Independence Day in Congo

Wednesday the 30th of June was the 50th anniversary of Democratic Republic of Congo’s independence from the Belgians. Since the political climate is a bit tense now (now, before, after, forever), most of the international non governmental organizations took security precautions for their international staff.
Some even shipped their staff off to neighbouring countries. We stayed here, but were confined to the houses. So we did a barbeque! It was nice. And at the end of the day, there were no real security problems associated with the commemoration.

The people I have been replacing are in place now, so I am back to doing one job – my own. This is a relief! But our head of mission wants to get several projects in shape before some of our group finish leaves, so things are hopping. It is true that someone new coming in will lose momentum with the handover and lack of insight WHY we are doing these things. I am involved in several of these projects so there is no rest for the weary. We are in a big recruiting process for Congolese doctors and medical specialists (surgeons, gynocologists, and anaesthetists). We are also recruiting a cleaner for the central pharmacy (140 candidatures for 1 job!). We have negotiations going for our agreement on how we work with the Ministry of Health staff in two hospitals (one risks to be a very tough round of negotiations). I will need to go to Kinshasa to shut down our office there right before leaving. All this, plus trying to finish up several other human resource policies in less than 2 months.

But in the meantime, I am trying to reduce my hours to avoid burn out. I leave work most Saturdays around 5:00 pm now, and I only work a couple of hours on Sundays. I realized that I had to do this after returning from my Uganda break. I really had a hard time getting re-motivated after that. And replacing the other 2 people didn’t help. Now that those positions are filled again, I am less in the day-to-day stuff and more into the long-term projects. It is not any easier, but a lot more fulfilling. I am happy to be back on these things, and hope that I can finish a maximum of them before leaving.

So today the program is attending to my personal mail,
posting to my blog, walking into town 1 hour each way) to buy stuff to prepare dinner tonight (we are 8 in our house this evening), stop in a bar to have a beer or two (Primus, the beer of Congo!) with a coupld of friends name Pierrre (Peter) and Jean de Dieu (John of God), and maybe watch a film or two on my computer before turning into bed. Ahhhhhhhh. Relaxation.