I guess I've been slacking a bit on the posts. Its been a busy time but the Congo is starting to feel a bit more like home. It's hard to believe I've been here for almost 3 months now.

Earlier this month, I went on a mission to Goma and Minova with PPR. Goma is a city a little bit smaller than Bukavu on the north tip of Lake Kivu (Bukavu is on the southern tip). There is a road between Goma and Bukavu, but the most common way to travel between the two cities is by boat. I had the pleasure of taking one of the slow boats (Emanuel II) which takes about 6 hours. It's a nice slow ride where you get to see the lake and enjoy some lunch along the way. I was greeted at the dock in Goma by my two friends and co-seeders Aaron and Grachet. I stayed with them plus Elodie and Michelle at their house in Goma. It was a great chance to catch up with all of them and see the city of Goma. Goma is a nice city, a little more spread out than Bukavu, at the base of a big volcano. The streets of the city are littered with volcanic rock from the last time the volcano erupted (I believe sometime in the last 10 years). In addition to my time in Goma, I went on a mission to Minova and Kalehe to learn about the work of PPR. We took a number of refugees from Minova to a CNAR office. CNAR is a Congolese organization that PPR partners with, that repatriates Rwandan refugees.  

Since my time in Goma, I've been hanging around Bukavu working on my language skills, learning more about the region, and slowly carving out a role for myself in my work. My schedual has become somewhat routine, which is nice. I wake up around 7:30 and eat breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of potage (potato soup), bread, coffee or tea, and maybe a banana or a slice of papaya. On a special day, I might put some nutella on the bread. After breakfast, I leave for the office, usually arriving between 8:30 and 9. At the office, I sit around chating with my co-workers, reading news and other things in french or English, and listening to podcasts (generally things focused on the Congo). At various and seemingly random times throughout the day, people will come get me for meetings amongst PPR staff or with one of PPR's local partners. Most of my job at this point is just listening and learning. My french getting pretty good, but détails can still be difficult. Hopefully, I will start to become more useful in the next few months.

After work, I usually either go to an internet cafe or go home. If I go to the cafe I work on this blog or watch videos on youtube (usually things making fun of Donald Trump). I typically get home around 5 or 6. Then I eat dinner with my host parents and spend the rest of the night reading, listening to the radio, or watching tv with my host parents. My mom likes to watch an American preacher named Joyce Meyer. The other night, while we were watching her preach (translated into french) the words "Denver, Colorado" suddenly popped up at the bottom of the screen. I then realized that she was standing on the stage of the Pepsi Center. For those who don't know, the Pepsi Center is an event center in downtown Denver. I was there a few months ago when I went to a Denver Nuggets game. There is something surreal about watching a piece of home on tv halfway around the world.  

My Saturdays are usually spent wandering around the city, reading, and playing ultimate frizbee. There is a group of Egyptian guys we usually play with, who all work for MONUCO (the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Congo). They like to yell at each other in Arabic, which for some reason makes the game much more exciting. On Sundays I usually sleep in the mornings, and go to an English church service in the afternoon.

On the way to Minova, we ran into a spot where the road was flooded with water. There were people working to fill in the spot with dirt. There was also a group of people pushing a bus that had tried to drive through and gotten stuck in the middle. I felt very sorry for all these people. Luckily, our 4 Wheel drive pick up made it through without too much trouble. What can you do but laugh? The truck was probably 3 or 4 feet deep in water here.  

This is a picture of the country side on the way back to Goma from Minova. The guys I was with bought a big thing of plantains, because they are cheaper in the countryside. It was encouraging to see powerlines out there, because they seem to be uncommon outside of the cities.

This is back in Bukavu. A picture of lake Kivu close to my house.

Another neighborhood in Bukavu

This is a small park like area just outside of Bukavu called quinze kilometre (15 kilometers). I spent a nice afternoon here with my church here last Tuesday, which was a Holiday. We ate lunch (fries, salad, and Goat) and sat around talking. I had to smile when the servers brought out a case of Primus (the national beer of Congo). It was a very nice time.





The political situation in the Congo has slowly escalated over the past month. I don't want to say too much about the specifics, but if you're curious, you can learn a lot by googling "Congo", and you can email me at jacobmartin@mcc.org if you have any questions. If your someone who prays, now is a very good time to pray for the Congo. It seems like things are going to get pretty real throughout this election cycle. I could maybe also say that about America right now. I hope everyone reading this pays very close attention to this election, and uses their right to vote.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Here are a couple songs that I like. I think the first guy is french but I'm not sure. The second video is a Congolese-Dutch artist that lives in the Netherlands. There are a number of famous European artists that come from that Congo or Central Africa in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2Ob0Uuk68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0CytIm0Ak

Buhrinyi, PPR, et le Autre Choses

I'm now into my third week of working with PPR. Most of what I've been doing so far is training and learning about thé organization. I went on a field mission last week to the town of Burhinyi, which was excited. Burhinyi is about 3 hours south west of Bukava by truck. This is not like three house in the United States, because you can't drive 70 to  80 miles per hour on dirt roads filled with holes. People still tend to drive as fast as they can, but it usually takes a little longer to get places. Nevertheless, it was a nice drive and I got to see the beautiful countryside of Bukavu. Burhinyi is a small town high up in the mountains. It's a bit chilly and foggy, and really beautiful. It would be a great place to live, if the FDLR didn't live in the forests on the other side of the mountain. We stayed in a small guesthouse without electricity for the two nights we were there. 

This week, I'm participating in a training seminar with other PPR staff members, focused on negotiation strategies. The seminar is led by a two students from Harvard law school, who are accompanied by a teacher. They're teaching us a style called open negotiation, that tries to consider the needs of both parties. So far, it's been a really interesting seminar, and I'm looking forward to the last day tomorrow.

I'm also adjusting to a new housing situation this week, because I moved out of my old house and into the home of my host parents last weekend. I've spent a couple weekends with them before, but now I will be living with them for a couple of months. I've been enjoying their cooking (they usually insist on me eating as much as humanly possible) and watching African sitcoms and french game shows with my mom.  

A picture of the hospital in Burhinyi. There are big valleys between the mountain ridges.

Moise was my partner on the trip to Burhinyi and he is the head animator at PPR. Germain, who is working on the car, was our driver. We had some car problems but we got there and back okay.

I'm writing this post from an internet cafe right next to a central market in Bukavu. I was here yesterday too, and there was some protesting and conflict going on outside. Moto drivers in this area often have conflicts with the police, because they are not supposed to stop to let off or pick up passengers. While I was using the computer there was a group of people watching the fighting from a balcony (the cafe is on the second floor). A cop sprayed some kind of gas towards us that filled the whole cafe. Everybody was coughing and my nose started to run and burn a bit, but it went away after 5 or 10 minutes. In the moments that I watched, the cops got pretty physically agressive with the drivers. It's hard for me to tell if this sort of thing is normal or related to the upcoming elections. My friend Moise (not the one who works for PPR, but the one who is in Seed) told me a few weeks ago that he thought protests and tentions related to the election would start to rise in May. I guess it's May now. Who knows what will happen?

That's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well.