Welcome to the Jungle

Thats what those tribal leaders will be saying to us come Sunday night, because thats where we're going.

I've had 5 or so days in Congo's version of the big smoke, the capital city, Kinchasa has near enough the same population as London, and to be honest if you took out all the factors that make life difficult here I'd say the people are not a million miles from the ones that we meet on a daily basis in england.

I'm not going to dwell on that "theyre just like us" vibe, and in many ways i would say we could learn a lot from them, resilliance, togetherness and warmth are all values that we could benefit from learning a few of these traits, but the point is when you get past all that they still use mobile phones, watch TV and chase girls.

The other day i was digging shit out of an open sewer, well i was present, i avoided the digging using the excuse of wanting to talk to the locals, but i was present for the digging. Shovelling shit is a shit job but in England if you're a plumber it pays damn well, over here though people are doing it for their community, so when the floods come they dont have shit floating around the streets. It's a grim image but its also a grim reality that I experienced. I had boots on and I also had a mask, but there were school kids just running around like it was a playground it didnt phase them.

You might think these people I'm talking about would be uneducated helpless people but one thing I've noticed is theres such a high University rate in the Congo these kids are educated well, theres just no hope of getting a job when you graduate.


im in a rush, theres gunfire an stuff outside but stay locked on and look out for the next peice.... peace.

Ben