I lived there when it was still called Zaire…
It seems that things have been calm for tha past 5 years though… Still it’s not a place you go to for tourism.

What would I be doing there if I were there right now? That’s a loaded question because I wouldn’t be able to do what I do in the states there… I think it would be hard for me there since I am only a musician and don’t really have skills to enable me to work in the humanitarian aspects that would be interesting there (to me at least). I have no idea what I would be doing if I had stayed… I guess the only thing that I might have been good at would have been translation work.

My life when I lived there? it was the best, even during the worst (my family and I were evacuated twice during two years in 91-92)... It was a very sheltered life in a way. We didn’t really have the latest hit songs, and we didn’t have a movie theater at the time, I started living there after the best period when everyone wanted to go there (they would even get touring musicians, and famous exhibits), but still, it was the best.

I went to the french school, the schedule was only in the mornings, from 7:30am until 1pm, monday through saturday. In the afternoon most our teachers had organized extra scholar activities, so on top of my music classes, I had tap dancing, jazz dance, gymnastics, I was in the swimming team, volleyball, I mean we never stopped!
There wasn’t that many people there in our community so almost everyone knew everyone, and the atmosphere was very familiar, very simple and informal most of the time!

Also people there love children, and as a child you could do whatever you wanted, you had all rights! I had a nanny whom I loved (and still do of course), I would spend a lot of time with her just chating, that’s how I learned to speak Lingala (the language in Kinshasa), she would spoil me like no other person has!

I don’t know what else really to write about because it is also a tender subject as the last time I saw Kinshasa it was on a boat being evacuated, and I had the feeling I would never set foot there again, so you can imagine how painful that is when you feel at home like so, and when you’re leaving behind all the people who you love and who you know are going to suffer while you get to be lucky enough to be taken out of danger and misery!
It’s a very heavy feeling you live with all your life!

Now the country is ok at the moment, but I would never recommend to somebody to go there without knowing where to stay and in which circomstances. It is not a country where you can just decide to go and stay at the Sheraton! Although it’s probably one of the most beautiful country on Earth and everyone who hasn’t been there is missing out, it’s not a time where people can just go there to take pictures. It’s dangerous, there are still parts of the country that are plagued by the genocide that took place there, Ebola is still there, malaria is a serious problem as well as HIV. It was already not a tourist country when I lived there, so I can’t even imagine why somebody would go there other than on a doctors without borders mission or because of a post in an embassy!

THat’s about it, really, I’m not quite sure what else you would like to hear…
I’m happy to talk about it. Sadly years are taking my memory of it in the ether!
haha

Cheers!