this and that
All 32 of the Americans, South Africans and Nigerians who were arrested on May 19 (some right across the street from our house) for "plotting a coup", have been released from custody and deported after all charges against them were dropped.
We were wondering some time back what prisoners in Kinshasa jails got to eat if there were no relatives available to to bring them food. A Florida newspaper reported these men received bread, water and a can of meat once a day while they were being held. They of course were high profile prisoners so that probably isn't standard jail fare.
I have noticed all the street dogs I see here in Kin have pleasant dispositions. They never try to bully, chase or sneak up on you after you pass by, unlike a lot of street dogs in the U.S. I don't mean stray dogs, or dogs that spend all their time in somebody's house, I mean the neighborhood dogs that hang around on the street. They are all nice dogs with pleasant expressions on their faces. I don't know for sure, but I suspect any dog that isn't an obviously "nice guy" wouldn't last very long.
I picked some guys up in Mimia that I dropped off 6 weeks ago. They spent all that time in the forest doing surveys and said they saw some elephants only 10 metres away. As we were leaving the men who maintain the strip wanted to know what I thought of runway condition. I replied, through an interpreter, that all in all, it was pretty good. They smiled broadly when they heard that.
It is fun flying here, where people sincerely want to know what you think about the job they are doing on the runway and listen to what you have to say. What a change from the airline business, where they mostly ignored you ("after all, buddy, you haven't got an MBA like me"), or the cop business where saying what you thought incurred active hostility from the brass.
The men I picked up from Mimia had some trouble when they returned to Kinshasa. Some of the packs they had were old American Army surplus, green nylon and canvas. When they were leaving the airport one of the military spotted the packs and accused them of having military equipment or of being military or something.
"That is military equipment! What are you doing with that? You must be plotting something!"
"That is surplus stuff the donors gave us. It isn't military, it's just green. We've been in the forest counting trees."
"Yes, but it is green, so it is military! Why do you have it?"
And on, and on, and on. It was still going on hours later. I will find out tomorrow what the final outcome was.
We were wondering some time back what prisoners in Kinshasa jails got to eat if there were no relatives available to to bring them food. A Florida newspaper reported these men received bread, water and a can of meat once a day while they were being held. They of course were high profile prisoners so that probably isn't standard jail fare.
I have noticed all the street dogs I see here in Kin have pleasant dispositions. They never try to bully, chase or sneak up on you after you pass by, unlike a lot of street dogs in the U.S. I don't mean stray dogs, or dogs that spend all their time in somebody's house, I mean the neighborhood dogs that hang around on the street. They are all nice dogs with pleasant expressions on their faces. I don't know for sure, but I suspect any dog that isn't an obviously "nice guy" wouldn't last very long.
I picked some guys up in Mimia that I dropped off 6 weeks ago. They spent all that time in the forest doing surveys and said they saw some elephants only 10 metres away. As we were leaving the men who maintain the strip wanted to know what I thought of runway condition. I replied, through an interpreter, that all in all, it was pretty good. They smiled broadly when they heard that.
It is fun flying here, where people sincerely want to know what you think about the job they are doing on the runway and listen to what you have to say. What a change from the airline business, where they mostly ignored you ("after all, buddy, you haven't got an MBA like me"), or the cop business where saying what you thought incurred active hostility from the brass.
The men I picked up from Mimia had some trouble when they returned to Kinshasa. Some of the packs they had were old American Army surplus, green nylon and canvas. When they were leaving the airport one of the military spotted the packs and accused them of having military equipment or of being military or something.
"That is military equipment! What are you doing with that? You must be plotting something!"
"That is surplus stuff the donors gave us. It isn't military, it's just green. We've been in the forest counting trees."
"Yes, but it is green, so it is military! Why do you have it?"
And on, and on, and on. It was still going on hours later. I will find out tomorrow what the final outcome was.
posted by Carl at 4:05 AM
5 Comments:
Thank you for your observations on the "neighborhod dogs" in Kinshasa! It's the reverse of what I would have thought - I assumed they would have been territorial and fierce, just to survive. But they're "nice guys"? That's an uplifting thought - the stresses of their lives have taught them to cooperate rather than fight. Can the military be taught this lesson?
I think they were taught to be "nice guys" by the people on the street. My guess is if the dogs act agressively toward people they will be killed. The Congolese aren't as sentimental about animals as we are.
An effective military already knows how to cooperate. You don't win battles unless everybody can work together.
Countries ought to learn to avoid conflict. Until they do, militaries need to be able to win; and winning means fighting and, as Nathan Bedford Forrest said, "fighting means killing."
A sad paradox, isn't it. In order to preserve what you have built, you must be able to effectively destroy.
Tintine24: The only cats I see are in a house or apt. They may very well end up in a pot, but I don't know.
Thank you very much for the compliment, I don't quite know what to say. Thank you for your every thing else too.
Identical twins. Did you guys ever go to the summer celebration they have in Twinsburg, Ohio? I've read and seen television specials about it.
Just checking in Carl - as is now routine. I am a life-long dog owner and lover - enjoyed this post. There are no bad dogs - just "bad" owners and "all dogs go to heaven."
Dave
Small Wars Journal
I knew a vet once and toward the end of his life he became wistful about all the dogs he had owned. He told us once that "it's too bad they (his dogs) die so soon."
The vet is dead now and I hope he is with all his old dogs.
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