On May the 31st 2011 I found myself on a plane on the way to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, to do some work for the UN.
This is one of the poorest countries in the world and I had been told nothing but horror stories from everyone I know. From government websites warning me not to go to friends and family members looking me in the eyes and solemnly saying "be careful" York ". One of the first bad signs was when I tried to get travel insurance. I spent many hours researching only to find that there is one specialist company that would cover me, their main business line was covering missionary and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then a client of mine told me a story about when he visited in 1997-he had to hide out on the roof of the same hotel I was going to bestaying in because people were firing guns at the hotel! He also had every scrap of electronic equipment grabbed off him going through the airport and had to pay bribes to get it back.
So I was slightly concerned about the broadcast room and the brand new Macbook Pro I was taking!
None the less, I ignored every piece of advice and went anyway. Arriving in Kinshasa was a hair gely, I am sure it all but disappeared, taking potholes to a whole new level. Then to my amazement our three lane dual-up turned into one. One lane for pedestrians and stopped the bus ' and another lane for cars that didn't want to wait in the heavy traffic on the other side! I know we were driving at about 60 mph with trucks and bus ' pulling out on us, people crossing the road and all this in the pitch dark! I was very relieved when we arrived at the hotel!
The hotel was beautiful in an old colonial style with amazing African art all over the white marble walls. First problem was they had run out of electronic keys so I hadto be taken to my room every time I wanted to go in and out. Then the Wifi cost $ 75 for the week! We sat down and enjoyed a very nice steak dinner and retired after our long day of travelling.
The next morning we booked a tour of the city for a few hours before we started working. We visited the local market where I had to pick pocket attempted. We were walking to the market along a very busy street, lots of people walking about, people with huge carts and then cars all trying to squeeze though tiny gaps in the traffic I somehow ended up walking behind our guide at the back of the group when a big scary African guy grabbed my arm and started speaking in French really fast! Another man was pushing me from behind and then another one came up behind me (at this point I think I wouldhave been crying if I wasn't so petrified) and put his hand in my pocket, just at that point I managed to pry the first man's hand from my arm and push through a gap in the foot traffic to catch up with the guides. Fortunately for me all I had in my pocket was used tissues, so the worst thing was the big red mark on my arm where he had been grabbing me.
We then visited an art market which was quite intense because of the sheer amount of sellers and the complete lack of buyers! I saw some items I liked and started the negotiation process. The first item is what a friend described as an ' African Honey Monster ' the starting price was Congolese Francs or about 20.000 $ 22 I bargained hard and ended up paying 4000 Francs, $ 4.40, which I was very pleased about. I also made a purchase of twokey rings which the seller wanted me to pay $ 10 for but after about 30 minutes of negotiation I ended up paying $ 1.50 which I was again very pleased with! By this point I was exhausted from all the negotiations so we ventured back to the car where we were hit with a $ 5 parking fee. Knowing this was fake we paid $ 0.50 and the chap made on our merry way, much to his disappointment.
So the work began and I spent most of the next few days watching the DRC go by from the conference room window. Saw some dodgy deals going on and people getting moved on by the police!
On the second from last night we went out again in the van and toured around the city. We really noticed the difference in between rich and poor, there were lots of very affluent areas and lots of very poor areas,but it would seem that there is development going on in terms of hospitals, roads and high rise buildings!
On the last night we visited a local restaurant. The guide told us that we would be being served worms! Immediately I began to panic and then I though, "oh well" once in a life time. " So I built myself up to grab some worms psyching myself up for really it and much to my disappointment, there was no worms, the strangest thing on the menu was tripe, so I had my fill of that, which had a very unusual textures!
It was very much a big rush back to the airport, we left ourselves with four hours to get there and it was lucky we did. The traffic was very heavy and the rules of the road seemed non-existent! There were lorry's over-flowing with people and buses and taxi's crammed,there were people everywhere catching the bus ' and selling goods!
The journey continued, it was like watching a filming and the windows of the van where the screen, I have never seen such a large amount of people for such a sustained amount of time! Hundreds of cafes-well plastic chairs outside buildings that were crumbling down, thousands upon thousands of people walking in all directions crossing the six lane road with all sorts of vehicles battling for position. Crashes every few hundred yards with huge groups crowded round shouting and pointing, a river almost completely covered with plastic bottles, completed strewn pavements made of rubbish and people of all shapes and sizes carrying ridiculously large amounts of stuff on there head!
Arriving at the airport, night hadfallen and we began the lengthy check-in process! Check point 1 they check your passport and request the $ 50 departure tax! Check point 2 you have your bags checked, well unpacked and rummaged through. Check point 3 you hand your passport into a window, move to another window and a very scary looking airport official stares at you for at least two minutes flicking back from your picture to your face in a very accusatory manor! I gave a smile to try and relive the tension but this just annoyed her further, her expression became even more accusing and I started to doubt whether I really did look like my picture! Check Point 4 after your passport is returned you have your bag opened and checked again, every official that did this seemed intensely confused by my camera battery charger. Checkpoint 5 to go your bags and you receive a hand written boarding pass. Check point 6 SCSU and passport check where a very friendly gentleman stares at your picture for a little while and unbolts at door and lets you into another section. Check point 7 your passport is checked again and you're let through another bolted wooden door into a more traditional booth style passport check. Check point 8 you hand your passport into a window and it gets checked yet again, at this point I have been split up from all the others that I am travelling with in this maze of rooms! Check point 9 another hand luggage check with an x-ray machine, where the officials were being very friendly, taking everything out of my case that I couldn't travel with including my mosquito spray. Then they startedasking me for money, they just kept repeating "Money, Money," give me money "I really didn't know what to do and just smiled and shrugged my shoulders while trying to pack everything back into my bag! Check point 10-bit of a surprise this one, just as we were boarding the plane they line everyone up and check your bags yet again and pat you down!
With all that over I was looking forward to a pleasant sleep on the journey home, unfortunately for me I was sat next to a very large African lady who I don't believe understood the concept of personal space. There was plenty of space in the plane for everyone to spread out but she chose to sit next to me.
Pick Pockets and Art Markets in Democratic Republic of Congo Africa