Ready, Set, Go...

I really didn’t expect retirement to be this busy.  With 27 papers to do, 16 books to read, and many other assignments for a semester at school, I had little time to think ahead to my summer and the accounting assignment I volunteered to do in the Congo. I did manage some ‘Congo’ prep among writing all my school papers – shots mostly: yellow fever, typhoid, polio, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and meningitis, plus getting scripts filled for malaria pills and Cipro tablets.  (Fortunately, I was up to date on more ordinary shots like tetanus and pneumonia and influenza and shingles, or my arm would have been really sore.)  I began to get the idea that one does not go to the Congo for a casual visit…

I was headed to Bunia, DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire) to assist a university with changes to their accounting processes.  Asked if I was willing to bring supplies with me, things that were very difficult to obtain in the Congo, I said yes, and offered two of my three suitcase allowance on British Airways.  So as I was typing away in my office, paper after paper for school, package after package arrived at my home - via USPS mail, by UPS, by FedEx… I lost count. The packages contained mostly computer related equipment, including 9 laptops, Ethernet devices, flash drives, computer batteries and a lot of ram, plus a photo ID printer, which felt like it weighed a ton. Packing used a lot (!) of bubble wrap and I felt like a computer (vs. a drug) mule… Altogether, 105 kilos came with me to the Congo.  It was hard to know how to plan for 14 weeks in Africa, not knowing what was available here, but I fit in whatever I could manage in the remaining available suitcase space, which ended up being not so much.

Security through the Philly airport was a breeze, but I was grateful Rachel hung around until I and my carry-on cleared security.  The photo ID printer was expensive, and I packed it in my carry-on to protect it. I wanted to hand it off to Rachel to take back to Hopewell if they bounced it as too suspicious at the airport. I was grateful for a very beefy guy who kindly hoisted my ~40 pound carry-on into the overhead bin on the plane.  The airplane left Philly at 10 PM Saturday night and I arrived at Entebbe, Uganda at 7 AM Monday morning to wait for the MAF flight over to Bunia. The airport was small and stuffy, but not as hot as I expected. It looked more or less like a bus station, no fans,  and of course, no air conditioning. There was a cafeteria, but I was leery of eating anything.  I had a cappuccino, figuring the water had been boiled and therefore safe. (And no worry that I only had US dollars, as that seems to be the currency of choice everywhere in this part of Africa.) I was probably overly cautious about the food, but I didn’t want to get sick the first day. Mostly I sat reading my Kindle, dosing off occasionally, but I figured I was well protected by all the UN peacekeeping soldiers milling about waiting for flights.  Seems Bunia is a UN base, who knew? I did find the Ugandan soldier toting a semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder a bit disconcerting, though...

The MAF plane was a 10 seater, and it looked way too small to carry me and the other folks (there were 5 passengers altogether) AND my 105 kilos, let alone their baggage.  The pilot seemed unflappable, a Type B personality, which made me feel safer. I sat in a seat behind the pilot off to his right. I could see all the controls, and once in the air, wasn’t sure I had the best seat in the house. A bit TMI for me.  The pilot pulled in the steps from his cockpit seat and closed his door, said a prayer, started the engine and looked both ways before turning onto the runway.  I am sure pilots in big planes look both ways as they approach the runway too, but I don’t see that, so this felt a bit like we were in a car, and that fleeting feeling did not feel so good. But the takeoff was very smooth and soon we were flying over the verdant hills of Uganda.  I really did not expect it to be so green.  Probably the only uncomfortable part of the trip was my ears, as we climbed to well over 10,000 feet, and there isn’t any such thing as a pressurized cabin in a plane like that.  We flew over Lake Albert and over the mountains to land on the high plains of Bunia. I was a bit concerned about the landing, seeing that I could see it all passing in front of me, but the pilot landed the plane as smooth as any airliner I have taken.  It was actually pretty amazing to come down ever so gently onto that lone short runway.

My contact was waiting for me at the gate, and he was a very welcome sight. With five suitcases, there was no way to escape ‘customs’ and I knew I could not face that process by myself. Besides practically everything was their stuff anyway.  The officials opened every suitcase, rummaging through them for things of value.  Fortunately, my contact was able to protect my stuff from customs! In the end, they charged the school $30 for each laptop and let the rest go. There was no receipt given for the customs payment, which means the funds were probably kept local, perhaps very personally so.

Then into a 4X4 for the ride to the university and my home for the next 11 weeks. We traveled down a hard packed red dirt road, with people walking all around and motorcycles zipping past very fast, as well as a few lone 4x4’s. I don’t think a car would even attempt these roads. The dust filled the air, actually creating a visibility problem at times.  And the roads, ach, I have never ridden over roads like these – mounds and hills and gullies and big rocks all about. I don’t think we ever got above 5-10 miles per hour, and even at that speed, I thought we would break the axle. Later than night as I lay in bed (under a mosquito net, of course), I thought about that jarring ride - perhaps the officials need to collect personal, local customs. After all, they could never depend on speeding tickets as a source of revenue… 

Leaving on a jet plane...