--V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River (1979)
A couple weeks ago I took a trip to Kisangani: provincial capital of Orientale Province, the farthest navigable upstream point of the Congo river, scene of the some of the bloodiest fighting during the 1998-2003 Congo war, and a key commercial center in Congo. The city is an interesting contrast to Kinshasa for obvious reasons: it's much smaller. Kinshasa is home to between 10-11 million people. Kisangani's population is about 500,000. There is less traffic, less restaurants, less stuff in Kisangani. There also is less infrastructure development happening in Kisangani. Kinshasa is still decaying, don't get me wrong, but a lot has been happening here in the past four years.
In my mind at least, one can easily see what Kisangani once was: a prosperous Belgian-designed trade town that sits like an island in the middle of the world's 2nd largest rain forest. There are beautiful houses and buildings--long neglected--on the banks of the river. If there ever was beauty in Kinshasa, it's hard to see because the city has surpassed it's capacity. It is brimming with a massive population that it was never designed to support. It was therefore more poignant for me to see 'what was' in Kisangani. Sure, there's poverty and daily struggles for basic needs with little to no attention from the Congolese government in both places. It just seems more personal in Kisangani. The big city disguises it better perhaps.
Kisangani was on my list of places to go before I die (seriously), so I can check it off. And boy do I love checking things off lists. I enjoyed my short time there even though I ate goat. I don't like goat. I have never liked goat. Not when I was first served it in some random town in southeastern Senegal in 2002. Not now. Goats are cute. I do like their cheese though.
In my mind at least, one can easily see what Kisangani once was: a prosperous Belgian-designed trade town that sits like an island in the middle of the world's 2nd largest rain forest. There are beautiful houses and buildings--long neglected--on the banks of the river. If there ever was beauty in Kinshasa, it's hard to see because the city has surpassed it's capacity. It is brimming with a massive population that it was never designed to support. It was therefore more poignant for me to see 'what was' in Kisangani. Sure, there's poverty and daily struggles for basic needs with little to no attention from the Congolese government in both places. It just seems more personal in Kisangani. The big city disguises it better perhaps.
Kisangani was on my list of places to go before I die (seriously), so I can check it off. And boy do I love checking things off lists. I enjoyed my short time there even though I ate goat. I don't like goat. I have never liked goat. Not when I was first served it in some random town in southeastern Senegal in 2002. Not now. Goats are cute. I do like their cheese though.
No comments:
Post a Comment