A great blog about DRCongo

This blog is by a vet/artist who spent years here, lived through some very dangerous times, and loves bonobos. Her book, Grains of Golden Sand, looks really interesting! Click on the title of this post to go to her blog.

AMICUS and the Accra Speech

This morning I attended the opening of a week-long seminar on the right of citizens to government information, what we in the U.S. call Freedom of Information. This is surely the first time this topic is publicly debated in DR Congo, and there is some hope that it will pave the way to actual legislation. The seminar was created by AMICUS, an association whose full name is AMItie Congo-U.S, which groups alumni of the various International Visitor programs the embassy has sponsored over the years. One of my first experiences upon arriving here in Kinshasa almost 2 years ago was hosting a reception for a group of returning International Visitors, who are chosen among the best and brightest in Congo in all fields. (This reception was where I met Sr. Marie-Bernard, who introduced me to the Franciscans I have often blogged about. It's a small world: a few weeks later I had to go see her about a Self-Help project, creating youth groups all over the country to learn about democracy, using Catholic parishes as the infrastructure - in many areas, the Catholic Church is the ONLY infrastructure. I'll have to find out how this project turned out.) The seminar was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Deputy Chief of Mission (Sam) gave some background history of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, how it was first passed in 1966, and how Watergate and the Vietnam War spurred tighter and more effective legislation. But as he said, legislation is just one component: civil servants, the courts, the press, and the public have to, not only follow the letter of the law, but believe in its vital importance before it can really happen and make a difference in how we are governed. After him, the Congolese Minister of Information gave his speech, in which he recognized the value of the right to information, noted that it was already guaranteed in the 2006 Constitution, but almost immediately remarked that it had taken other democracies many years to formulate (centuries even), that even in the most advanced democracies it was naturally limited by the right to privacy and for national security reasons, and then went on to explain at length that any legislation of such rights would have to take into account the cultural traditions of the Congo. Beware of writing legislation that would be a thousand leagues from cultural norms, he said; it would be dangerously irresponsible to mimic others, given the inertia of certain cultural traditions. How does all this connect to Obama's speech, you may ask? Well, I've been looking at comments sent to President Obama from the DRC after his Ghana speech at the America.gov website. One of them caught my attention: it was from a Congolese student deploring the lack of freedom of speech in this country. It made me think of the goal of this morning's seminar. Freedom of information is very important, of course, but freedom of speech is so BASIC that we immediately added it to our Constitution, in the Bill of Rights. In this emerging democracy, still struggling just to stop the murderous conflict inside its borders, while trying to create democratic institutions, feed its people, send its children to primary school and build civil society, it's fascinating to observe the push and pull of democratic ideals and modernism elbowing for position between entrenched interests and "cultural traditions" (of secrecy and corruption, for example, or the forced marriages of young girls, a form of gender-based violence). On the one hand, Obama, widely acclaimed by all here, stating self-evident truths about Africans taking responsibility for their own fate; on the other hand, an African minister publicly expressing his reluctance to create legislation that might too effectively create transparency; on the one hand, a group of the best and brightest Congolese spurring society and government to debate and pass laws that the most advanced democracies are still in the process of installing; on the other hand, a student decrying the lack of one of the most basic human rights. This is Congo today: one foot stuck deep in the jungle, the other trying to step into the 21st century. ************* Anuarite Women of Courage Award As Secretary of the International Women's Club, I've been working closely with AMICUS to create an award for Women of Courage in the DRC. It's been a very instructive experience. We had many debates about how to define what makes a Woman of Courage, and then about how we would find such women. We created a nomination form, translated it in Swahili, Tshiluba, Kikongo, and Lingala (from the original French); we're still tweaking it to post it on websites and distribute it through email contacts, even though the project was officially launched and sample forms were distributed to the press last Wednesday; and we're still trying to figure out how we'll proceed after we receive the nominations, whose numbers none of us dares to guess right now. One thing is certain: it will be really exciting to receive and read them. I wish I had time to tell you more about the award and the process of creating it, but I'll have to leave it for another post. And tomorrow, I'll be interviewed by Radio Okapi about this award!

President Obama's speech in Ghana

I am so proud of my president. I think a lot of people here in Kinshasa tuned in. I hope they were encouraged in their hopes and strengthened in their virtues, by the simple and straighforward truths spoken by President Obama. It's not that he says there's no blame, there's enough of it to go round, that's for sure. It's that he simply says, let's do our best starting right now from where we are, and the U.S. is here to help. Some of my favorite lines: "Africa's future is up to Africans." "Just as it is important to emerge from the control of other nations, it is even more important to build one's own nation." "it will not be giants like Nkruma and Kenyatta who will determine Africa's future, instead, it will be you..." "development depends on good governance... that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans" "...governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion are more prosperous, they are more stable and more successful than governments that do not." "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves..." "That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in it." "Strong Parliament, honest police force, independent judges, an independent press, a strong private sector, a civil society: those are the things that give life to democracy." "[The U.S. will help with] ... concrete solutions to corruption..." "Countries thrive when they invest in their people and in their infrastructure." "Aid is not an end in itself." "Wealthy nations must open their doors to goods and services from other countries." "We will invest in public health systems." "We must stand up to inhumanity in our midst." "It is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in war. It is the ultimate mark of criminality and cowardice to condemn women to relentless and systemic rape. We must bear witness to the value of every child in Darfur and the dignity of every woman in the Congo." "I am particularly speaking to the young people all over Africa... The world will be what you make of it... You can make change from the bottom up. Yes, you can!"