Opposés contradictions

30 Oct 2011 2 Comments

by Rebe in DRC

Take one, Take two. This scene is full of opposites and contradictions.

Driving along the large 8 lane boulevards I double take because at any given intersection cars circulate in all directions…Traffic lights have been installed within in the last few months but as our driver Papa Alfonse says: people don’t respect them; they have to learn. As a passenger I always let my eyes wander and inspect each passing car, I check out the driver, the car model, the funny fur dash boards…everything is pretty normal, SUV, shitty bus, SUV, taxi, SUV…Except until l notice that every other car is a right sided steering wheel…Its fascinating because really anything goes in Kinshasa and apparently cars from Dubai are newer, nicer, cheaper and righty steering wheels (as opposed to those whiney Peugeots from Europe). Apparently its not confusing, just a question of habit.

DRC is considered central Africa and so is not part of the oh so stable CFA, here they have the Congolese Franc one that has fluctuated so much that there was a time when you needed a bucket load of bills just to buy some bread. So to stabilize the economy the generous United States of America has lent their currency so that Congo is a bilingual financial market. Any given bill or price tag can come in dollars or francs, you can pay in one or the other or a combination of them both. Paying in dollars is always at a loss of a few hundred francs though, yet impossible to avoid.

Like manyAfrican nations the beers here are very large and not very good. A regular sized beer is 720ml and is usually a dollar but can cost up to four depending on the bar. A lovely been called Mützig is only available in small bottles (considered regular size by Canadian standards) but is the same price as the big ones. So drink less, pay more.

Ordering grilled fish turns out to be deep fried fish…One four local yogurts costs 500F (.50cents) and four imported yogurts cost $9.00. Local tomatoes cost anywhere from 200F to 2000F depending on where you buy them.

Rent costs on average two to three thousand dollars per month yet the majority of people make no more than a couple hundred dollars a month. DRC is one of the most resource rich countries in the world and yet one of the poorest.

King Leopold reigned over this country for decades and yet never set foot here; the contradictions persist.