Hello there,
And greetings from the Congo, where it would seem they have drank all the Um Bongo and are waiting on the next batch.
All is well here, and coming to the end of my second week in work. Nearly all of it has been spent getting my computer, radio (yes it's pretty cool) and email address sorted out and I am only beginning to get stuck into the hard work now. I won't bore you with the details and hopefully next week will be better.
Kinshasa is a big mad place. It has more people than London and less money than Hackney (probably). I live right in the city centre in a nice appartment just off the main road - Boulevard Trente Juin. It is nice but all around there are buildings that have not been painted or taken care of in a good few years. The streets are filled with all sorts of people from suited businessmen to people selling newspapers, sunglasses and cigarettes. But there is a lot of poverty, street-children and homeless, and I need to watch out for pick-pockets etc. I live close to work and I walked there this morning eating a sandwich. Lots of people said Bon Appetit and I think I made them jealous.
Life is very nice for me and the other foreigners working here. There are lots of nice restaurants and bars, and many of my friends have swimming pools in their appartment blocks. I have set up a ping pong net on the dining room table in my flat and that is providing some fun. The life I lead is very different from the locals. And their lives are very different from the people living where there is a war. I think I will go east where the big problems are and meet them quite soon and hopefully tell you all about it. Don't worry though the nice soldiers in the blue helmets will make sure I am quite safe.
Good luck with it all back home
