Dear Universe- Divine and Otherwise,
My mom had a minor stroke on a day I don’t know exactly in October because I am on the continent of Africa- Brazzaville to be exact- and she is in Iowa. I only found out via e-mail from my sister. I spoke to her this morning, November 8, because lucky for me- at 4:40 in the morning Brazza time- my phone decided to put a call through, which allowed me to imbibe her timid voice into my ears before she ate her cookies and drifted off to sleep at around 21:40 Iowa time. I don't know how every moment was in synch, because usually something goes wrong here to derail well crafted plans, but my ZAIN telephone service worked. I talked to her for about 7 entirely wonderful minutes. What a relief. When family is not balanced, I am not balanced.
Crossing the River
I am trying to cross the river to Kinshasa on Friday to take my GRE subject test in literature at the CALI English Language Institute. The Wikitravel site warns that “Kinshasa's infrastructure is largely dysfunctional” but then so is Brazzaville’s infrastructure. Fellow Americans who are not under the protection of the embassy tell horror stories about DRC immigration. A welcome to the country is initiated by officials shaking people down for money. In order to prevent this obstacle to one’s destination, a fixer or an expediter on both sides of the Congo is paid to help naïve Americans and Europeans navigate the corruption that is part of everyday life here. I’ve heard it’s not supposed to be so bad on the Brazza side, but corruption, like rust, rots the spine of this nation until water and electricity are sporadic and the gap between rich and poor yawns outrageously grotesque. I wonder what the holiday experience will be like when I depart from Brazza’s Maya-Maya Airport for Dakar, Senegal at Christmas time. I will worry about that voyage in December- for now- it's the Kinshasa trip that requires my time and attention.
People are kidnapped in Kinshasa; the taxis unmarked; and the drivers potential thieves I am told. As a single woman, I want to take all manner of precautions while visiting, so as not to be driven to a remote location by a taxi driver and robbed. Carrying cash is another problem. Credit cards are not widely accepted in Kinshasa or Brazza, and the minimal bandwidth problem means that even if they are accepted, there may be no connection to open the credit access lines for a customer at the cash machine. Carrying large amounts of cash is not my preferred method of travel, but may be my only choice.
As this is a society that operates mainly on personal connections and word of mouth, I have asked everyone I know about their travel experience to this emaciated capital city. I have e-mails flying in all directions regarding lodging and public transportation. I don’t want to disappear into the dysfunctional infrastructure or have my valuables vanish with me into the crowd of nearly eleven million that is the city.
I am also planning to visit CALI, an English Language School, while I am there. When I called the director of CALI, he said that the car is broken down, so Cyril, a teacher, can’t pick me up. That’s the other important defining characteristic you should know about the two Congos, things break and don’t get fixed. My apartment complex has been out of water due to a pump repair since Thursday. It’s amazing how little water one really needs. Makes me feel like a water hog in the States, but darn, I miss water in the pipes flowing out the facet on to my naked body- sometimes warm and sometimes cold- but water nevertheless.
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