep this entertainment area open to some degree, and children can visit on the weekends.

One more thing – since I frequently post about the food we eat – lunch yesterday – antelope, goat, tilapia (comlete with head and skin), spinach, nshima, rice, and potatoes. Very good!

More later. May not have an internet connection for a few days, but will type up notes, and post when I can.