Isiro

I made it through my first week in Isiro! I arrived here last Friday with three other colleagues. It was a nice first weekend including meeting the staff, finally unpacking my suitcases after 6 weeks in Bunia, making pizza in an old oil drum, star gazing and campfire, and not working on Monday because it was a national holiday.

We were a bit delayed leaving Bunia on Friday due to weather. The plane we took had no weather navigation system, which is a bit nerve racking for someone like me who seems to be developing a greater fear of flying every flight I take. This is highly un-conducive to my lifestyle and vocation, by the way. The weather, though, allowed for a spectacular flight. Due to the cloud cover, we had to fly quite low thus providing great views of the landscape below. Congo is a very large country and a majority of it is uninhabited. We flew between mountain peaks and hovered over the dense forest.

Isiro used to be an old colonized Belgian town with stark remnants still standing: train station and rusty rail lines, dilapidated mansions, broken street lights, and vacant buildings once booming businesses. The Medair base is on the outskirts of town surrounded by mud huts, smiling children, and noisy chickens provoking their way to the pot. We live in an area that was relatively untouched by the Belgians. Houses are assembled in their own sort of neighborhoods with dirt paths shaded by mango trees serenaded by birds and giggling children. It is quite idyllic aside from the immense poverty. One thing I really love are these wall-less structures that serve as kitchens and sanctuaries from the afternoon sun. Often you see groups of people huddled together underneath this grass roofed, wall-less huts laughing, eating, and sharing life together. Aside from the corruption and disparity, I often think Africans live a life and culture we were designed for: strong community ties, using and eating only what is needed, not distracted by busy-ness and technology, and a life filled with laughter and dancing.

Stayed tuned for the next post - Isiro's social event of the year and Congolese culture at its finest!