International Save the Children Alliance
Joe in Democratic Republic of Congo
by Rewrite the Future Communications Manager, Joe Hall
The beginning
Hi, my name's Joe, I'm based in DRC - the Democratic Republic of Congo - for two months with Save the Children. I'm here to get a better understanding of what the situation is for children, what we can do to help, and to pass this on to other people who don't get a chance to come to this incredible but wartorn country for themselves. If that sounds like it might be you, please read on. I'll try to keep it interesting.
I got to the capital, Kinshasa, first. Twelve hours of flying via Brussels (which I was expecting) and Doula (which I wasn't, and didn't know for a few minutes which country I had landed in - a strange feeling; in case you're also wondering, it's Cameroon).
Like any new country, suddenly you have lots of things to get used to. Speaking French all the time (DRC used to be a Belgian colony), sweltering hot weather and then wild, crashing thunderstorms which turn the streets into rivers (it's the beginning of the dry season - allegedly!) The food: a typical Congolese meal is meat (maybe goat, maybe dried beef), vegetable stew which is a bit like spinach, and foo-foo - a big ball of dough.
And some things familiar coming from one big city (London in my case) to another: Obvious rifts between rich and poor, from big businessmen's 4x4s to children by the side of the road selling everything from chess sets to plastic garden chairs. Traffic. Traffic. Traffic. It takes us half an hour to do less than a mile to the office some mornings (I wish we could walk but we're not supposed to because of security, which is top of everyone's minds here) - then I think of lots of our staff who leave at six am to get in from miles away.