Rumble: Why do I care about Congo?
Why I am so touched with the recent violence in DRC (Congo)? I worked in East Congo, in Goma to be precise, early 1995 right after the Rwanda genocide. I wrote the short story "Goma, The Scent of Africa" in The Road's eBook about my experiences there.
Later on, I worked in the regional office in Kampala, Uganda and was actively involved in the relief operations in East Congo after the -then- rebels headed by Kabila, headed from Uvira northwards, pushing all the refugees out of the camps and dispersing them into the jungle. That was 1996-1997.
The picture above is from that time, in Kisangani. But it could have been taken yesterday. The violence is the same. The human suffering is the same.
That is why I care about Congo.
Update: (10 minutes after I posted the above)
This press article just came in: Aid convoy finds east Congo refugee camps empty. This is exactly what happened in 1996-'97. I am so pissed off. Once again, the international community saw this coming, and stood by. Watching.
1 comments:
Thank you for what you do! I would like to be an international aids worker, but I am still trying to figure out how to go about that.
Bomy H, United States
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