The Congo problem - infrastructure

One of my colleagues in the DR congo was recently on a field trip, for a construction project. Some of the photos above show you some of the challenges the team faced as they tried to drive across the Congolese roads.

Immediately you can see some of the problems faced by the DR Congo, particularly the Eastern Congo. The infrastructure is just devastated. Kemal Saiki, a United Nations spokesman, said recently that the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not "even have 2,000 miles of roads" . That is staggering, for a country the size of Western Europe.

For a distance of 210km, from Isiro to Dungu, it can take 2 days to travel one way when its been raining. You may think I exaggerate, but as you look at the photos above, you can see what the reality looks like for most people here in the DRC.

Infact, most people who do travel domestically in the Congo travel by air. Its by far the quickest way to get around, though not an always very safe way to travel. The domestic airlines here have an appaling safety record.

For wealthy `mizungus` like myself this doesnt really present a problem, as Medair, my organisation can pay for flights with international carriers, such as MAF or we can get access to donor flights. For the majority of Congolese though, it presents massive challenges. Conflict ongoing for the last 12/13 years has exacerbated the problem. As you can imagine, it can be very difficult to reach people in rural, remote communities, especially when you have cargo such as medical aid to deliver. Also, when there is an emergency what do these people do? its not always that easy for them to get the help they need.

Private and commercial road transport is almost non-existent and traffic is scarce. The few vehicles in use are run by the UN, aid agencies, the DRC government, and a few larger companies such as those in the mining and energy sectors. It makes it very difficult for thousands of people to get access to clinics, hospitals and sometimes shelter. Most people travel by bike, or just walk.

I hope to be going on a field trip of my own in the next couple of weeks so I will have some stories of my own. But i would recommend Tim Butchers Blood River - a pretty vivid account of what it can be like travelling across the Congo

Welcome to the jungle - Pictures of the Congo

One of the main streets in Isiro. For all you Mancunians reading, this is our equivalent to Princess Parkway.

A visit to a local school to present some gifts a colleague had brought from Canada. They even sang the Congolese national anthem for us.

This guy was carrying a coffin on his bike. He told us building coffins was how he made his living. Sadly, he also said it was a lucrative business in the Congo.

Isiro. the edge of town. The jungle is pretty thick already. Very beautiful. However, as you head north of Dungu, the LRA hides out in the forest. The miltary can`t find the rebels there its too dense.

The colour of a Congolese wedding!!!


Can you see that there is a guy riding a bike here..carrying the rack of clothes. Guys like this are a common sight in the Congo...carrying all sorts, bananas, cement, you name it. They are traders - and can sometimes travel for up to 2 week periods to sell their parcticular goods.


The view from the MAF flight. Down below you can see the dense jungle and Lac albert in the distance. i understand the Congo/uganda border splits the lake.


Beautiful Isiro - the forest of North East congo, Haut Uele Province

My team at work. Isaac and Baya repairing the Medair vehicle after a field trip. This is what the roads in the DR Congo do to your car. More on that later.

Joking around with some of the local kids. Pretty cute!!!

The garden in front of our house and the volleyball court. We even have a net..impressive!!!

Me and the volleyball crew. We try to play 2/3 times a week with some of the kids and teenagers from the local community. Its a great laugh and good excercise in the heat and humidity.

The lounge. Where the team comes together in the evenings and for our devotions. And where i spend most Sundays resting on the sofa after a tough 6 day week. Im only half joking!!!

The special bucket shower we use in Isiro. In fairness, it works very well

My new home above. The base in isiro. Welcome to the jungle - North Eastern Congo

The Relief world

Before I arrived in the Congo, I was warned by some people about the effectiveness of the humanitarian aid sector in responding to crises in this part of Africa. I was warned about the reputation of the UN and just how badly organised they can be, and even about some of the donors and NGO`s, about the approaches they take and the benefits for the locals.

Needless to say I was pretty shocked by the response of one of our donors this week. Although Medair are a Christian aid agency, some of the donors we deal with are not, they are certainly more secular. I won`t say who the donor was, but we had arranged to transport some medical aid with them this week. They cancelled the flight with a days notice, because instead of transporting the cargo, they wanted to transport some diplomats to a meeting. Can you imagine that? Rather than save lives, they preferred to send some high ranking officials for a meeting.

Thankfully, I chose to work for Medair, who like I say, are very much a Christian agency. It means, or at least I hope so, that we do and what we say stands out. The fact that we spend time as a team praying and studying the word together really matters. We are motivated by the love of Christ, our standards are that much higher, and we are here to genuinely serve the local people. What am I trying to say? Well im trying to say that it really matters that Christ is at the centre of what we do.

These are my thoughts anyway as I see some of the pros and cons of working at the sharp end of the humanitarian field. I had thought about this a lot before coming out to the field, so was fully prepared for it. I am already asking myself does humanatrian aid really give the DR congo what it needs? I don`t have an answer for you yet I came here to find out for myself.

However I am convinced that Medair does have something different to offer in this line of work. Im convinced that it makes a difference when you move forward with prayer, courage and obedience to Jesus, that he will work through you and his transforming power will change hearts and lives.

In the words of Martin Luther King, `if you can`t fly then run, if you can`t run then walk, If you can`t walk then crawl, but by all means keep moving forward.`

The cost...

I wrote a few weeks ago about the cost of being here..in the DR Congo. Well i did not expect to experience that cost so visibly and powerfully, only 3.5 weeks after arriving.

On saturday i recieved some heartbreaking news from home. My sister was due to give birth in just 5 weeks, but on Friday, on a check up at the hospital, she and her husband were told that the baby had died. She has still had to go through the trauma of giving birth, and so in the early hours of this morning, alexander luke was born. Devestating for my sister and her husband, and terrible for the rest of my family too.

I have experienced a mixture of emotions since hearing the news. Shock, anger, confusion, sadness. im sure that all pales in comparison to what my sister and her husband are feeling right now. My feelings have been exacerbated by the fact that im so far from home.

Medair have been great, very supportive. They offered me the chance to fly home. I have spoken to the family a lot over the last 48 hours and we have decided the best thing is for me to stay in the DR Congo. I need to settle here and there are already so many people supporting Jude and Jonny. i think if i had returned home, it would have been more for my benefit than theirs. We will speak on the phone and on skype, and i am OK with that for now.

A colleague said to me yesterday that you really make a big sacrifice whn you leave for the field. Not only does that apply to me, but for the people you leave behind as well. I have had that truth rammed down my throat.

Please pray for my sister and her husband if you get a chance. i would appreciate it.

My job so far....

We have a lot of emergencies at the moment in the North East Congo, as the LRA continue to attack villages, causing thousands of people to leave their homes and live in temporary camps. These people are officially classified as IDP`s (Internally Displaced People). This effectively means that they are refugees within the borders of their own country

These are the people who get caught in the crossfire and suffer the most in many cases. Hard to believe, but the UN estimate that 45,000 people die every month in the DR Congo. Most of these people die from preventable diseases, an indirect consequence of the chaos that surrounds them. The infrastructure can be so bad in eastern Congo, and the security so unstable that these people can be difficult to reach. People die from diahrroea in the Eastern Congo. Does that not make you angry? The war in Eastern Congo officialy ended 5 years ago but fighting continues, and the shattered economy and infrastructure have never recovered

Consequently many of Medairs programmes in the Congo are focusing on emergency response and trying to ensure that as many people as possible can recieve the medication they so desparately need. Since I arrived in Isiro, my role has focused on the control of the medical stock and making sure this kit is transported to our beneficiaries in the field. The medical kit is mostly transported by air. The roads are in a terrible state so they are not really an option...the planes get in and out pretty quickly.

We have medical supervisors who distribute the medicines. They are all Congolese, completely dedicated to what they do and pretty corageous guys too, putting themselvs in the middle of some pretty dangerous situations.

I hope to get to grips with the rest of my role over the next few weeks. Its been a pretty busy start, but the role has a hands on feel, and knowing what you are doing really does contribute to saving lives directly is a good thing. That why I came i guess, to serve the people of one of the most forgotten crises on planet earth.

In the picture you can see myself and my colleague Isaac delivering the medication to the airport

Welcome to DR Congo

I flew to Bunia on Monday from Kampala. On one of the smallest planes you can imagine. A 12 seater MAF plane. Amazing views as we flew over Lac Albert and the jungle. Having been debriefed in bunia for a couple of days i flew on to Isiro on Wednesday, my new base. Isiro really is the town the jungle overtook, the villages on the edge of town surrounded by the encroaching rainforest. Believe it or not, in the colonial days, you could once fly here directly to Belgium. Not anymore. the airport has become a symbol of the towns decline. Constantly flooded when the rains come and hosting only MAF, the UN and a handful of domestic airline carries, it has lost something of its former glory

The house and the team are great. I have experienced the famous bucket shower of the Medair Isiro house. The school next door is a bit special as well. As the majorty of people dont have alarms here the headmaster wakes up the kids by smashing a big gong at 5am every morning. I kid ye not. You can see the base above

The secuirty in Isiro is pretty stable but the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) are attaking towns not too far from here. A particularly brutal, nasty group they terrorise the local population.

A bit of background the LRA are lead by a guy called Joseph Kony. They were originally based in Northern Uganda. For various reasons they are now more concentrated in North Eastern Congo. Kony is a spiritual medium and wanted the people in Northern Uganda to live by the 1o commandments. Its a strange 10 commandments that now includes rape, abduction and the infliction of complete terror on the civilian population.

After several failed attempts by the governments of Uganda, Southern Sudan and the DRC to wipe out the LRA, they are now scattered across the NorthEastern region of the DRC. Many of the towns north of Isiro are not protected by the military and are completely vulnerable to attack.

Darfur gets a lot of publicity at home, and rightly so. The LRA are a vicious group though and have been guilty of committing massive attrocities in this part of Africa.

I will attach a few useful links below so that you can read a bit more

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/80769/section/9
http://www.petereichstaedt.com/

And so the adventure begins

So its been a hectic week. My friends and family gave me a great send off at home. Somebody said to me recently that there is always a cost of everything you do for God. Wise words!!! The lives of my family and friends will be moving forward, as will mine. I'm sure there will be quite a few things that I will miss out on.

I finally rented the flat out at the 11th hour. On Wednesday at 4pm i recived the confirmation that a girl would take it. I was leaving for the airport 2 hours later. Why does God always work like that? Ansers on a postcard

Anyway Im in Kampala now. Its been a great few days meeting the Medair staff here and geting to know the city. On Friday I recieved my visa for the DR Congo, so on Monday I will fly to Bunia and then on to Isiro.

It feels good to be here. For now this is the right place for me to be. There is nothing quite like walking in the will of God, even when you consider the costs that might be involved.