Sibiti (cont.)

The pictures from our work in the field don’t show the reality of how life is in Sibiti. It’s a small, tired village that feels more secluded than I could have expected. It’s not my first time traveling into rural Africa moving from one small town or village to another. In 2007 I spent a week and a half wandering alone throughout northern and eastern Senegal, along the Mauritanian border. These are all towns where children scream in excitement and disbelief at the sight of a white person, the adults too scrambling out of their homes or work, if not more discreetly than the rest.

We arrived in Sibiti early afternoon and found ourselves in town’s central square: government buildings for various local and national ministries, banks, a gas station, shops and bars. We left the taxi and carried our luggage to the house that AZUR rents for its coordinator and any colleagues in town for business. The house was comfortable by Congolese standards: two bedrooms, a living room and a small space aside serving as the kitchen. The house was wired for electricity, but for over a month a transformer had been out of service without yet being repaired. The coordinator and her neighbors share a common well within the terrace that is easily thirty feet deep. The water is cloudy and chilled. Inside the house there is little furniture or decorations: a miniature plastic picnic table with three chairs (one broken) is all there is, otherwise we sit and eat on the floor. In the kitchen or outside the house, everything is cooked with charcoal.

There are no taxis in Sibiti like there is in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire or other larger cities. The only form of transport-for-hire is the ubiquitous Japanese motorbike, for which a typical ride will cost you no more than fifty cents. The only car that AZUR owns is stationed at the Sibiti office, though for several months it had been out of commission due to unspecified engine problems. The car itself is nothing special and certainly not the breed of vehicle necessary for undertaking frequent missions in the field during both the dry and rainy seasons. Several years ago the association was offered a compact Toyota 4-door hatchback from a one-time European donor. The car has Austrian parking permits on the windshield and punk rock, Vans and other stickers scattered on the rear hatch. All the major private organizations and local authorities have 4x4-capable SUVs with windshield/side door-mounted mufflers. Having a legitimate field work-capable vehicle is on the top of the association’s wish list, but it’s a really difficult, large expense to request and justify before donors.

The car was repaired the day after we arrived, and by our third day in Sibiti it was running and ready for commission. The trips to our various destinations with AZUR-sponsored Pygmy and AIDS-prevention projects ranged from one to over three hours, though our average cruising speed hovered around a plodding 15 mph.

Seeing the different projects in the field was intriguing and inspiring. Meeting the beneficiaries – almost exclusively Pygmy women – was equally moving. AZUR’s approach to assisting Pygmy women is to give them the tools, training and encouragement necessary to enable them to be financially independent and responsible. Each year AZUR equips these women with tools and seeds for planting groundnut, manioc and corn. The women work in groups of ten to twelve in a community field (rented/purchased by AZUR) where one day a week they share the responsibilities of clearing, planting, watering and harvesting. Once everything has been harvested and sold, AZUR asks the women to share the gains among them while leaving a small amount to save for emergencies. In addition, the women are required to pay a small fee ($2-3) every few months to add to the pot.

Each women’s group we visited was at a different stage of development, whether in terms of how successful their harvest had been or whether they had been making sure to contribute equally to the common fund. One group of Pygmy women in the village of Mvouara had been so successful with their harvest that they decided to re-invest their capital in purchasing fish to sell at the local market, thus increasing their income even further. Other groups were not as successful or cohesive, and one or two had more or less failed to grasp the purpose of working as a team and pooling together their savings. When we arrived to see a group outside the village of Komono, the women told us they had thrown out half the seeds because they didn’t like the quality. Yet other groups were experiencing a lack of leadership and organization. As I came to learn, these issues are all part of the process of carrying through a large-scale project from its initial conception on paper to execution in the field. Every group presented its particular needs, challenges and possessed a unique character. The team and I needed to be flexible and able to react calmly and decisively to whatever issues are brought up. After all, we are the people responsible for transforming project proposals and projected results into real, tangible transformation. Most donors will never see our projects as they are being carried out in the field.

The pictures posted online of the various women’s groups may be all that our donor and most others will ever see. In reality, these women, their children and families were thrilled to see us arrive. For them this was an opportunity to earn money on a consistent basis, a welcome alternative to the life they otherwise know. Pygmies differ from the rest of the Bantou population in part because their culture possesses no conception of short-term or long-term future: each morning the Pygmies wake up and, if they want to eat, they must take off for the forest and find food. What food they find or money they earn, they consume before day's end. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of our project with the women’s groups is encouraging them to save money in anticipation of the unknown, of tomorrow. 

Sibiti is by far the most popular field site in terms of the attention and funding AZUR receives from donors. Over the years the association has received much recognition and approbation in its approach to Pygmy populations. We hope that it won’t be long before AZUR can step back from the current women’s groups and be assured that its members have learned the value of hard work, collaboration and savings. The photos online of the women are also full of young children; I sincerely hope the women’s progress and lessons learned will be passed down from one generation to the next.  

Nkayi

I left Pointe-Noire in late May for the beginning of a two-week tour of AZUR’s field offices in the Congo, one in Nkayi and the other in Sibiti. The distance of these towns from the coast, or from Brazzaville, is minimal, but because there is no national highway or paved route between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, getting anywhere outside of either urban area is neither quick nor comfortable.

The national road between Pointe-Noire is under construction as we speak, and the entire job has been contracted to a Chinese firm. The Congolese do all the hard labor while the Chinese are primarily managers and foremen – from what I’ve seen and heard, this isn’t a situation in which the Chinese are transferring their technology to certain Congolese engineers. As such, it’s almost certain that for the next major infrastructure project – perhaps another highway north of Brazzaville – the Congolese government will be forced to contract with a foreign firm.

I left Pointe-Noire with the president of another NGO ARIPS, Mme Goma, who we asked to help lead a two-day training workshop in Nkayi organized by AZUR. Her and I left Pointe-Noire at 6 a.m. in a taxi we shared with four other people. The trip took us over four hours to reach Dolisie, the third-largest town in the Congo. From there we hired another taxi for the two and a half-hour ride to Nkayi. By 3 p.m. we were at AZUR’s field office and finally able to eat and put our feet up for the rest of the day.

The next day we began the training workshop. The theme of the workshop was female leadership, and the leaders we targeted were women who are members of local associations involved in AIDS prevent and treatment. Most of these associations are comprised of one or two people; many don’t have an office. One of AZUR’s missions is to train and encourage these very associations, especially their presidents and executive directors. Many of these women have the will and the determination to make a difference in their community but lack any formal training in basic computer skills, managing finances and writing official reports and projects. Several of the women at the workshop spoke little French and had not mastered the AIDS ‘vocabulary’ in French.

The workshop was a success in our eyes and in the eyes of the women who attended. They depend on leaders such as Sylvie and Mme Goma to inspire, encourage and orient their associations in the right direction. My responsibilities during the workshop were to ensure that everything ran smoothly, as well as preparing documents and afterwards writing the narrative report. Some sessions were in French but the majority of the conversations and discussions were in Kituba.

After the workshop we spent the weekend relaxing in the Nkayi. I had the chance to see the market and some more of the town. It’s not a very large town, but there is a large company that grows and refines sugar cane, and many of the residents work in the sugar cane fields. It is in this town where for the first time I was in a house that had both constant electricity and running water (outside the house). At the market I saw some new interesting fares: bush meat and boa. I don’t know what animal it is, but they’re sold smoked. The boa had been cut into cross-sections, and I’m told it’s prepared in a sort of stew.  

After five or six days in Nkayi Sylvie and I took off for the next field office in Sibiti, another two and a half-hour drive. We had no idea what awaited us in Sibiti…

Sibiti

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from my time in Sibiti as I followed the local AZUR employees into the field to check up on of our current agriculture projects with Pygmy women. The pictures are also in the web albums. 

The photographs I took of Pygmy men, women and children were all taken with their permission and will be used by AZUR in their progress and final reports to various donors. Nevertheless, since I didn't record the names of anyone besides the women involved with our projects I prefer not to post any photos of Pygmies directly on the blog. It's most fitting and respectful, in my opinion, to ensure the photos remain within the context of our work. 


Check out new photo albums!

Lasagna Congolese etc.

Here are a few of the random and unexpected delights of Pointe-Noire:

1. The best lasagna I have ever tasted. Seriously. In downtown Pointe-Noire near the train station there is a Congolese-run Italian trattoria with several different options pre-prepared each day. I randomly discovered the restaurant one day and came back the following day. And twice more before the end of the week. Best. Lasagna. Ever. In both bolognese and vegetarian.
2. Mountain Dew. Along the main boulevard downtown there's a small Indian-owned supermarket called Park'n'Shop that has a random mix of staple Indian food and spices alongside random French and American brands. Aside from the super-sized stacks of Pringles and Snickers bars, you can buy single cans of Mountain Dew. So good...
3. French fries. It's the smallest thing, but at the French supermarket in the frozen section you can purchase frozen French fries. I prepared them back at the house with fried chicken and mayo. 
4. Celine Dion. I'm not even a serious Celine Dion fan, but when the family I was staying with turned on her New Day DVD concert, I may or may not have sung aloud while wiping away tears.

Back In Brazza

This morning before 9 AM I finally touched back down in Brazzaville after more than seven weeks of travel on the Congolese coast and further inland. It’s been almost a month since I last left an update, and I thank all of you who are still following this blog for your patience and understanding.

All in all I spent over a month in Pointe-Noire and two weeks at the association’s field offices farther inland. From all these travels I have gained a more profound perspective of life in the Congo and the difficulties people face each day. Every town I stopped in had its own story and its own character, and with that its own particular troubles.

From Pointe-Noire I took the bus inland to Nkayi along the new national highway that is under construction that will soon connect Brazzaville to the coast. Our Executive Director, Sylvie, and I spent several days at the AZUR regional office to contribute with a two-day training workshop in female leadership and management skills for local NGOs who specialize in AIDS prevention. 

From Nkayi Sylvie and I took a bush taxi to another AZUR regional office in the neighboring district, Sibiti. Though the town is small and quiet, there is a lot of NGO action in the area due to the large concentration of Pygmies. We spent over a week in Sibiti monitoring and evaluating the current projects, some supporting Pygmy women and others focusing on AIDS education and prevention in rural areas.   

As I settle back into what was my original rhythm here in the Congo I’ll have the time to finally put more photos online and share some thoughts about all the latest events. Concerning my internship, we’ve put the workshops I was initially assigned to coordinate on hold - numerous other projects and workshops financed by separate donors have taken the fore for the time being, and we have neither the time nor the personnel to juggle everything all at once.

As for everything else, I’m doing well. It’s difficult to believe three months in the Congo have already past. I admit I have started counting the weeks until I’ll be back in the US: one month from today on July 15^th I’ll touch down in Raleigh.

Like I said, more updates and especially photos to come soon.