People thanking us the whole time : Elouna - Congo Brazzaville

The last stretch to Brazzaville - From Kindness to Barbarity

(November, 22)
SOUANKE-BRAZZAVILLE

We drove to Elouna, 100 Km nort east of Brazzaville. A village surrounded by water and in the middle of a high risk malaria zone. The people were promised to receive malaria protection, but help never came. ''You won't have to sleep without a net anymore'' I told the people. The mothers responded with intense gratitude. 

We gave out another 50 nets to protect at least 350 people for the next 4 years to come.
They were very happy, could not believe that we came to help, thanking us the whole time. 

We are thrown from compassion and kindness into tyranny and barbarity. Almost arrived in Brazzaville after a hell of a journey from the Cameroon border. Nothing to eat at all as I drove 14 hours. A tin of sardines today and more tonight. I am completely exhausted after 4 days drive through the green hell.

The tarred road could give us some speed to a soft bed and proper food. Well, the roads are resurfaced from time to time, but the soil is soft and the foundations typically shallow. Small cracks yawn quickly into deep potholes. Villagers fill them with sand and ask for tips, but their 'good-will-repairs' rarely survives the first rainstorm.

Many delays followed after constant checkpoints, searching the whole Land Rover. Passport checks and complaining that my Visa was on the wrong page of the Passport. My Driving license, Vaccination Certificates, the 'Ordre De Mission'. the 'Carnet De Passage', everything was read word by word, even holding the papers up-side-down. The total hours wasted, and all for the hope of a good bribe.....