Paris

It was a nice day to take the train yesterday evening. The TGV travels at close to 300 km an hour and posts close by fly by in a blur as the French countryside rolls by. But the train is nice and stable and in 2 hours I am in Paris. I hadn't been in Paris in a long time and forgot how nice it is.

With Anne and David in a café across from the Louvre.

Today is the perfect day to be in Paris. The sky is blue with a light wind. Temperature probably around 23 degrees. Tuesday the Louvre is closed. But we get to see the behind the scenes, going into the research and restoration department, underground. Laboratories abound with people working meticulously over centuries old pantings and vases. David Kolin, a scientist we were filming said there were people working for months and months to restore just a few square centimetres of a painting.

A great day to be in Paris!

It is not easy to film in the Louvre, nor any museum for that matter. In Greece, we had to pay and in the Louvre, we needed written permission to even film outside. And sure enough, when we went outside to film the pyramid and around a security man came up within just a few minutes.


After the filming, we even had a little time to enjoy Paris, sitting on a wooden bridge across the Seine and had lunch on a terrace in a café. Our train for Brussels leaves at 19:01!

Luxembourg to Paris

Heading to Paris this evening on the TGV. Tomorrow we will film in the Louvre! It is the second part of a story on 3D scanning of art objects. We filmed the first part in Crete and now in the Louvre and then in a museum in Brussels.


I didn't know you could have an electronic ticket on a train like you do on planes. It is pretty easy. You just put the code in machine at the train station and your real ticket pops out and you get on the train. For the return trip from Brussels, I was able to get a journalist reduction and only paid 17€40! and that is round trip because the discount doesn't work on one-way tickets.

Mbuji Mayi - Kananga - Kinshasa

Heading back to Kinshasa. You have to arrive very early for the UN flights. Our flight is at 13 :40 and we are at the airport at 9 :30 to pay local taxes and get checked in. It’s not like a normal check-in. We wait outside until our name is called and then they weigh our bags and do a light security check. Then we wait around for 3 hours.

I did get to see the same helicopter crew as on the outbound leg. Gennady said they have two more months of duty before he can go back to his family in Ekaterinbourg.


Someone told me that the second biggest airline in Africa is the United Nations. They have planes and helicopters all over the place. The biggest airline is South African Airlines.

Mbuji Mayi, Congo

Found out today that Mbuji Mayi means « Goat in the water ». Mbuji is goat and mayi is water. Don’t yet know why the city carries that name though.

Today we went to interview the governor of the Province of Kasai Oriental. He is the most powerful man in the province. Alphonse Ngoyi-Kasanje got rich in the diamond business. He has his own television station where you can see him almost undulated by the people who kiss his hand. He is wearing a sleek blue suit, very smart looking. On the wall of his « Oval Office », there is a painting of him seated with admiring servents around him.

Alphonse Ngoyi-Kasanje, Governor of
Kasai Oriental: Part of the problem or  part
of the solution?

I asked him what was the governement’s role in the protection of children working in the mines and what are the basic principles of his solution. He said he was greatly concerned with the matter and that he was now energetically working on a new law to limit the births of women. He felt the problem was that there was simply too many children and that must be stopped.

I didn’t have any more questions after that.

One of the biggest difficulties in development work or humanitarian aid is incompetent and/or corrupt government officials. The staff from UNICEF said that is an example of the obstacles they are up against. « There are even worse then him ! » complained one.

My report will of course talk about this huge obstacle, but I decided not to put the governor in the report. For one, the interview with the Minister of Social Affaires shows the need to work with the government and the minister is more of a positive example of how attitudes are changing. If I put in the governor, I would have to spend too much time to explain it all, taking up air time for other important points. Secondly, I don’t want to cause problems for those who must continue to work here.

On our last day here, I am frustrated, feeling I haven’t been able to get a lot of images of kids working in the mines in order to draw people’s attention to this horrible situation. But, you can’t argue with young men high on alcohol and drugs and who dance around and shout with their kalashnikov flying. I hope that the images I was able to get will incite people to learn more and maybe to contribute in helping create a better future for thousands of very young kids digging in muddy mines here in the Congo.

Mbuji Mayi, Congo

On a Sunday, there is not much going on, so we sort of take the day off. That means no filming, but I have to go through all the interviews and look over the pictures to see what if anything is still missing.

Just some interesting facts : « Hello » in the local language Chiluba is « Moyo wenu ». When you say it to a group of people it becomes « Moyouen ». In Luxembourgish it is « Moien ». Pretty close, huh ? Maybe there are some common ancestors ?

A joke from the international community : An expat arrives in the Congo and the first month he refuses to drink his beer when a fly falls in it. The second month, he fishes the fly out and finishes his beer. The third month he refuses to drink his beer if there is no fly.

Sights and sounds of today : a little boy, filthy, walking alone in the streets completely naked. He walks past a group of other kids, dressed, but not much better off.

A car speeds by with a young man simply sitting on the trunk, not even holding on.

A policeman walks into the hotel holding a kalashnikov in one hand and handcuffs in the other. He looks around and then heads back out. What was he looking for ?

Mbuji Mayi, Congo

Serge, 13, fills sacks with gravel and hopefully diamonds.

 Louao and Tatine carry water to sell in the mines. It's one
of the better jobs for girls in the area.

The mission today is to get pictures of some of the almost 12.000 children working in mines to illustrate our story. It is not an easy task. The region just outside of the city of Mbuji Mayi is a no man’s land where the law of the Kalashnikov reigns. We can only drive so far and then have to walk. And it doesn’t take long before we run into young men on drugs with the ubiquatous Kalashnikov. The kids work with their hands to support their families and these young men work with their Kalashnikovs. One young boy said he had to pay 200 Congolese Francs to the armed men and he only earns about a 1000 a day.

We were filming when they stopped us, yelling and trying to be as impressive as possible to get some money from the foreigners. They said we were in their area and that we had no permission to film. After a few minutes of heated discussion, we were able to convince them to accompany us out of their region. They let us film a couple of kids in a mine, but that was it. As they seemed high on something, we didn’t press our luck and got out of their region.

Kskuyi doesn't dream anymore. He is 12.

So we weren’t able to film many children in the mines, but we did find some in the village who were willing to tell their stories. It was quite sad to talk with Kakuyi. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and what he dreamed about. He said he thinks of nothing. I don’t know if it was just because he was timid, but he seemed like a person completely broken… at 12. He said that if he doesn’t pay the soldiers, they take his clothes and beat him. He doesn’t think there is anything else in this world for him other than a life in the mud of the mines working for a dollar a day. He may be right, but I hope he can find his way into the program in order to put a little light at the end of his long, dark tunnel.

Mbuji Mayi, Congo

First a visit to the Minister of Social Affaires of the province, Mr. Nomami Shodo. He spoke a lot of his needs and what the NGOs and other organisations like UNICEF can or should do and very little about what the government can do. But to his credit, he seemed knowledgeable about the problem and probably receives very little money from Kinshasa to run his Ministry. 

Next we go to the mines and the small villages in and around the mines. Diamonds are everywhere. Or at least you would think so by looking at all the publicity and bill boards advertizing the buying of diamonds. Even on television I can see ads showing guys in fancy suits, stacks of dollars and diamonds, inticing people to sell their diamonds in one bureau or the other.

We went to the village of Bakua Tshimuna where Save the Children UK has a program supported by UNICEF . It is a pilot program to get kids out of the mines and give them some education and professional training.

Tonnerre has just a bike to transport water to sell.

Tonnerre Dimanga is father of 8 children, 3 have died. He is from Kasai Oriental, but was working as a carpenter in Lumumbashi. The war came and ethnic difficulties forced him back to his homeland. But there was no work there as the diamond mine was out of business and other refugees crowded in. Tonnerre didn’t have much choice but to send his 15 year old daughter Ntoumba to the mines. She transported water to the miners to feed the family. Tonnerre is educated and ashamed of what he had become… living in a small shack with hungry children. He speaks perfect French and it is heartbreaking to see such a man in such a dire predicament. When Tonnerre heard about someone offering some education to children in the mine, he went right away to find out more and got his daughter in the program. At 18, Ntoumba now has completed the training and works in a small sewing shop.

Ntoumba is now working in a small shop.

We have to hurry up because the drivers are nervous about «suiciders». These are soldiers, off duty or deserters, with kalashnikovs who in the evening after drinking try to rob those with diamonds walking to sell their find. The drivers want to be out of the area by 4 in the afternoon. So we head out. In the village, men with guns are not rare. One young man with a bandana around his head and a feather sticking out, hanging down the side of his face is drunk and dances around with his kalashinkov swinging. He gets the kids to sing. You don’t know whether to smile or cry at the sight.

Kinshasa to Mbuji Mayi on Air UN

Departure as planned. Arrival at the airport on time to see a long line of people for the UN planes. UN personnel used to use commercial airlines to get around the country until the crash in Goma of a passenger jet killing many UN personnel. The flights are paid for by each UN organisation’s monthly contributions to MONUSCO which privides transport and logistics. So we are able to fly for free.

Finally, we are all able to board with great relief.

In the UN helicopter, a Russian MI-8.

I don’t usually take photos at airports unless we have explicite authorization, especially in less democratic countries. But i have never had any problems with UN flights… until today. I took some great pics of the UN planes and helicopters which I wanted to post here, but when I boarded the plane a, what I call, big little boss, a Conglese soldier said he was going to destroy my camera because I took pictures. I said I would erase them, which I did and he left it at that. But I think he was just acting on his own, because on the next flight on the helicopter from Kananga, there was no problem.

With the Russian crew in Kananga.

The crew was Russian and very nice. Yuri one of the pilots and Gennady and the other two crew members spend 3 to 4 months here and then go back home to Moscow before their next tour of duty. I got to talk with them a bit and they were happy to pose for a picture.

You see a lot of Russian planes and crews in Africa. In Somalia, there was an old Russian 4-prop plane flying for the « president ». That’s in brackets, because I was actually in Somaliland, a country not recognised by anyone.

First impressions of Mbuji Mayi : calm, normal African town, dirt roads, not much traffic, small stores along the road, people walking the streets. The weather is perfect, warm and clear, although a bit hazy, with temperature probably around 28 degres C.

After lunch, we go to the local bureau of UNICEF for a briefing. It was one of the most interesting briefings I have been to. It was a small meeting with people from the government, other NGOs and UNICEF staff. The head of child protection in the RDC, Alessandra Dentice, tried to pursuade the different groups to work together.

« We can help you, but it is up to you to get moving, » Alessandra almost pleaded with them. The message seemed to get through as another said they needed to integrate their efforts.

Development and aid isn’t just giving out charity, books or food. It is more about changing, albeit slowly, the system. For instance, explained Alessandra, UNICEF identifies children in the mines that need help and can give them materials, basic skills, but it is up to either another organisation or better yet, the government to build a school in that same area in order to coordinate efforts. Each acting with small projects on their own does not result in a long lasting solution.

« The work of child protection, » continues Alessandra, « is not to give things, but is a lot of bla-bla. » She means a lot of talking to everyone to convince, for example, the government to make laws to protect children, organisations to enforce those laws, others to create alternatives to child labor. It took her 8 years of bla-bla to get the government to enact a law of child protection. The laws in the Congo are, on paper, very comprehensive. But there is no system to either impose them or communicate to people the meaning behind these laws.

Kinshasa, Congo

The day starts with a briefing from Alessandra Dentice, directrice of the Programme UNICEF. More about that later when we get to Mbuji Mayi. In short it seems that in the province of Kasai Oriental, the only thing going is diamond mines. And these aren’t the big jewellry diamonds but small industrial diamonds. We will hopefully see all that in the coming days.

Dirty and exploited it is difficult to even help her.

Next, we look as some UNICEF projects to help street chldren in Kinshasa. I have been to many African countries, but the Congo is in bad shape. I feel frustrated because there seems to be so many stories here, I could stay a year. Everything needs to be done. We go to the Marché de la Liberté where street kids are exploited by sellers to do work for them in return for what ever is left at the end of the day to eat… that which did not sell and is too rotten to sell the next day. We met a little 9 year old girl covered in dirt and soot. She gathered crumbs of coal dropped by clients or sellers and tries to sell that for something to eat. The UNICEF people with us wanted to take her to the center where she could get care until reunited, if possible with her family. But a women at the market was opposed to that because she needed her to work. So the women said the girl couldn’t go because her parents were near but not there at the moment. The UNICEF people knew that was probably a lie, but couldn’t take the child because of the opposition of the women and others. They will have to go back and investigate to find the truth. In the meantime, the little girl looked at us with her innocent eyes, happy with crumbs, not knowing or understanding how she is being exploited.

Healing infected wounds on street children in Kinshasa.

Out next stop is a security briefing. They go over robbery, carjacking, rape and the interdiction to take taxis, to be out between midnight and 5 :30 in the morning, to beware of areas around our hotel and not to use national airlines. Then we get a call from the Directrice saying we may not get a place on the UN plane going to Mbuji Mayi because, as non-UN staff, we don’t have any priority. She suggests taking a national airline, Kewa Bora. We talked about it and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea if the airline is on the black list and cannot fly in Europe. So we will see tomorrow morning. We leave at 5:30 and will try to get there early to get a seat on the plane !

Kinshasa, Congo

Up at 5 in the morning to drive to Brussels to catch the flight to Kinshasa. The Burssels Airlines flight stops in Yaoundé, Cameroon after 6 hours in the air and after an hour of turn around, we make the last leg of an hour and 20 minutes to Kinshasa. We arrive at night, flying over this capital city of an estimated 7 million people. But the only lights you see are those from oil lamps of street vendors. Passport control and customs went smoothly and we were met by staff from UNICEF Kinshasa and taken to our hotel in a big white new Toyota landcruiser. The main road into the city from the airport is dark. They call this the « Dark Continent ». I believe it was at first meant to mean « unknown », but, at least here, it could be simply because it is dark ! The driver explains that the government is rebuilding the road and started by tearing out all the electric lines hindering construction. I saw no electric lines and no construction.

The view from my balcony with the RDC flag.

Our hotel is in the centre, Hotel Memling. As in many poorer countries, the choice of hotels is either cheap with no water or security or very expensive 5-star. The Memling is very expensive. The normal rate is 368.000 Francs or over 400 dollars a night ! We get a «special» UN rate of 250. That doesn’t include breakfast or internet which is 12$ US an hour ! (this post is thus delayed… I am writing it on the computer and wil post it to the interent when I get back home !)

Pensacola, Florida

After the flight in N9713F. It is very hot once the prop stops!

After some 9 years, I finally got the chance to go flying again! It was great to be at the controls again and from my instructor's opinion, I didn't do too bad! I flew at Pensacola Aviation Center. Will Turner was my instructor and was very good. I hope to come back as soon as possible and get my proficiency back up to where I left off!


I have noticed a lot of cameramen are also pilots. There must be something between the two professions which attract the same type of person.


I only have a few days left of vacation. Would love to do some more flying, but will save my money for the next time. My next trip is a quick turn-around. I get back to Luxembourg on the 9th and have to get up on the 10th at 5:30 to catch a plane to the Congo! That story coming up!

Pensacola, Florida

Despite several reports of areas of the Gulf being cleaned up, fish merchants still suffer as some worry about the effects of chemicals used in the clean up. Watch: http://www.euronews.net/2010/08/01/fish-merchants-suffer-despite-oil-clean-up/