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

Sources:  http://www.bloggen.be/congo/

The economics of Congo - week 10 - Roselinde Vandepitte

Hi everyone,

It seems that the end of our trip is coming closer… Travelling through Africa brought us In Congo this time. As Anou said, Melisa, Julie and I will guide you through our last country, but fortunately there are still two countries to go!

If I think about Congo, the first thought that comes to my mind is that this country is very poor. I took the travel guide and looked up some information. Since 1950 the economy of Congo has drastically declined. From 1965 through 1997, Mobutu and his associates stole billions of dollars from the Zairian (this was the name of Congo during the Cold War) economy. Because of this, the Zaire’s infrastructure crumbled. The economy began to recover in 2010 and the economy is expected to grow at around 6.5% over the next two years.

The growth in 2010 was strengthened by increased private consumption. Private investment also rose with more government efforts to repair the infrastructure.

We went to Kinshasa, located on the south bank of the Congo River because this is together with Lubumbashi Congo’s most important industrial region. These industries produce processed copper, zinc, refined petroleum, processed foods and beverages, and basic consumer goods such as clothing and footwear.

Our guide who took us with him told us more; oil production and forestry are the main economic activities of Congo. According to 2006, Congo has an oil reserve of approximately 1.5 billion bbl (billion barrels). The country's export earnings come almost entirely from sales of primary products.

It also seems that this nation is rich in natural resources such as diamonds, cobalt and copper. The different sectors of Congo are: agriculture, fishing, forestry and mining. Agriculture seems to be the most important source for this country. They cultivate coffee, palm oil, rubber, cotton, sugar, rice, maize, coffee, etc. The agriculture sector provides 66% of the work force.  The numerous rivers of Congo give an immense potential for producing hydroelectricity. Ok, I have talked too much, time to sleep!

With love,

Roselinde

source: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Congo-Democratic-Republic-of-The-OVERVIEW-OF-ECONOMY.html

Politics of the Central African Republic - Week 9 - Anou Christiaens

Hello everyone!

We’re in the Central African Republic this week! Our trip between countries wasn’t that long because the Central African Republic is situated right next to Chad, like you can see on the map. One of the official languages here is French, so it was easy for us to communicate with the inhabitants of this country. Today I’m going to tell you something more about the politics of this country.

 CAR is a republic and has a president. The president is François Bozizé. He became president in May 2005. Before he became president he was the Chief of Staff of the armed forces. At first he became president after a coup against the former president in 2003. But two years later they held an election and François Bozizé was elected president by the people of CAR.

Our guide knew a lot about the politics of the country. I asked him if he could tell me something about it. He told us that the country is divided into 16 prefectures for administrative purposes. Those 16 prefectures are further divided into 60 sub prefectures. The president appoints heads of these administrative units. I was stunned about that amount. In my opinion, the political system is even more confusing than in Belgium!

The currency here is the same as in Chad, which was very convenient because we didn’t have to exchange our money. The money is used in six independent states in Central Africa. And we’re in luck because we can also use our money in our next country. The money is called CFA, which stands for Coopération financière en Afrique centrale. The coins look a bit like our euros in my opinion.

That was it for today. I hope you’ve learned a bit more about the politics of this country! I will be back next week to tell you something more about the culture of Tanzania. Unfortunately, Tanzania is our next to last country and the last country I will write about. But no worries, Roselinde, Julie and Melisa will tell you something more about our last country! So don’t forget to read it!

Talk to you soon!

Xoxo Anou

Sources:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4007.htm

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Central-African-Republic-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-AND-TAXATION.html

Culture of the Central African Republic - Week 9 - Romina Vanhove

Hello Everyone!

Today we are in the Central African Republic. It’s truly very beautiful up here. No great luxury here, but we are discovering the true African life as it is. I’m sure that this will be our most unforgettable experience, however the war in Libya and all the other things we went through are also unforgettable.

In our traveling guide I read that, the Central African Republic doesn’t really have one big population like us Belgians, it has like 15 secondary urban centres that contain up to 30 000 inhabitants. Because the country is so divided, there are several languages that are spoken by the inhabitants. Though the majority of residents speak languages belonging to the Ubangian family. Though the official languages of the country are Sango and French. I see you wondering, French? Well yes, the Central African Republic long was a colonisation of France, so a lot of people there speak French.

People here still live in the typical houses as we imagined them. These houses are called dwellings, while we were visiting a rural village, the owner told us that the dwellings should be replaced frequently due to termites. The dwellings are made of sundried brick and thatched wild grass, in deep forest areas palm fronds are tiled on. In the past they used to use mud-and-wattle structures, but the French discouraged that. Dwellings are primarily used for storage and sleeping, however in the six-month dry and hot season in the savannah, it happens frequently that people sleep outdoors.

Well, this was the most important information on the culture of the Central African Republic. I’m wondering what will be next, but I’m sure this country will be one of my greatest memories! Talk to you later!

With love

Romina

Source: http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Central-African-Republic.html

Economy of the Central African Republic – Week 9 – Anneleen Coppens

Like Julie mentioned in her latest blog, Chad is a country surrounded by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.

Since we already visited Chad and Libya, we decided to continue our journey to the Central African Republic.

Manioc

Here in CAR I met this kind African girl and she told me only 3% of this land is under cultivation. This surprised me because the overwhelming majority of the population here is engaged in agriculture. She showed us a plot of land her parents own and there was manioc, corn and also a few banana trees.

In 2010 they had a very good year and the economy finally recovered from the suffering of the global economic and financial crisis that broke out in 2008. The crises of the past two years made this country fragile.

Luckily the inhabitants are blessed with abundant natural resources such as diamonds, uranium, gold, mineral, timber, …

The most popular imported goods are food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Our country, Belgium, is together with France and the United States one of the chief trading partners of CAR. 

After a cup of thee she showed us a special stamp from her collection. It had Jean Bedel Bokassa on it, a symbol of the corruption that characterizes many African leaders.

He once ruled for 14 years and began nationalizing the industries. This resulted in a declining economy. Also the leaders that ruled after him showed CAR that they weren’t capable of managing the economy here.

The most gruesome thing she told us was the fact that Bokassa got accused of cannibalism by Amnesty International. He condemned opponents to death by public execution and then sometimes fed them to wild animals.

This story actually made my day a bit gloomy but I’m sure this feeling will pass once we discovered the cultural aspects!

Sleep tight,

Anneleen

Sources:

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0857228.html

http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/central-africa/central-african-republic/

The economic side of Chad - week 8 - Julie De Vreese

Hello everyone,

Here I am again for some more explanation on yet another country. This time we are finding ourselves in Chad, a country in the middle of Africa surrounded by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. It is indeed a beautiful country as Melisa already mentioned in her blog.

As it is so burning hot here outside between the hours of 12 pm and 16 pm, we chose to stay inside and definitely out of the sun. We found a little terrace and as we sat down to relax for the next few hours, one of the natives saw we were tourists and asked us what we thought of the country so far. After a few minutes he told us that Chad had to thank cotton for everything they had now. We didn’t really understand so he explained to us that when France gave independence to Chad in 1960, the economy was not so good due to drought, geographic remoteness and lack of infrastructure. The economy was mostly based on agriculture, dominated by cotton. Close to 83% of the population worked in agriculture, and even as they tried to make some progress over the years, Chad remained one of the poorest countries in the world.

Chad is locked in by several other countries and has therefore no coast, it has no efficient transportation network and not enough natural resources to live from the export. The best place to be a farmer though is in the south, where there is enough rainfall to grow cotton and peanuts. The main thing they did in the agriculture, was ginning raw cotton into fiber for export to other countries, mostly France. Also spinning and weaving of the cotton, and producing oil from the seeds of the cotton to use for local consumption is an important activity. The prices for cotton had always been good, so the economy could be called somewhat stable, but in 1985 the prices fell quickly and the whole cotton industry nearly went cripple. That forced the country to do some major restructuring.

Luckily, they can also cultivate rice, potatoes and manioc. They go fishing in lake Chad, and herd sheep, goats, cattle, and a bit unusual for us …camels. Furthermore, Chad produces minerals such as Natron and Uranium. Now, Chad’s major trading partners are the United States, France, Cameroon and China.

see you next time

xXx Julie

Sources:
http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/chad/ECONOMY.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0857236.html

My political experience in Chad – Week 8 – Melisa Simoens

Hello everyone!

Chad is a beautiful country to visit. But because I didn’t heard of the country before we started our journey around the world, I wanted to learn something more about the political background of Chad.

So I went to a local bookstore to buy a little interesting book which gave me the information I searched for.  Chad is situated in Central Africa. The country has a severe political system, which is something typical for a lot of African countries. Chad has a president, Idriss Déby, so we can say Chad is a presidential republic. He has all the power: he dominates the political system but has also the power to choose the prime minister. The president is head of state and head of government. Idriss Déby is already president of Chad since 1990. Every president is voted for a five-year term. Déby won the elections in 2011 again, so before 2016 there will be no other president.

Every year the people of Chad celebrate independence day on the 11^th of August. Unfortunately we can’t experience this day.

We noticed while our visit in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, that there’s a lot of corruption here. Sometimes I didn’t feel very safe while walking through the streets and certainly not in the evening. This is not so surprising if you know that Chad is called one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Our travel agency warned us to watch out for louche people because there are a lot of kidnappings and incidents of terrorism in Chad. So it’s better to avoid wearing jewellery in public or carrying valuable things.

We wanted to take no risks so we registered us with the British High Commission in Cameroon as there’s no British Embassy in Chad. While we were exploring the capital, someone came to us and gave us the advice to avoid eastern Chad. In eastern Chad there’s a lot of rebel activity. That’s why we stayed especially in the capital.

Although you maybe gather that it’s better to avoid a trip to Chad, the country is still a visit worth, like you can read in the blogs of Roselinde and Julie.

It was a long day, so I better go to sleep now. Read my next blog for more news about our trip.

Sweet dreams!

With love
Melisa

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Chad

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-
saharan-africa/chad