dinsdag 17 april 2012

Exploring the cultural life in Congo – Week 10- Melisa Simoens


Hello everyone!

Our new destination is Congo. For the moment we are staying in the heart of the country: Kinshasa, like Roselinde already said. French is the official language here but a lot of people speak local languages or dialects like Swahili or Lingala so it’s not always easy to understand the people.  

Something I quickly noticed is that religion is very important for the people here. More than 50 per cent of the population is Christian. This religion is very present in daily life. For example education and health care are strongly influenced by Christianity.

Family is very important for the Congolese population too. In contrast with us, people here have big families and a lot of children. So it’s not unusual that parents, children, grandparents, uncles and aunts live together in one house. We talked with Dalila, a young woman who got married a few days ago. She talked about her wedding day and we told her how weddings look like in Belgium. In former days, the family searched a partner for their children, nowadays arranged marriages are less common and especially in the cities. So people in Kinshasa are free to choose their own partner.

Congo is a beautiful country to visit because of its beautiful fauna and flora. And what’s the best way to see the fauna and flora at close quarters? By going on safari of course! And so we did. We saw a lot of palms, something typical for Congo but also red cedars, beautiful orchids, lilies etcetera. We saw a lot of animals too. Lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, buffalos passed our jeep. We passed trees where a lot of monkeys like chimpanzees were playing with each other and lakes where crocodiles were sunbathing. It was a great experience!

After this unforgettable safari, we went to a little market where we bought some ingredients like fish, rice and cassava for a delicious dinner.  In Congo meat is too expensive because they have to import it or hunt it. That’s why people in Congo don’t eat a lot of meat. We bought some bananas and a pineapple too, the perfect dessert to end our day here in Kinshasa!

Read Julies and Roselindes blog too to learn more about our trip in Congo!

Kwa heri! (or bye)

Xx Melisa
















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