Congo-Kinshasa (AKA the DRC)

Almost twenty years ago my young daughter lost a tooth in the Ituri Forest, the home of the okapi, a quiet Congolese relative of the giraffe, at the San Diego Zoo. She cried while we searched. I finally told her that teeth that stay in this magical place are worth twice as much to the tooth fairy, making her sister furious with jealousy. The San Diego Zoo and Safari Park are still magical places to us. Okapi can be visited in both, making a virtual trip to Congo-Kinshasa possible without leaving California.

Because both the zoo and safari park – great outdoor places to be – have put practices in place to keep visitors safe during the pandemic, I plan to renew my membership this fall. Because okapi are unique to Congo-Kinshasa, I recommend seeing them on this trip where you don’t need to leave home. Here are two ways to do that:

· For more about the zoo’s work with okapi, see the attached article and short video: https://zoonooz.sandiegozoo.org/zoonooz/stars-in-stripes/

· For an interesting lecture by John Lukas on the Okapi Conservation Project in the actual Ituri Forest in Congo-Kinshasa, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIMgsD_jPmo

As mentioned in my last blog discussing Congo-Brazzaville, there are two Congos in Africa. The locals differentiate them by attaching the names of their capital cities. Congo-Kinshasa is the larger of the two Congos, in fact the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa. It is officially The Democratic Republic of the Congo (which is why I will sometimes call it the DRC in this blog). It was formerly Zaire, before that the Belgian Congo, and it is the heart of the area of 600 million people who speak languages from the Niger-Congo family group. And I am so excited about what I found online to learn more about the Niger-Congo family group! (Yes, this is me being nerdy and you are welcome to be nerdy along with me. If not interested, just skip the next paragraph.)

One of my graduate English classes in linguistics taught me about language families and we spent a lot of time learning about the Indo-European languages. When I searched Kanopy.com for films on Congo, I discovered two great lectures on “Niger-Congo: The Biggest Family in Africa.” They are part of a series of lectures called Language Families of the World by Professor John McWhorter and put out by The Great Courses. Kanopy requires a library account to access them (call your local library if you don’t have one). Another option is to buy the series of 34 lectures from Great Courses at https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/language-families-of-the-world.html

Learning about language families isn’t the only thing related to Congo-Kinshasa that I did during my masters in English. I was assigned to read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. This might be one of the most assigned books on college campuses to show the horror of colonialism, but it is also one of the most decried books by African scholars because it depersonalizes the African peoples, ignores their achievements, and creates a false perception of Africa. If you want to read this book that people have argued about for more than a hundred years, you can find it online at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/219/219-h/219-h.htm

Another well known book set in the Belgian Congo is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. My book group read it so many years ago that I don’t remember the details, but it is well rated and available on Overdrive as well as in many formats from your favorite bookstore.

Looking for something more recent, I borrowed Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo by Anjan Sundaram from the LA County Library via electronic audiobook. From it I learned not only more about the Congo, but also what it takes to be a stringer for the Associated Press, my favorite source of news.

The following resources are available online and contribute to understanding of Congo-Kinshasa:

· A recent and broad view of Congo from BBC Africa can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43xTvpxWLW4

· The most eye-opening source of historical information I found on Congo-Kinshasa was King Leopold's Ghost which I watched on Amazon.

· The Khan Academy has an extensive section on the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of its “Central Africa Unit” of Art of Africa. Start at the following link and then page through the parts: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-africa/central-africa

· The Khan Academy also highlights a portrait statue of an 18th century Congolese king in their AP Art History class here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/africa-apah/central-africa-apah/a/ndop-portrait-of-king-mishe-mishyaang-mambul

· We saw a River Monsters episode from the Brazzaville side of the river in the last blog. There is another episode from further up the river and in the DRC called “Congo Killer” at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5gqkvq

· There are ten results on Kanopy for Congo. Besides those on the Niger-Congo language family, my favorite is Peace Commandos: Transforming Conflict in Congolese Society by Collective Eye Films.

Subscriptions to either Netflix, Hulu, or DisneyPlus are required for the following three options, but if you already have the subscription, I recommend them.

· My favorite movie set in this country is The Siege of Jadotville on Netflix.

· There is an interview on Hulu with Dikembe Mutombo, great basketball player and great philanthropist talking about the game, the hospital he built in Kinshasa, and his future plans.

· DisneyPlus has two episodes of a show called Wild Congo.

I’d like to finish with music. If you search for Kinshasa in the LA County library database, there are lots of options for Freegal Music. I picked out three lullabies from the DRC that I particularly enjoyed and found online versions of them here:

· Bikilou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS3IlxTLqkM

· Artist Mapumba singing Mimi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TqCs8dCnds

· Bernadette Aningi & Anita Daulne singing Kula Bebe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EB9RGBr8kg

More options for a great trip to Congo-Kinshasa can be seen at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-democratic-republic-congo/

Finally, when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Congo-Kinshasa using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Congo-Kinshasa and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: https://zoonooz.sandiegozoo.org/zoonooz/stars-in-stripes/