Congo Part 1

When you think of DR Congo, what comes to mind? War? Turmoil? Poverty? Kidnapping? Violence? Those are the things you hear about Congo. What about hope? Community? Transformation? Those are probably not ideas that you would associate with Congo. But that is what my experience was during my trip. Let me share with you a bit of that adventure.

The purpose of our trip to Congo was to do a structural assessment of a community center building at Universite Chretienne Bilingue du Congo (UCBC, Christian Bilingual University of Congo). The story of UCBC began after the war in Congo. Several Christian leaders gathered together to ask themselves three questions. What did this happen? Where was the church? What do we do now? In response to the third question they felt God leading them to do something to change the future of their country. They started UCBC to set themselves apart as different from the other agencies working in the area. Their vision is to train and develop strong, indigenous Christian leaders to transform their communities and their nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the mottos at UCBC is “being transformed to transform”. There is change happening in this place. For more details see http://www.congoinitiative.org and www.ucbc.org.

Our trip started on Tuesday morning at 6am. David, another structural engineer from EMI, and I got picked up by a driver to meet with Paul and Cullen, board members at UCBC from the US. We were travelling together from Kampala, Uganda to Beni, DRC. Tuesday was a holiday so traffic in Kampala was lighter than normal, a good thing at the beginning of our long drive west. The countryside in this part of the world is beautiful. The drive to the border was relatively uneventful. We arrive at the border at Mpondwe/Kasindi at 1:30. 

The border crossing was a bit of an adventure. Kazito, from UCBC, met us on the Uganda side of the border to take us across with the Congolese driver and vehicle to take us to Beni. There are no clear instructions at the border of where to go so it was necessary to have someone with us. First you need to stop at the Uganda police checkpoint to let them know you are leaving. There are two gates, one for cars and one for pedestrians, and a small hut where an officer in street clothing records some information and the date you are leaving. While we were talking with the police in the hut I saw many people and motorcycles passing through the pedestrian gate who haven’t stopped to check in with the police. There is no indication of who needs to stop here. After talking with the police we get into the car to go through the gate. The man at the gate asks to see the papers for the vehicle. Kazito explains to them that they have just come across to pick us up and go back. So they let us through. Apparently if you are going across the border and come right back you don’t need to go through immigration. 

Next we go to the Uganda immigration to get a departure stamp. Again this is a small building off to the side with a small sign. We go in, fill out the departure card, get our passports stamped and get back in the car. We go through the last gate in Uganda. Somewhere between the Uganda and Congo gates is the border. There is no clear indication of where the border is. There are so many people walking between the borders.

 

We get through the border at Congo and it feels like we are in. There is no one stopping us, checking if we are allowed to be here. It felt as if we could just go. But there is a building off to the left where we need to stop. Again there are no signs indicating we need to go here. The signs are now in French too. We stop in the immigration building where they look at our passports and ask us to sit down. Then we get led to an office in the back where the five of us crowd in. Fortunately Paul was born in Congo and lived there for many years so he was chatting with the immigration officer in Swahili, which I think changed the attitude of the officer. The immigration officer didn’t like that David and I had received our Congo visas in Uganda and not our home countries. I am not sure why this would matter, but he didn’t like it. Paul explained to him that we are residents in Uganda so that is where we must get our visas. They stamped our passports and we entered Congo. 

I have broken this post into three parts so it is not too much at once. I will let you know when I post the next part. Below are some pictures of the Ugandan countryside, it is a beautiful country.