return to Africa

My church is getting involved in aid work there and it is close to Congo. Also my spouse’s child’s boyfriend’s sibling’s girlfriend is from Zambia and should have pertinent travel insights. Of course it helps that English is a commonly spoken language.

I had such a great time in Africa on my trip around the world that I must, must, must go back. I want to see some of East Africa this time, particularly the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. I’ve been on three safaris but would go again in a second.

Yesterday brought a letter from the Kinshasha and bad news to my little home on Preston Street in snowy and quiet Michigan. My French is as bad as ever, so it took me some time to get through. Once I did, however, I was very sad. The situation in the DRC continues to deteriorate, and sadly, it seems that nobody cares. Sometimes it’s important that we care-that we try to embrace something that will always be outside of the things we can fully grasp-even if it is inconvenient for us at the time. Failing to consider the inequity which exists on this planet and not showing compassion for others is living a wasted and pointless existence, in my opinion.

This morning I was straightening up my office at home, and looked over at the Bwoom mask which was smiling at me. I took it off of the stand, and briefly placed it over my head.

I smelled woodsmoke, heard the chants of the Bakuba elders, and saw a seemingly much younger version of myself communing with the souls of the rubber trees while watching the wild crocodiles play on the muddy banks of the mighty Congo. The moment passed, however, and I was alone again in my home on Preston Street, visited only by the occasional ghosts of western hubris and hypocrisy.

It’s not completely set, but it looks as if we’re going back in the late summer, early fall of 2008. Yeah!!!

The trip to Southern Africa in 06 was truly unbelievable. The animals and the people; the social change that has gone on and is going on; and the incredible beauty of the land and the sea.

I had an awesome time in the Cote d’Ivoire, and I would really like to go back there sometime, or somewhere else in Africa.