Chatting from the forgotten country - DR. Congo
Dido, manager at Jatukik: ”What about raping, is it common in your country”?
Me: “No, though it happens, what about here?”
Dido: ”Here people can be raped without even knowing it – people here don’t know their rights.”
Dido after church: ”For me, God’s words is like a bread.”
Raol, businessman, on his way home from funeral: "Bad roads, no electricity. It can’t be like this in your country? This is misery - people suffer. This is corruption. The president and his men are eating our money."
Peter, English teacher at Jatukik: "How do you do in your country if you do not have anything at all?"
Me: "You apply for different jobs. If you still do not have a job, maybe after two months, the social authority will give you some money for basic needs as food and housing.”
Peter: "Ooh. Here it doesn’t work like that. People here are killing in order to fill their hunger. People here are dying every day. Just go outside the city and you'll see people who have it very very difficult."
Me: “What do you think of the president and the people around him?”
Raol: ”Todays government is not chosen by the Congolese people – it is chosen by powers in western-world.”
Me: “What do you think of the upcoming election 2011, are there risks for violence?”
Dido: “Congo's Joseph Kabila will remain President. People are hungry. They do not have the energy to fight.”
Me: “What would you do for the Congo if you became a politician?”
Dido: “Teach people their rights.”
Me: “What about the corruption?”
Dido: “Congolese do not know their rights. This is where our work must begin. Nothing can be solved before people understand what their rights are. Education and information is the key.”
Old Mama, mother of 5 kids: “Everything was better before.”
Me: “Before what”?
Mama: “Before independence.”
Me: “Why?”
Mama: “Children went to school. One could go to hospital. Today things are difficult. Difficult.”
