Once There

When you travel to a country you have already been in, there are always things you expect and some you don’t.


Getting out of the airport was a real nightmare the last time I travelled to the country. We walked from the airport to the terminal and were greeted in front of it by a horde of shouting guys asking to see our passport and our vaccination book. No one would be permitted inside the terminal without having his papers checked. You just flew for 8 hours and the greeting you get is shouting guys, they didn’t wear official clothes so no one could no who was actually working for the airport that’s reassuring! I didn’t let the guy who had my passport out of my sight, it was so crazy that I lost him for a few seconds and when I saw him again he was inside the terminal. I walked toward him as quickly as I could with so many people around, I got my passport back after he checked that my company had filled the necessary papers.
This time, a bus took us from the plane to the terminal, no one was waiting to shout at us in front of the terminal and we could queue in front of the customs booth. There one guy dressed in white checked my vaccination book while the officer was looking at my passport.


I attended a security briefing on the next day, I was given rules I had to follow while I was in Congo. I was forbidden to walk alone in the street. I was forbidden to take a cab. I was forbidden to go outside the city centre. I was required to call a driver to pick me up each time I wanted to go somewhere. There would soon be a presidential election, I was forbidden to talk politics in public. And I was of course forbidden to talk to girls in the street. All those precautions were taken to avoid situations that could get worse. If I am taking pictures in the street someone might come to me and ask why I am taking pictures. A simple quarrel can quickly become something much worse because people are quite curious, 2 might quickly become 10 or more and in those cases one might not know what can happen. This kind of situation doesn’t happen all the time but it is normal that my company makes sure to avoid any risk.


There are some girls at the office that will serve tea and coffee to the employees. It is possible to buy some snacks from vendors allowed to enter the building. Some employees also have a business on the side, some sell clothes and others sell hair extensions that women like so much.
The topic of most discussions happening in the building is the result of the presidential election. It is a lot of fun to listen to everyone’s argument, voices become loud but there is no anger. It seems like each of them is really enjoying the debate and is never annoyed by the fact that the other do not agree. It is a real pleasure to listen to them and I will know in two months who was right.