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.