Some thoughts of the CAR
I will remember the two weeks in Bangui for the rest of my life. It is hard to describe the conditions in the Central African Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic ). Although the infrastructure is in real need of maintenance, they have gone through 2 years of relative peace since the last coup and commerce seems to be alive and well everywhere I looked. The environment for entrepreneurship seems good. Micro-businesses are seen everywhere from the vendor selling phone cards on the corner to the man pushing a huge load of wood many miles to sell in the city.
In the CAR as in all of Africa, cell phones are the new technology hit. You buy the phone and then you buy phone cards to pay for the time as you go. It seems that phone cards are sold just about everywhere. There are even two companies competing for the business.
There are many restaurants and bars but only one we felt was safe enough to eat at. That was the Grand Café. This is operated by two brothers from north Africa and is very nice. They have some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted. The hamburger we had on Saturday night before leaving was very good as well.
There are cyber café’s that give many locals exposure to the outside world. The cost is roughly US$1 per hour. Most of the times that I went to one, every seat was in use.
Because of the looting that took place during the coup two years ago, most places try to maintain some security. The mission guest house and the ICDI office and orphan care center have gated walls with either glass or barbed wire on top. They also have a guard that watches the gate. Most of these places also have a back or escape door. Although the guest house is in great shape now, it was looted and everything of any value was taken in 2003 during the coup. Everything has been replaced by the generous giving of Grace Brethren churches and others since then.
No one can predict if or when another coup will take place. While the current president seems popular with the general population, the army has not been paid regularly. All it would take would be some high ranking officer to become ambitious and get the support of a large number of military. This is played out so often in Africa and has in the CAR many times since it gained its independence from France in the 1960’s. During the two weeks, we were stopped almost every night by military troops for no reason except to try to extort money because they were not getting paid. In almost every case, since we were driving a vehicle with the mission marking, they would just let us go. Occasionally we would get stopped by a legitimate traffic stop where they would check the vehicle registration.
For some reason, they are very sticky about taking pictures of public monuments and buildings. For that reason, almost all the pictures I took were from the inside of the guest house or the orphan care center. We did sneak one here and there of the public street. I will post some of these to the blog as soon as I get home.
I will always remember the men we worked with on the job and how appreciative they were that we came so far to work on this building. How interesting that the leader of the team, Sampson, had worked with Vernie in Bata many years ago. They had not seen each other for around 20 years. All the men were Christians and each morning one of them would pray before we all began work. Even though I didn’t understand what they were saying, I knew it was to our Lord and that’s what mattered.
The team at the guest house that took care of our lunch and dinner and laundry were so great. No only was their cooking great but the attitudes and joy they seem to carry was so encouraging. I’ll especially remember Ann’s laughing. She was always so joyful.
ICDI ( http://www.icdinternational.org ) is doing a wonderful job there in Bangui. Jim Hocking has assembled a great staff, both Bangui based and US based. They are working on so many fronts; partnering with many other organizations like Vision Trust International ( http://www.visiontrust.org ), USAID ( http://www.usaid.gov ), and the Jars of Clay Blood Water Mission ( http://www.jarsofclay.com ). The administration of these partnerships and grants keep Jim Hocking and Bob Belohlavek very busy. The staff in Bangui takes care of all the CAR government non-profit administration.
The next step for the Mercy Care Center will be a building behind the first building that will house the family that will handling the administration of the center. The second center building will be built sometime after that. If funding can be secured for the materials for the house, there will probably be one or two teams next year.
In the CAR as in all of Africa, cell phones are the new technology hit. You buy the phone and then you buy phone cards to pay for the time as you go. It seems that phone cards are sold just about everywhere. There are even two companies competing for the business.
There are many restaurants and bars but only one we felt was safe enough to eat at. That was the Grand Café. This is operated by two brothers from north Africa and is very nice. They have some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted. The hamburger we had on Saturday night before leaving was very good as well.
There are cyber café’s that give many locals exposure to the outside world. The cost is roughly US$1 per hour. Most of the times that I went to one, every seat was in use.
Because of the looting that took place during the coup two years ago, most places try to maintain some security. The mission guest house and the ICDI office and orphan care center have gated walls with either glass or barbed wire on top. They also have a guard that watches the gate. Most of these places also have a back or escape door. Although the guest house is in great shape now, it was looted and everything of any value was taken in 2003 during the coup. Everything has been replaced by the generous giving of Grace Brethren churches and others since then.
No one can predict if or when another coup will take place. While the current president seems popular with the general population, the army has not been paid regularly. All it would take would be some high ranking officer to become ambitious and get the support of a large number of military. This is played out so often in Africa and has in the CAR many times since it gained its independence from France in the 1960’s. During the two weeks, we were stopped almost every night by military troops for no reason except to try to extort money because they were not getting paid. In almost every case, since we were driving a vehicle with the mission marking, they would just let us go. Occasionally we would get stopped by a legitimate traffic stop where they would check the vehicle registration.
For some reason, they are very sticky about taking pictures of public monuments and buildings. For that reason, almost all the pictures I took were from the inside of the guest house or the orphan care center. We did sneak one here and there of the public street. I will post some of these to the blog as soon as I get home.
I will always remember the men we worked with on the job and how appreciative they were that we came so far to work on this building. How interesting that the leader of the team, Sampson, had worked with Vernie in Bata many years ago. They had not seen each other for around 20 years. All the men were Christians and each morning one of them would pray before we all began work. Even though I didn’t understand what they were saying, I knew it was to our Lord and that’s what mattered.
The team at the guest house that took care of our lunch and dinner and laundry were so great. No only was their cooking great but the attitudes and joy they seem to carry was so encouraging. I’ll especially remember Ann’s laughing. She was always so joyful.
ICDI ( http://www.icdinternational.org ) is doing a wonderful job there in Bangui. Jim Hocking has assembled a great staff, both Bangui based and US based. They are working on so many fronts; partnering with many other organizations like Vision Trust International ( http://www.visiontrust.org ), USAID ( http://www.usaid.gov ), and the Jars of Clay Blood Water Mission ( http://www.jarsofclay.com ). The administration of these partnerships and grants keep Jim Hocking and Bob Belohlavek very busy. The staff in Bangui takes care of all the CAR government non-profit administration.
The next step for the Mercy Care Center will be a building behind the first building that will house the family that will handling the administration of the center. The second center building will be built sometime after that. If funding can be secured for the materials for the house, there will probably be one or two teams next year.
1 Comments:
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