Passport-odyssey

Image may contain: outdoor, nature and water

The Passport-odyssey continues. My passport is still stuck with Immigration (DJM), and apparently without a visa that would allow me to leave this country easily and smoothly on Sunday. So yesterday Melaine and I embarked on the trip to Kinshasa to ‘clarify things,’ or see who else we have to sweet talk in the administration to make sure our paperwork is processed and handed-back. 
My bigger concern was less administrative and more emotional, as my life has been more on the latter side recently anyways, but especially as leaving Mbandaka meant leaving Ima and Dawa (the cat and dog). One could look back at the overly quick decision to take on a dog and a cat as foolish, but they were amazing companions and most likely had it much better with us than on the streets of Congolese cities.
 I grew into a cat lover – who would have thought – and absolutely adored my first dog I ever owned. My German-planning genes were activated in the past weeks, trying my best to ensure the animals happiness while both (Melaine and I) are gone. Guilt, as usual, crept in anyways. Lots and lots of guilt in fact. Over leaving them (in my case for a long time or even for ever), but also for providing them with more food (especially meat) than many Congolese have in their everyday lives.
On top of it all I managed to twist or break one of the baby-bunnies food (the little rascal escaped my grip while carrying them to their play field in the garden). The mentioned emotional side exploded … the three baby rabbits are now in good hands with Robin and Pascal, and the broken food apparently easy for the little bunny to continue life with. The guilt remains, for now, but there is hope.
Hope also for our visas. In the meantime the Ministry of Environment, the Minister of Planning, a lawyer, a personal friend with influence and the DJM are involved. The jumbo-f*** of who-knows-who, and who can tell who to f*** off is beyond me, but I think we will get our passports today or tomorrow, thanks to a lot of running and calling around by the French man.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The unfulfilled agricultural potential of Africa's giant

Image
Agriculture is the cornerstone of the Congolese economy and ‘employs’ three quarters of the working population. As the World Bank (WB) report phrases it: “Of all sources of growth, the agricultural sector has the greatest potential for poverty reduction.” With ample amount of sunshine and rainfall, why are the markets often so empty, only offering cassava, maize, rice, plantains and beans – literally!?! Cassava (Manioc) is the country's major food crop and is grown in all parts of the DRC – often claimed as their national dish, but actually quiet new. They make Fufu balls, chikwon (like a stick of bread made out of a thick glue) and ponde (a bitter tasting big leaf sort of spinach) out of it. Just like the Europeans took to the South-American potato, corn and cassava/manioc spread with the Portuguese arrival.   By the end of the 15th century the Mexican corn and the Brazilian cassava started their conquest of Congolese cuisine. The cooking banana/pl
Read more

Misplaced Priorities of the EU migration policy and its relation to aid

The idea of states with border-controls is a very recent phenomenon. Just 100 years ago people could move more or less freely across the globe. But times have changed. Borders have been erected and patrolled, and as a farmer in Northern Ghana observed in 2016: “now they turned into transparent bullet-proof walls”. Reflecting on the different stages of ‘development’ between our continents he adds: “You are already way ahead! Can’t you stop chasing the money? Don’t you know that it is all about being together? You’re just creating more pressures!” The pressures he is referring to are the ostentatious ways-of-life Westerners (and other global elites) like to flaunt via online platforms ranging from Facebook, Twitter to Instagram. At the same time progress in many so-called ‘developing-countries’ has been rather slow. Countries that the World Bank ranks as “Lower-Middle-Income” [i] , such as Ghana, where the average Gross National Income per person per year is s
Read more

"Accra Accra" - how the Trotros keep the city moving

Image
Sometimes I wish I would have chosen Trotros as the center of my research.  These mini-buses/transporters that are furnished with four row of seat in the back,  and on average hold 15 + people, including a driver and a "mate" who collects the fees and tells the driver when to stop.  In the past two months I have spent most of my time either waiting for a Tro to arrive, inside one of them (waiting for the bus to fill us in one of the many stations so we can start the journey) or sitting in traffic of Accra (which has be the great majority).  Seemingly uncoordinated and superficial chaotically organized the thousands of mini-buses make Accra move.  Here a pic on one parked on the side of the road in Jamestown... probably waiting to fill up ...or taking a break More soon... 
Read more