Rules and another place
I've been here for going on 2 years and will go home in March. After some time at home I plan on going to Afghanistan or Iraq; but I don't know exactly how. My company flies in Afghanistan so I will probably go that route. But it is better to have choices so if anybody knows of a company that flies in Iraq or Afghanistan, please let me know. I figure I ought to help in the war if I can.
That being said, after 2 years I will present some observations that may help people who come here to work. Besides, we haven't been flying much so I don't have anything else to write about.
This is mostly about living in Kinshasa since that is mostly where I've been.
Presented in no particular order of importance.
1. Plain old fashioned courtesy and consideration will avail you more than anything else, even knowledge of the language. This seem too obvious to need stating but it is not. Some people come here and think they can disregard gentlemanly behavior but they can't. Just treat people well and things will be tolerable.
2. If somebody offers you a seat, take it. It is considered impolite to do business standing up if a chair is available.
3. Everyday in every way something will go wrong. Things will go wrong in ways that are so abstruse you would have thought God couldn't have thought of that one. And then something else will go wrong. Bear this thought in mind and you won't get so frustrated.
4. Related to number 3 above: You are going to be here a year (or whatever length of time you contracted for) so it doesn't matter if that year is spent waiting in traffic, or sitting on the ramp waiting for the fuel truck to arrive or waiting for the meal you ordered 2 hours ago to show up. You are going to be here for a year and the only you will probably get done in that time is being here so it doesn't matter where you are. (how's that for circular reasoning!)
5. After you handle money or touch anybody else's hands, don't touch your face or eat anything until you Wash Your Hands. This is important. The bacteria that made this place a white man's grave still live here and they are just waiting for you to get lazy.
6. Take malaria seriously. It can kill you; dead. Forget about all you've heard from this guy who used to know a guy who lived there or this other guy who had it six times and "it's no big deal." It is a big deal and you can die.
Consult a real live doctor about the disease and its prevention. There are prophalactics with various pros and cons. Weigh the pros and cons and then take one. Weigh the pros and cons provided to you by the DOCTOR, not by some jerk know-it-all who knows better.
I take doxycycline and have for the whole time I've been here.
7. Learn how to count in French.
8. When bargaining for objects on the street, start at 10% or less of the asking price and work your way up. Between 10 and 20% is where you should end up. The exception to this is if the piece you want is really unique and the seller knows it.
Sometimes this doesn't work out though. A guy was selling a hand carved wood King Air model at the airport once and we worked him down to $15. What a bargainer am I. I got the thing home and liked it and saw it cost rather more than $15 dollars to make. The guy made no money on it so he never came back with another one of a differant airplane. If you make to hard a bargain the product may never show up again.
9. If you hit a pedestrian as a driver or the car you are in hits one, it is a Very big deal. Get to some uniformed police officers, they are generally found in groups here, or failing that get to the embassy. The crowd that forms after a pedestrian being struck can get ugly fast.
I know two people this has happened to here in Kin and on both occasions they were saved by uniformed traffic police.
10. Try not to take almighty hard, I am going to crush this thing, tyranosaurus rex bites when you are eating food. There just might be an "I am going to break you tooth" something or other in there. This applies to all restaurants, big, small, expensive or cheap and most other places you eat.
To be continued, security and dealing with police and soldiers.
That being said, after 2 years I will present some observations that may help people who come here to work. Besides, we haven't been flying much so I don't have anything else to write about.
This is mostly about living in Kinshasa since that is mostly where I've been.
Presented in no particular order of importance.
1. Plain old fashioned courtesy and consideration will avail you more than anything else, even knowledge of the language. This seem too obvious to need stating but it is not. Some people come here and think they can disregard gentlemanly behavior but they can't. Just treat people well and things will be tolerable.
2. If somebody offers you a seat, take it. It is considered impolite to do business standing up if a chair is available.
3. Everyday in every way something will go wrong. Things will go wrong in ways that are so abstruse you would have thought God couldn't have thought of that one. And then something else will go wrong. Bear this thought in mind and you won't get so frustrated.
4. Related to number 3 above: You are going to be here a year (or whatever length of time you contracted for) so it doesn't matter if that year is spent waiting in traffic, or sitting on the ramp waiting for the fuel truck to arrive or waiting for the meal you ordered 2 hours ago to show up. You are going to be here for a year and the only you will probably get done in that time is being here so it doesn't matter where you are. (how's that for circular reasoning!)
5. After you handle money or touch anybody else's hands, don't touch your face or eat anything until you Wash Your Hands. This is important. The bacteria that made this place a white man's grave still live here and they are just waiting for you to get lazy.
6. Take malaria seriously. It can kill you; dead. Forget about all you've heard from this guy who used to know a guy who lived there or this other guy who had it six times and "it's no big deal." It is a big deal and you can die.
Consult a real live doctor about the disease and its prevention. There are prophalactics with various pros and cons. Weigh the pros and cons and then take one. Weigh the pros and cons provided to you by the DOCTOR, not by some jerk know-it-all who knows better.
I take doxycycline and have for the whole time I've been here.
7. Learn how to count in French.
8. When bargaining for objects on the street, start at 10% or less of the asking price and work your way up. Between 10 and 20% is where you should end up. The exception to this is if the piece you want is really unique and the seller knows it.
Sometimes this doesn't work out though. A guy was selling a hand carved wood King Air model at the airport once and we worked him down to $15. What a bargainer am I. I got the thing home and liked it and saw it cost rather more than $15 dollars to make. The guy made no money on it so he never came back with another one of a differant airplane. If you make to hard a bargain the product may never show up again.
9. If you hit a pedestrian as a driver or the car you are in hits one, it is a Very big deal. Get to some uniformed police officers, they are generally found in groups here, or failing that get to the embassy. The crowd that forms after a pedestrian being struck can get ugly fast.
I know two people this has happened to here in Kin and on both occasions they were saved by uniformed traffic police.
10. Try not to take almighty hard, I am going to crush this thing, tyranosaurus rex bites when you are eating food. There just might be an "I am going to break you tooth" something or other in there. This applies to all restaurants, big, small, expensive or cheap and most other places you eat.
To be continued, security and dealing with police and soldiers.
posted by Carl at 8:28 AM
3 Comments:
I've so enjoyed (sometimes, that might not be the correct word?) your tales of life in the DRC.
Wishing you all the best as you finish up there and looking forward to the next chapter.
I'm going home for a visit in March. Sometimes I think about when I will move away from Congo and I can anticipate the mixed feelings. I enjoyed reading your advice. The other day I screwed up and didn't sit down in the DGM office at the Kis airport... and that guy is nice. I agree that malaria and other illnesses here are serious and hygeine is vital. Working in microcredit, I touch a lot of money and I keep hand sanitizer with me always. I know that sometimes expats self-medicate their malaria with antibiotics which just knock down the symptoms while the parasite takes over and then they die. I'm not on prevention but I keep the cure with me always and I avoid mosquitoes like the plague, which we have here too! Enjoy your last two months in the Kongo Kingdom.
You said:
"There just might be an "I am going to break you tooth" something or other in there."
This happened to me in Kosovo. A stone in a bowl of peanuts I was gorging on smashed one of my molars. Thanks loads to the staff of the Argentinian military hospital who fixed me up!
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