I recieved my first injection of western culture when we landed in Heathrow...things were orderly, people swanning around in their smart suits, clean toilets e.t.c. but just like an injection, I felt the pain when we arrived. The pain of seeing the two extremes...the western developed world vs the Eastern developing world. I felt like I had just experienced two worlds in the space of 24 hours. Arriving into a world where our priorities all seem upside down, a time when buying is at it's peak at Christmas. The reverse culture shock was alot worse than the culture shock I experienced when I first landed in Kinshasa.
I have been back in the UK for a week now and I still don't feel that I have quite accepted the culture we live in. But I don't think that is a bad thing. I don't want to find myself becoming so comfortable in it that I forget about the people we met in the DRC. But I reassure myself that these people have had such a deep impact on me, that this won't be possible. Flicking on my TV to see the DRC as a main headline just fuelled my passion even further to get out and start yelling the message of desperation but yet hope of the DRC to the UK.
I keep coming back to the phrase one of the students said to us when we were out there 'we are living for a better tomorrow', and I want to have my role in making it a better tommorrow for them.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast country, with a population of over sixty million spread over almost a million square miles. The river that gives the country it's name supports a teeming rainforest and land rich in natural resources - including diamonds and coltan, an essential component in the manufacture of mobile phones and computers.
However, since Patrice Lumumba led the country to independence from Belgium in 1960, the Congo has been ravaged by war and instability. Between 1965 and 1997, President Mobutu's kleptocratic regime ruled over the country he renamed Zaire. The Second Congo War, between 1998 and 2003, contributed to instability which has claimed 5.4 million lives in the past decade, more than any other war since World War II. The vast majority died because of the lack of health and food infrastructure - causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.
Congolese Dawn, named for Lumumba's poem 'Dawn in the Heart of Africa', is written by volunteers who are travelling and working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
However, since Patrice Lumumba led the country to independence from Belgium in 1960, the Congo has been ravaged by war and instability. Between 1965 and 1997, President Mobutu's kleptocratic regime ruled over the country he renamed Zaire. The Second Congo War, between 1998 and 2003, contributed to instability which has claimed 5.4 million lives in the past decade, more than any other war since World War II. The vast majority died because of the lack of health and food infrastructure - causes such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.
Congolese Dawn, named for Lumumba's poem 'Dawn in the Heart of Africa', is written by volunteers who are travelling and working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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