The Land of Mosquitos

Sadly, we have left the nearly mosquito-free Land of A Thousand Hills and have plunged into the thick of the Land of Mosquitos here in Tanzania.

You can see from the picture of my room at the Swiss Garden Hotel that the Tanzanians take their mosquito netting seriously. For those of you who are not well acquainted with bed nets, this net is especially nice because it is hung from a frame that is the same size as the bed, rather than from a single point in the ceiling, with a small hoop to stretch it out. This means that the sides of the net go straight up and down, instead of slanting inward and impeding on your sleeping space.

Hopefully when Jon and I move into our apartment we'll be able to rig up a similarly impressive contraption.

Our New City

Here you can see part of downtown Dar es Salaam, with the Indian Ocean in foreground. It looks so teeny from this picture, but it is really quite bustling.

This is our third ocean in a month: the Atlantic in Castine, the Pacific in San Francisco, and now the Indian in Dar. Hopefully we'll get to do a lot of (bilharzia-free) swimming and sailing this year.

A new city. A new adventure. Jon arrives from Kigali today and we can't wait to get started!

Successful Return to Africa

After spending an incredible summer in the U.S. visiting friends and family, Lucy and I left New York at 6:30pm on September 1st for our 30 hour return trip to Africa.  Between our reunions, weddings, and book stamping adventures this summer, we had accumulated quite a bit of stuff to take back with us including a home theater projector, camera, 5lbs bag of chocolate chips, and two canisters of garlic salt, among other things.  We successfully packed all of the stuff going back with us into three checked bags (we had six last year) and four carry-ons.

We landed in Amsterdam at 8:00am local time on September 2nd with a layover just long enough to buy a reasonable supply of duty free cheese (remember: no cheese in Africa), pastries, and chocolate and take in a riveting art collection from the Rijksmuseum on Dutch Cows.

In Amsterdam we went our separate ways with Lucy flying straight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (our new home) and me flying to Nairobi and on to Kigali to pick up our stuff that we had left there.  Lucy arrived at 10:30pm local time on September 2nd and settled in at the Swiss Garden Hotel, a bed and breakfast where she had stayed when she first arrived in Dar in January 2006.  I arrived in Kigali at 2:10am local time on September 3rd and am staying at a friend's house where I am staying until I head to Dar sometime this week.

All in all, a stress free trip back, minus almost missing our flight out of New York (who knew it took two hours to get to JFK on a Wednesday afternoon!).  Once again KLM was a pleasure to fly with good food, free drinks, and plenty of entertainment (I watched six movies, Lucy slept).  They also seem to love America!

Today is I think what is known as a Lazy Sunday and I am catching up on email and other things I have been meaning to do.  Since arriving in Kigali, I have met up with a handful of friends, checked in at the Technoserve office, ran with the Kigali Hash House Harriers, and gone to see our seamstresses at Kimironko (they hemmed all my new pants and fixed all my old ones that were ripping for ~$8.00), among other things.

Tomorrow is the Presidential Inauguration in the National Stadium right by our house so that means the whole country will be shut down and people will be celebrating in the streets.  Apparently it hasn't rained since we left but there was a bit of a downpour today so the short rains must be starting.

America! IV

In honor of our imminent departure for Africa, I present the fourth installment of America!



America, see you next year!

Homosexuality in Africa

Homosexuality is obviously a hot topic around the world, and East Africa is certainly no different.  Many countries in Africa have considered or are considering criminalizing homosexuality in some way and some go so far as to include the death penalty as punishment.

Obviously, the fact that this type of ideology can make it this far in the legislative process is quite scary.  If you are interested in some of the broader influences on the topic in Africa, you should definitely read The U.S. Christian Right and the Attack on Gays in Africa.

The legislation failed in Rwanda but it remains a topic across the region:

• Rwanda:
• Rwanda To Vote on Criminalizing Homosexuality on Wednesday
• How Did Rwanda's Own Homosexuality=Crime Bill Arrive Under Everyone's Nose?
• Rwandan Parliament Dismisses Homosexuality Bill
• Uganda
• Americans' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push
• UK to Protect Ugandan Gay Asylum Seekers
• Malawi
• Gay Couple Released After Presidential Pardon

More Interesting Africa and Coffee Articles

The second installment of interesting articles that help explain some of the issues in Africa:

• NYTimes: Somali Refugees Fear Loss of Ugandan Haven (7/21/10) - After the explosions in Kampala during the World Cup Final, Uganda has dramatically altered its asylum protocol.
• WSJ: In Crisis, Foreigners Turn to $100 Bill (7/20/10) - $100 bills (post-2004 Series) are certainly the  currency of choice in East Africa.
• WSJ: Global AIDS Fight Shifts Toward Prevention (7/17/10) - More discussion about which is a more effective form of healthcare aid: prevention or treatment.
• NYTimes: Tricked, Rwandan Refugees Are Driven Home, U.N. Says (7/16/10) - Rwandan refugees in southern Uganda are being forced to repatriate through deception.
• NYTimes: Our New Life, in Blood and Color (7/16/10) - Thoughtful opinion piece on the aftermath of the bombings in Kampala.
• WSJ: Militants Find Symbolic Targets in Uganda (7/13/10) - We have traveled to Kampala twice (See map of places we have been) and the recent terrorist attacks there have reminded people how unstable things still are in East Africa.
• NYTimes: Islamists Claim Attack in Uganda (7/12/10) - Many people heard about the attacks in Kampala during the World Cup finals.
• NYTimes: For Final, South Africans Put Past Aside (7/10/10) - As former colonial masters, the Dutch were not the most kind rulers of South Africa, but when it came to the World Cup final the preference of the people based more on style of play.
• WSJ: The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria (7/10/10) - Brief history of attempts to contain malaria.  After not taking anti-malarials last year in Rwanda, we will likely be taking Malarone everyday next year in attempt to avoid contracting the disease.
• NYTimes: Walking With the Herds in Kenya (7/1/10) - I've traveled this road twice visiting Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru northwest of Nairobi.
• WSJ: Talks Stall on Zimbabwe Diamonds (6/24/10) - Africa is very rich in minerals and it tends to be quite easy for governments to exploit their country's natural wealth. 
• NYTimes: Diamond Find Could Aid Zimbabwe, and Mugabe (6/21/10) - Root story related to article above.
• WSJ: Toxic Citizens? (6/13/10) - Another article on expatriates renouncing their U.S. citizenship due to the Patriot Act and changes in taxation.  Some international banks are also rejecting account applications from U.S. citizens just to avoid getting involved.
• NYTimes: Children Carry Guns for a U.S. Ally, Somalia (6/13/10) - Title pretty much sums it up...
• NYTimes: To Save Africa, Reject Its Nations (6/11/10) - Independence from Europe's colonizers swept across Africa 50 years ago.  Since then many of these new nations have been governed by corrupt leaders who have exploited their position for personal gain with many of the leaders remaining in power for decades.  Is there a remedy for this?
• The Atlantic: Brewing an Antidote to Poverty: Coffee (5/25/10) - The author, Jerry Baldwin, is a co-founder of Starbucks and on TechnoServe's board.  He came to visit the Coffee Initiative and does a great job offering a high-level explanation of the project.
• NYTimes: Moonshine or the Kids? (5/22/10) - Witnessing gender roles in Africa has been one of the most interesting aspects of living abroad.  Women tend to raise the children while tending the fields with the youngest child tied to their back.  Men tend to reserve the more "technical" roles for themselves but this often results in a lot of standing around and chatting with the other men.  Men usually collect all the paychecks and spend the money as they see fit (sometimes on alcohol and prostitutes).
• New Yorker: The Povery Lab (5/17/10) - This is just an abstract of a profile on Esther Duflo who could win the Nobel Prize for Economics in the coming years for her work in development economics with the Abdul Latif Jameel Povery Action Lab (J-PAL).  The TechnoServe Coffee Initiative has partnered with J-PAL on a few projects and Esther came to visit the office in Kigali for a few days.  The article says the following: "Duflo had started the day at a meeting in the Kigali offices of TechnoServe...It was a place of chinos and strong handshakes.  The Harvard Business Review was available in the lobby, and someone was eating a bagel..."  When the article came out it was universally recognized that this line was talking about me.
• NYTimes: For Rwandan Students, Ethnic Tensions Lurk (5/16/10) - Pretty telling article on the current political scene and how it affects the conversation about the genocide.
• NYTimes: Visiting Africa's Eden (5/14/10) - Africa is obviously full of beautiful, exotic places but they are virtually unknown (or ignored) by the local population
• NYTimes: Rumors of Conspiracies Rattle Madagascar (5/14/10) - I've always had an interest in visiting Madagascar and the government being unstable makes it even more appealing! 
• NYTimes: At Front Lines, AIDS War Is Falling Apart (5/9/10) - Brings up the discussion again of what is the best way to spend development money to improve the health of the developing world as HIV/AIDS treatment programs around the world are losing their funding.  The last estimate I heard was that 3% of Rwanda's population had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
• The Huffington Post: Nothing Good Comes Out of Africa (5/3/10) - This is a must read on Rwanda!
• NYTimes: Rwanda Pursues Dissenters and the Homeless (4/30/10) - This is a must read article on Rwanda!  Sheds light on one way the government keeps the appearing so clean and organized.  My friends who work in the Prime Minister's office (and other government groups) recently confirmed with me that none of the vocational training mentioned is actually taking place, with only suspect plans to begin in the future.
• WSJ: A Supply-Sider in East Africa (4/24/10) - This is a must read interview with the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.  You can see how the international community backs him no questions asked.  As some of the other articles here indicate, things in Rwanda may not be as rosy as people seem to think.
• BBC: Illegal Banana Gin 'Kills 80' in Uganda (4/23/10) - We were at Lake Buyonyi near Kabale for the weekend when people started dying after drinking waragi (typically a step down from paint thinner).  The area was in such panic that our really nice island hotel where we stay poured out all of their waragi!
• NYTimes: 16 Years after the Genocide, Rwanda Continues Forward (4/6/10) - We have met the author of this article a handful of times as he and his wife, among other projects, own the most expat focused restaurant in Kigali, Heaven.
• NYTimes: Mauritius Dreaming (4/4/10) - Who knew Mauritius is on the other side of Madagascar?  Now that Iceland and Zanzibar have been checked off the list I have to step up the dream travel spectrum.  Lucy and I are officially moving to Dar es Salaam Tanzania next year so both places are well within reach for a vacation (looks like via Johannesburg or Dubai) and we will be looking for traveling companions!

And some more articles on coffee:

• WSJ: Coffee Buzz: Futures Jump Toward Highs and Stays Up (7/8/10) - Higher prices (should) mean more take home pay for farmers.
• WSJ: Using Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts to Track Economy (6/30/10) - As a non-coffee drinker, I am constantly amazed by how much people spend on their coffee habits.
• WSJ: From Ethiopia, For Ethiopia: $10 Java (5/13/10) - Ethiopia represents 50% of the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative's focus because there is so much good coffee being produced there.  I had no idea what to expect when I went to Ethiopia but it is an absolutely beautiful country with extreme poverty and a truly impressive bureaucratic government (nightmare).

'05 Dartmouth Reunion Video

Jason found a shout out to me in the video below at the 0:35 second mark. (Jason how do you find this stuff?)



So your first impression after viewing...Jon is:

1. Unemployed
2. Thrifty
3. Conscientious
4. Cheap

Wonderful to be back in Hanover for a few days...

On an entirely unrelated note, a recent opinion piece (NYTimes: Are Profits Hurting Capitalism?) sheds a little more light on the topic discussed in my post Restructuring Incentives in Finance.  Not sure I entirely agree with the premise of the opinion piece, but we certainly are shooting ourselves in the foot by focusing on short-term results at the expense of long-term growth.

College's ROI

Probably a pretty small sample size and maybe not entirely relevant (WSJ: Top 20: Colleges That Offer Best Return on Investment).

Unfortunately the embedded charts aren't working but you can find the full list here.

Restructuring Incentives in Finance

During the latest economic downturn, there has been a lot of discussion about what drives businesses to do what they do, even when it has disastrous effects on the economy on the whole, and how employees are best incentivized to maximize their (and their company's) potential.  A common complaint is that the stock market in general has a negative effect on the economy due to, among other things, its:

• Stringent and constantly changing reporting requirements that potentially leans too far to the side of "increased transparency"
• Heavy dependency on analyst forecasting for present valuation that drives management to limit their long-term growth potential in exchange for meeting sometimes arbitrary short-term financial goals

Well, our 43rd President, Al Gore, just had a reasonable opinion piece run (WSJ: Toward Sustainable Capitalism) that takes a high-level stab at the situation and may be of interest to lay people.  Also reminds me how interesting what I do is and what a difference it makes when the only expectations (generally) that must be met are those of the contributors.

America! III

So I really enjoy America! (and America! II) and lo and behold America! III has come to my backyard.



This message speaks to someone!

On a related note, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law each of the last two years allowing handgun permit holders to bring guns into bars and restaurants (Huffington Post: Tennessee Lawmakers Allow Guns In Bars), which have subsequently been vetoed by the Governor (CA: Gov. Bredesen vetoes bill to allow guns in Tennessee bars) and had the veto overridden by simple majority in the State House and Senate (Tennessean: Tennessee House overrides guns-in-bars veto).  Last year's bill was deemed unconstitutional, but unfortunately this year's bill was not so now permit holders, as long as they don't drink while carrying (Enforcement? Ha!), can take a handgun into any bar and restaurant in the state unless the establishment has individually banned handguns.

Apparently this topic must be quite important to some people considering how much airtime it has received and how it has taken precedence over other topics that seem slightly more relevant (The Economy? Healthcare? The United States of Space?  Tennessee Football?).  One of the bill's sponsor's from a Memphis suburb had this to say: "To be honest, it's just another example of the governor vetoing a bill and never getting involved...and his lack of respect for the handgun-carry permit holders in Tennessee..."  Maybe the governor realizes this type of legislation maybe shouldn't be such a high priority right now?  Or maybe he actually disagrees with the law?  Crazy!

Well at least the Chicago City Council is fighting the good fight voting 45-0 to ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes with a handgun (WSJ: Chicago Approves Tough New Handgun Restrictions).

Advances in Sunscreen

Having had skin cancer in my family, I try to pay attention to new information on how to protect yourself from the sun.  There are always new products coming out including detergents and clothing that enhance sun protection.  A recent article (NYTimes: UVA Reform: It's Not PDQ) discusses the FDA delays in adding a rating system for UVA protection to the existing UVB projection (e.g. SPF 30).

It is going to be very hot and sunny in Dar es Salaam next year (See picture below from when we visited Zanzibar), particularly when compared to Kigali, so we are going to have to be extra diligent in putting on sunscreen.

I Went, I Saw, I Conquered

Two weeks ago, I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo waking up at the edge of the crater of a 11,385 foot active volcano.  After a five hour hike literally straight up the Nyiragongo Volcano (switchback trails haven't found their way to Africa yet) through first jungles then volcanic pumice covering about 5000 feet of vertical climb, I reached the top of the volcano and its active lava lake.  Tents were set up right on the edge of the crater and I settled in for the night to watch the lave lake spew sulfurous gas, gurgle explosive lava, and emit enough heat to warm me from less than half a mile away.  I don't know of any other place in the world where you can do this and the picture below pretty much sums up the experience.

The town of Goma in the DRC is directly over the border from Giseyni, the largest city in northwestern Rwanda, and on the northern shores of Lake Kivu.  Congo and Goma itself receive a lot of attention from the international press for a variety of reasons including the countries rich mineral deposits and the seemingly unchecked rebels that exploit these minerals while raping and pillaging everyone and everything that stands in their way.  Eastern Congo also has many refugees from the Rwandan genocide more than 15 years ago that occasionally add fuel to the rebels fire.  For this reason the park that contains Nyiragongo has been closed for nearly two years and only reopened in March 2010 for tourists to visit (See picture below for bullet holes in national park sign).

Another concerning factor is that Nyiragongo is in fact an active volcano and has had two major eruptions in the last 30 years or so.  In January 2002, the volcano erupted, essentially repaved the entire city of Goma and furthering the despair of its 400,000 inhabitants (NYTimes: Volcano's Lava Engulfs a Congo Town & NYTimes: Warily, Residents Return to Lava-Scarred Congo City).  While the picture below may look staged, it in fact was not as the child in the picture just happened to be rummaging around in the lava flow that wiped out the Catholic Church in Goma.

So as you can tell, Congo is a pretty exciting place and climbing the volcano truly was the experience of a lifetime.  I will run through some picture highlights below but also uploaded a bunch of pictures from the trip.

Outskirts of Goma town with Nyiragongo in the background.  Note people on the right carrying bags of lava rocks to be used for building houses and fences.  It is pretty much the only building material available locally.  The right side of the picture is sharp lava rocks from the lava flow that have never been smoothed over (like on the left side of the picture.

About halfway up the mountain...

This type of volcanic surface is pretty much what you find the entire way.  My hiking boots were purchased in Nashville when I was in 8th grade.

A break with my porter...

About halfway up...

See the steam vents in the background at one of the rest stops...also note our guards...

Peak covered in clouds...

Getting higher...

Landscape is changing...

That is my porter on the last stretch...

Moonscape...

Summit...

Lava lake...

Sunset blocked by sulphuric gas...

My tent with my porter on the edge of the crater...

Lava lake at night...

Full moon and clear night...

Next morning...

On the way back down...

Other links on the volcano that may be of interest:

• NYTimes: Some Congolese See Hope in a Caldron of Liquid Fire: Written in September 2008 before the latest closure of the park but is pretty telling of the experience
• Guardian: Tourists visit the Nyiragongo volcano in Congo: Some action footage of the hike and lava churning

Other links on Congo that may be of interest:

• NYTimes: Orphaned, Raped and Ignored: The town in the dateline is just across Lake Kivu from Kibuye in Rwanda where we traveled on weekends occasionally.
• NYTimes: From 'Oprah' to Building a Sisterhood in Congo: Bukavu, where this article was written, is the Congo southern Lake Kivu border town with Cyangugu in Rwanda.  I was there ten days ago visiting one of TechnoServe's coffee service providers and some of the cooperatives.
• NYTimes: The World Capital of Killing: Another article on the on-going wars from Bukavu.
• NYTimes: Rwanda Stirs Deadly Brew of Troubles in Congo: An older article on Rwanda's influence in eastern Congo but still extremely relevant today.

America! II

This amazing commercial just aired prior to the U.S. vs. England World Cup game.

So I am back in the U.S.!  After a night in New York (Shake Shack was delicious!) and a night in Boston, I am settled in Martha's Vineyard for a week with some friends from college.  America is great!

Roundup

My father loves Roundup.  A gift of Roundup makes him ever so happy.  While my father's love of Roundup is a result of his desire to keep our gardens free of weeds, this article (WSJ: Superweed Outbreak Triggers Arms Race) focuses on large farm usage of herbicides and discuses yet another challenge in operating a successful single-family farm.  Modern farming is very expensive and quite risky!

The first season of daffodils in the new raised beds outside our kitchen window.

Same field behind first picture with the cotton in bloom last fall.

Amazing how plants and animals adapt to deal with whatever humans throw at them.  Science!

My First Earthquake

Sitting at my desk, I could feel my body shaking and my Nalgene next to me has a fluctuating water level.  Very exciting!  I've been told there have been a few since we have been here but this was the first I really felt.

On that note, I am planning to climb the Nyiragongo Volcano in Congo this weekend because it is awesome.  Check out this blog entry on another TechnoServe person's blog about his trip.  Sounds pretty X-treme (Mountain Dew Code Red!)

Plan is to survive!

Also, looks like I will be headed back to the U.S. around June 8 with a pretty hectic summer schedule before returning to Africa in September.  Lucy is leaving at the end of June once the school year finishes.

Movie Watching

It seems I can no longer afford to see movies in New York (WSJ: Movie Tickets Reach the $20 Mark) but I do hope to catch up this summer with NetFlix.

My parents, Becca, and Lucy's friend Kate have sent us a bunch of movies and tv shows and we have been slowing chipping away at them.  We have watched all of the Gossip Girl and Glee that has been released and I am working on 24 right now (my dad sent me the entire series).  Last night we watched Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle so that made me pretty hungry.

Mostly we watch them on our computers or we take the DVD player from the Dairy VolCon house (though region 2 coded so it doesn't play most movies that we have) to put it up on our small TV (that has no channels).  For a while we were able to borrow a projector from the office that we could hook up to our computer and broadcast onto the wall in our living room.

This, combined with some portable Chill Pill speakers that Morgan recommended to me, made for excellent movie watching.  We even had cable TV for a bit so we could broadcast the super bowl and the olympics up on the wall.

So for next year I am in the market for a projector similar to the one we have in the office (though potentially not as fancy) and am hoping someone can help me select one.  Any thoughts on this business is much appreciated.

Germs Are Good For You

Before we moved here we did quite a bit of research on what vaccines we needed and which medicines to bring with us so we could be prepared for just about any situation.  We were vaccinated for Hepatitis A, Meningitis, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever and brought a whole medicine cabinet with us (thank you Lee!).  Once here, we decided not to take any anti-malarials (malarone, larium, doxycycline) and generally pack a few doses worth of medicine to deal with amoebas, tapeworm, allergic reactions, etc. when we travel. We also carry hand sanitizer every day in case we are feeling particularly dirty (though Lucy is more diligent with it than I am).

Thankfully our medical record has been pretty good here as we have only had a handful of bouts with stomach issues (me more so than Lucy since I tend to venture into the huge racks of roasted meat more often or Nyama Choma as they say in Kenya) and nothing that required more than 48 hours of misery, dozens of Tums, and an occasional Cipro. Lucy also had an allergic reaction to something (craw daddies maybe?) in Uganda one weekend but that settled down after a bit.

More impressively, Lucy's perpetual runny nose and congestion has been virtually non-existent here, largely because her students are not as sickly as they were in Harlem, we are getting more sleep than we used to, and it just isn't cold here. Considering how "unclean" everything is here (quality control on the dish cleaning is particularly poor and to say that dirt is prevalent is not doing it justice...oh yeah, they only have leaded fuel here), it is quite remarkable that this has been one of our healthiest years on record.

That being said, pretty much everyone we know here who travels back to the U.S. gets a cold/flu for the first two weeks back. We will have to see if we can avoid this fate.

An article in the WSJ (WSJ: Can Dirt Do a Little Good?) sparked me writing about our medical record since it discusses some studies about the prevalence of different medical issues in the developed and developing world.  Pretty interesting stuff...

Also, Lucy cuts my hair here every few months.  The clippers I brought with me met their end around Christmas (they were at least 10 years old) but thankfully a friend was able to bring me a new set (with new features!).  Lucy does an excellent job and is becoming quite the stylist.  She also usually has some help from guest advisors like our guard Frank.

America!

Yeah!

Laserlike Focus

The phrase "laserlike focus" is stupid and people should stop using it.  Unless you are a mountain gorilla in Congo, you have probably never seen a laser!  Every time I hear it or read it I cringe!  It adds nothing!  So stop using it!  From NYTimes: Charter Schools' New Cheerleaders: Financiers:

"Wall Street has always put its money where its interests and beliefs lie. But it is far less common that so many financial heavyweights would adopt a social cause like charter schools and advance it with a laserlike focus in the political realm."

And oh yeah, while I am letting it out, New York Times, I don't think this is a new phenomenom on the charter school scene (NYTimes: Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed).

Congo Here We Come

We are going to see the gorillas again in a few weeks, and I want to go to Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a bit so I am looking into what kind of visa I need to get.  Naturally I can't find much (probably since I don't need much of one) but I have found this lovely message from the Warden at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali and received the following email on April 22, 2010:

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). This notice replaces the Travel Warning dated September 1, 2009 to reflect continued instability in North Kivu province and the surrounding area, the ongoing risk of possible unannounced flare-ups of violence in other parts of the country, and the critical crime threat in Kinshasa. 

Government soldiers, as well as rebel fighters, remain a security concern. These armed groups -- located especially in North Kivu, South Kivu, Orientale, and Bas-Congo provinces, as well as the northern part of Katanga province -- are known to pillage, steal vehicles, kidnap, rape, kill, and carry out military or paramilitary operations in which civilians are indiscriminately targeted.

In two separate incidents in early April 2010, one in Equateur province in the western DRC and one in South Kivu province in the east, foreigners were kidnapped by armed militia groups.  In South Kivu province, eight International Red Cross workers were kidnapped by a group called the Mai Mai Yakutumba, a group that controls its own territory in the region and was formed to resist Rwandan Hutu forces that fled into DR Congo after the 1994 genocide.  The region has been the scene of violent clashes that have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians in recent months. 

Travelers are frequently detained and questioned by poorly disciplined security forces at numerous official and unofficial roadblocks and border crossings throughout the country. Requests for bribes in such instances are extremely common, and security forces have occasionally injured or killed people who refuse to pay. In the last six months, the Embassy has recorded several instances in which U.S. citizens were detained illegally by government forces. The isolation of the area makes the provision of consular services difficult.

Kinshasa remains a critical crime threat area, and U.S. citizens continue to be the victims of serious crime, including armed robbery by groups posing as law enforcement.

Public health concerns pose a hazard to U.S. citizen travelers due to outbreaks of deadly viruses and other diseases, which can occur without warning and often are not rapidly reported by local health authorities. Information on personal protection for international travelers, including children, can be found at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/.

Enforcement of aviation safety standards in the DRC is uneven, with frequent incidents and accidents. The U.S. Embassy has prohibited official travel by U.S. government employees and contractors on all DRC-owned and -operated commercial airlines due to safety and maintenance concerns. International flights on foreign-owned and operated carriers are not affected by this prohibition.

U.S. citizens should avoid all public demonstrations and areas where crowds have gathered, exercise caution, and closely monitor local and international news from reliable sources. Radio Okapi broadcasts in French on 103.5 FM at 0700, 0800, 1200, and 1800 and provides updates throughout the day.  English-language news can be found on BBC at 92.7 FM. In times of emergency, the Belgian Embassy operates a French-language radio broadcast system at FM 98.8. Changes in security conditions may occasionally restrict the travel of U.S. Mission personnel.

U.S. citizens who travel to or remain in the DRC despite this Travel Warning are strongly urged to register with the Embassy in Kinshasa or through the State Department’s travel registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov. By registering, U.S. citizens make it easier for the Embassy to contact them in case of emergency. The U.S. Embassy is located at 310 Avenue des Aviateurs; the Consular Section entrance is located on Avenue Dumi, opposite Saint Anne’s church. The Embassy’s telephone number, including for after-hours emergencies, is 243-81-225-5872; callers within the DRC should dial 081-225-5872.  All Embassy telephone numbers are cellular phones as landlines are unreliable. The Embassy web site is http://kinshasa.usembassy.gov/.

U.S. citizens should also consult the Department of State's Country Specific Information Sheet for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Worldwide Caution, both located on the Department of State's web site. Up-to-date information on safety and security is available toll-free at 1-888-407-4747 from within the United States and Canada, or at regular toll rates at 1-202-501-4444 for callers from other countries, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).  

I am pretty excited!  It will be just like Congo the movie!  But better!

This picture has not been digitally altered since I had just removed the laser and diamonds from the gorilla's hands (thus I am happy).