http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3621912/posts?page=7#7
“The Fearful Master” has a great chapter on the early post-colonial Belgian Congo and what the bastard UN did to it.
Lao is working to build a 300 mile road to facilitate a mining project. His story is told in the film, Empire of Dust
Not the best documentary , yet it shows how Africans, left to their own devices, actually regress rather than progress.
Bkmk
Big mistake. We were stuck. The water came to the bottom of the door. This particular mudpit had a bit of a funny smell. It was the favourite place of the pigs so it probably contained a fair amount of sh*t. It sure smelled like it. The entire village gathered round us while we got out, knee deep in sh*t. They did not offer help. We started clearing the wheels. Josephine hurt her foot on a stick, the pain could be seen on her face. The people thought this was extremely funny and burst out laughing. This was very humiliating for Josephine and I could see the anger on her face. We looked at eachother and understood that this was not the time to get angry or start discussions with 50 or so people. We continued to work. As I bend over to clear the mud from underneath the car my pants get wet up until my ehrm.. 'privates'.. . Once again this is the funniest thing these people have ever seen. Hilarity ensues. This was very humiliating to us. Eventually they offered to help us if we pay them. I tell them that I do not have money. They did not move an inch. It takes the best part of an hour to get us out. To their surprise we stop again and I get out and walk up to them. Very calmly I explain that we did not like it when they laughed at us. I asked them how they would react if they hurt themselves and we would laugh at them. The acknowledged that they would get mad at us. I asked them if they would want us to help them if they had a problem. The acknowledged this. I said what they would think if we asked for money before we would help them. They called us racists and immediately demanded money from us. "The villages usually had the worst obstacles. In this one village there was a big boghole filled with water. We drove in but did not see the pigs that were taking a bath so we slowed down to give them the time to get out.
...yet another "S#|+hole" village:
...and "National Road #1" just beyond that village:
~~~~~~~~~~
Yep -- I'd say that pretty well epitomizes, validates and justifies Trump's term, "shithole country"...
Once you start reading this you CANNOT STOP!
It is like “24”, only true and written, but with great pics.
Beware - you wil be hooked.
Was up from 2am - 4:30am reading........
Average IQ in the DRC is 78. That puts them 3 points above moron.
And the DRC is on the upper edge of the scale of African IQ measurement. Equatorial Guinea is at the bottom with an average of 59 meaning its an entire nation of morons.
L
Amazing!
Here are my two thoughts on the log:
1. Incredible narrative on an incredible trip.
2. Incredible stupidity on making such a trip thru a lawless country. By all rights, they are lucky they weren't killed along the route..........
I have no respect for such ignorance but one has to consider the mindset of Europeans...........
I finally finished the 61 pages of their story (still chewing thru subsequent discussions).
Yow.
There’s a lot of angles to take from this. Fortunately, it’s a straightforward recounting of a journey, with little/no sociopolitical opinions injected.
- It’s quite possible for a young couple to pack everything into a small truck and drive/live wherever they like. Get up and go. This backs up Sam Kinison’s “MOVE!” skit nicely.
- Tenacity will get you thru d@mn near anything.
“We do have a great universal plan that works for most situations: “If we have a problem, we fix it!” ;-)”
- Large sections of Africa are staggeringly poor, with nearly nonexistent infrastructure. This was supposed to be a “simple” drive that would take about 17 hours in the US; it took them >50 days and nearly destroyed their truck (yes, they knew what they were getting into). Poverty was beyond rampant. Begging was intense. Corruption was prolific. Many organizations have tried to improve the area, but balk and are torn apart; Catholic missions seem the only semblance of safety & stability, and there only barely. Cell phone communication is sparse, but at least provides a semblance of comm infrastructure.
Appreciate the life we have here. However “poor”, 1st-world Westerners have it good.
And I have to wonder how many like this couple set off on a similar adventure, and did not survive to tell about it.
Bookmark
What an amazing journal! Addicting. Thanks.
Thanks for posting this but I’m not getting any work done today. It’s absolutely fascinating.