I have been here a week now since I arrived in Kinshasa and the Congo is interesting. I went from 16 hours plane sitting to 3 days of regional meeting sitting, so was really glad when the weekend came and I just died. One of the last tips I received before I left the States was to see if anywhere they served a fish called capitaine. This was someone who had eater it 40 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo and still remembered it with fondness. Imagine my surprise at the Thursday evening dinner during the regional meetings that the restaurant served capitaine. I, of course, ordered it. It was cooked in a banana leaf pouch with a lovely sauce and it was truly wonderful. I will have it again, many times.
CRS CARO (Central African Regional Office) is a very interesting place in that most of the major management positions are held by women. I think it sets a very interesting flavor and there seems to be a lot of collaboration and support. The regional director is an African American woman who was three years in the Peace Corps in the Gabon and is married to a Senegalese. She has been RD for the last five years. Although we service seven other countries, the DRC is the largest in terms of program dollars and they have the largest country program which is also directed by a woman, also an American. There is a real hodge-podge of other nationalities here and it is interesting where long term Congolese CRS people have served.
I am still in temporary housing, but it is a nice efficiency and other CRS staff lives in the compound. They clean it every day and today I left a pile of dirty clothes with a $5 note and they will wash, dry, and iron them for me.
I went this morning to see a 3-bedroom house in a compound near work. It is very nice and modern and there is a lovely swimming pool. It includes a refrigerator, TV, and washer and dryer and comes furnished. CRS is in the process of negotiating for it and I could be settled in sometime next week. It is really quite luxurious! They are also looking for household help. I told them I wanted a mature woman with children as I would like to support a woman-headed household.
Things are expensive as there is a large UN presence here and they really run the cost of living up. I had to buy a can opener yesterday and it cost me $14. We took a colleague out to dinner last night for her birthday to a South African-Portuguese chain and it was about $20 for a sandwich, fries, and a beer. They use US dollars for everything, but they have to be in mint condition. I have three $100 bills they have already rejected. The ATM spits out new US bills! If the change is less than US$5, they give you change in the dirtiest, falling-apart Congolese franc you have ever seen.
It will probably be a couple of months before my 3-year visa comes through so I will not be allowed to travel, except in DRC, until then. And who knows when I will get my driver’s license? I start my French lessons soon, but it is amazing what French I remember from two years in high school. There are frustrations, but they are mixed with really wonderful things.
I spent 10 days before Thanksgiving weekend in Baltimore getting an orientation and that was useful for the meetings I just sat through as they were about our new year and what we planned to do. I already gave some feedback on a small Rwanda micro-finance proposal and know I will be inundated once everyone knows I am here. I think this position is the best of all worlds for me in that I will travel to all the projects and operate like a consultant, but I have colleagues and I will be able to see what happens with my recommendations. I will also be able to do a lot of training and teaching.
