Zambia vs. Congo

I’m back in my old stomping grounds, where I earned the title “zambiakaren”…or was is “Uncle Kalen”? Okay, both. When I lived in Zambia 2007-2009, I worked with an American family, the Walkers, who lead a ministry for street kids, and most of those kids didn’t know English very well, so I was “uncle” at the beginning. In some parts of Africa (including this part of Zambia) “l”s and “r”s are switched around a lot, such as “racecourse”-->”Lescos” or “Karen”-->”Kalen”. I guess that’s not quite as big of a problem with French.

The Walkers had nine kids in 2009 and I was their one-room schoolhouse teacher for all the school-aged kids. Now they have 11 kids, but the oldest three are back in the US for college. So I’m here with the eight youngest kids. In the morning carpool, I have 14 kids in the big van for a 45 minute drive on a busy highway in fairly poor condition – although it’s better than roads in Congo.

The roads are a different kind of bad.

It’s interesting to me to compare these two countries, to try to describe to people who know Zambia what Congo is like.

Similarities include lots of smiling black faces, green foliage (at least right after rainy season, Zambia’s green), beautifully temperate weather, inconsistent power and water supply, and annoying dogs.

From the porch in Zambia. Such beautiful sky!

Many differences have struck me, such as:

- Being waved through police stops multiple times. In Congo, if a policeman notices me, I’m almost always stopped.

- Transitions of power. When I lived in Zambia, the president died in office and everyone stayed calm. Congo has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence in 1960.

- Development! Zambia has improved since I left in 2009. Lots of new roads, lots of new stores and restaurants. (Pizza Hut!) Eastern Congo doesn’t have any chain stores, although thankfully there are some Lebanese and other Middle Eastern people who are willing to take the risk of operating businesses in the climate of instability.

- Zambia is mostly flat other than mine tailings. Congo has incredible mountains, and I miss them.

- And, of course, the most obvious – English vs. French! It’s nice to have the impulse to greet someone in French, even if it’s wrong.

Zambia was a great introduction to Africa for me, and I’m again thankful for the current opportunity to live and work in the beautiful, broken country of Congo. 

As a friend recently wrote me in an email: “I’d say that living in Congo and trying to do your ridiculously difficult and uncertain job is your penance right now (penance being what God is using to reveal and burn off my disordered attachments, selfishness, etc.)! Certainly not always fun, sometimes very painful and downright embarrassing.”