Coding in the Congo.

Later this evening I leave from Schiphol to Bukavu for a month of field work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That is, Amsterdam -> Nairobi, Nairobi -> Kigali, staying over one night in Rwanda, Kigali -> Kamembe, and then by 4x4 crossing the Rwanda - DRC border.

As many of you know I kept a blog when I was in the DRC last summer. I will do the same thing now. For upcoming month I will therefore not post here but at Coding in the Congo.

Austria vs Congo, books, TV5 Monde.

I was in Austria a week ago. Many Austrians drive really big cars, live in well-kept buildings, etc. Why? Those high mountains are perfect for rebel groups to hide from the government, and it must be/ must have been very difficult for the government to project power. Why do Austrians living in isolated houses at the top of mountains far away from military and police sleep without worries, while people in the Congo (or in Africa for that matter) do not? Why is Austria developed and peaceful, and the Congo not? Sure, I can give a laundry list. But it did struck me.

When in France and Austria I did not have too much time to read. I did read something:

• Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil is a good book written by Nicholas Shaxson's who - after working for many years in Africa - discusses how oil is hurting the African continent. Especially France get's its ass kicked.
• Frederick Forsyth’s Dogs of War's is a novel set in imaginary Zangaro where richness are found in the Crystal Mountains. Interestingly, and probably not by accident, the latter is also a range of mountains that the Congo River has coursed its way through (located approximately 200 miles east of the Atlantic coast).
• Already mentioned in a previous post, but Adam Hochchild’s King Leopold’s Ghost is a fantastic book.
• Allah N'est Pas Oblige by Ahmadou Kourouma - a book I got from my supervisor already a while ago in order to learn French - is a first-person narrative by a West African child soldier who recounts his experiences in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nice book.
• I also bought Deception Point by Dan Brown and Foundation 2 by Isaac Azimov in French, I started the first.

Talking about French; I am now going to say something positive about France. TV5 Monde has a webpage called "Apprendre le français", which gives not only the newsvideos, but also their transcript, several games, etc. A great tool to study the language.

Rene Lemarchand and Les Larmes du Soleil.

Rene Lemarchand

Chris Blattman linked to a review written by Alex Engwete (who btw keeps a very interesting blog) about René Lemarchand’s new book “The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa”. Lemarchand is a ‘biggy’ when it comes to research on Africa; being especially a specialist on the Great Lakes Region.

Les Larmes du Soleil

Some days ago I watched Les Larmes du Soleil. Sounds interesting, but it is nothing more than “Tears of the Sun” in English (while in France I bought some movies to keep my French up). It is a bad Hollywood movie about Africa in which Bruce Willis is a good old American-style hero. He is a US soldier sent to Nigeria to get an American citizen during a period in which the country falls into chaos after a bloody coup. Of course, Bruce Willis not only brings back this gorgeous-looking American lady, but in the meantime he also saves the lives of countless civilians including the son of the late president and the last in the royal bloodline of the Igbo people. However, despite all this there is one thing that sticks with me (paraphrasing):

Nigerian to Bruce Willis: “May God be with you”
Bruce Willis: “God already left Africa”

Six things.

• Just found some picutures from Pieter Hugo's Nollywood series. I am not sure I like them. He notes that "the situations are clearly surreal, although they could be real on a set". Quite a few of these pictures, however, could actually be really real in Africa!
• Laura Seay - the author of the excellent blog Texas in Africa - has a page with tips on conducting research in the DRC. Although I have much much less field experience, much of it sounds very familiar. Thanks!
• So last Tuesday I went to the Rwandan Embassy to get a visa; luckily I could sit down and wait for it. I forgot a book and therefore closely studied my itinery. At the back of the page STA reminded me that I "had chosen not to purchase the STA Travel Protection Plan". And that if I would purchase the STA Travel Protection Plan within 14 days of making your deposit or initial trip payment, I would received additional protection for... terrorism. I am really curious how they do that. :)
• If you put your passport in a washingmachine (see here), you do have a lot of empty pages again. Awesome!
• Macartan (my supervisor) is teaching a course on violence next semester at Columbia. I'm also his RA and one of the things I therefore just did was reading through the Syllabus. First, it's going to be a great course. Second, it also reminded me of an interesting article by Jared Diamond that I read in the New Yorker already some months ago (note: the article received lots of critisism).
• In a few days I will be heading to Bukavu in Eastern Congo. Mom, please don't read this.