Kalima

I've been in Kalima for almost a week now. The journey here was literally a pain in the ass. We left Kindu at about 12pm, after crossing the Congo river with the 'ferry', the journey to Kalima follows a paved road for about 20km or so. After that it was a bumpy ride all the way for 3 hours. There was a moments where I felt like I was in a roller coaster!

The Ferry

View of the "jetty"

Yuma 

Yuma not looking at the camera again

Reeling up the rail. He was really struggling. It really look very difficult. 

Reaching the other side of Kindu

The 'ferry' was not in a very good condition, it's very slow (almost 20 minutes to cover 500Meters), it's smokey and the workers had to manually retrieve the 'mouth' of the ferry during arrival and departure. There is no proper port so getting off and on the ferry is a mess. Your feet will definitely get wet. On my way there I saw local fishermen fishing in that river, they used a really slim canoe and a simple fishing line. Just like the one in 'River Monster'. There were also a lot of people washing their clothes, car and motorbikes along the river.

The other side of Kindu

Passed some mud houses and children playing outside

 Kalima is situated deep within the Democratic Republic of Congo's tropical rainforest belt. You can Google more about Kalima, it's quite an interesting regarding it's history and the current issues of this place. There are a lot of brick wall buildings left behind by the Belgians. It's like the modern township houses just a little old skol.

View from my office

Back yard of my house

Front view of my house

Where I stayed for the week

Goats going through our rubbish

Big compound around the house

My colleagues brought me to this guest house which has a really nice panoramic view of the rainforest. We went to town after that to get some food supplies. It's not that different from Kindu, only smaller and less crowded.

I am told that Kindu's electricity comes from here, so power here is not an issue. We have electricity almost 90% of  the time. I am also surprised that the water tap actually works here. In Kindu, the water tap is just for decoration purposes. But water only comes in the morning, not sure why it's not flowing in for the rest of the day.

At the peak 

Sunset

Rest house? 

Guest house

Guest house

Front view

Scenery

The other side of the guest house

Rest area

Old railway track near my office

My office

There are a lot of pigs here. I don't think they're wild but they are damn huge. Saw a mother pig with her babes running around. The thing I like about this place is the lush scenery, the cool weather, the sound of nature and no mosquitoes! Thank God for that.

A goat intruding our property  

Corporate Social Responsibilty

Last month, my company sponsored two containers of exercise books to the province of Maniema in the DRC. I'm writing this from a personal point of view and not from the perspective of an employee. The event was conducted in a school at Kindu. We arrived there about 9am in the morning and we had to wait for Maniema's Governor to grace the ceremony.

While we were waiting and setting up the exercise books. I went around the school compound and started taking photos of the school and the students. Some were camera shy, some were ready so strike a post as you can see below.

As the Governor's car arrived at the location, he was escorted by at least 5 gunmen, I remembered seeing two different type of uniforms; the army and the military police. Before he walked out of his car, 5 gunmen scouted the place to ensure that no threats are in the compound.

Me, Babou and Jignesh (Indian expat)

Imani & I

Babou, me & Ibra

After a few speeches from a few vips, soon it was the Governor's turn. Everyone had to stand up for his entire speech. I was standing behind and I casually put my hands into my pocket. The army walked towards me and pull my hands out from my pocket. I was shocked and I realized the importance of showing respect to the one giving the speech.

I was told that the Governor was praising MMC for being the first company to contribute something to the Maniema province and he was pleased with our social work. He then gave out a few exercise books to the school children. Soon after he left.

That's when things started to get messy and chaotic. Even though it's only exercise books but it is something valuable to them. Because there is no proper flow of distribution, everyone started pushing and snatching from one another. Outsiders started coming into the school compound. I saw a woman pushing and punching our staff just to get a book. A young boy snatched a girl's book and ran away, the poor girl started crying and tried chasing him but he was too fast. Our staff who was distributing the book started to throw the books on the ground so they won't get 'attacked'.

Crowd started to build up

Pushing begins

Our staff trying to control the situation

Suddenly everyone rushed to the books

Heated situation

As the situation got worst, we had to be 'evacuated' from the school compound with hired motorbikes. I learned that these people would do anything to get their hands on what they want/need. They know no fear when they are desperate. Be thankful that we don't have that kinda desperation. In my opinion, the money could be use for a better cause.