Kinshasa Poverty: Bearing Witness to the City’s Struggles and Strengths
I’ve been struggling emotionally lately, as living in Kinshasa, Congo has been truly mind boggling. For moments, I’ll forget I’m living in one of the world’s poorest countries and then I’ll step outside to see the most dire poverty I’ve ever witnessed. I saw an IG post that said, “I am not sure my tiny brain was meant to understand this enormous grief” and I wholeheartedly agree.
With the all that is going in the world, and the constant access to it all through the news and social media, it’s almost too much to bear. Here in the Congo, my mind can’t wrap my head around the wealth divide and the stark contrast of people who have millions of dollars and people who are living off less than $2.15 a day. It is absolutely unfair and inequitable.
However, I’m often reminded of my social work training as a trauma therapist with refugees and the importance of bearing witness to other’s pain and suffering. I find this to ring true especially in this time period when our world is figuratively and literally on fire.
A Look Into Life in Kinshasa, DRC
Here is a list of some of the things I’ve seen recently that add to the constant confusion/ dissonance/ disbelief of life in the Congo:
A person who should be in a wheelchair crawling across the dirt road
A young teenager with an open wound on his leg following us and asking for money
A man chasing a rooster and trying to violently kill it with a rock
A pothole so big it could literally swallow a car
Someone trying to sell me a taxidermied crocodile
People driving Range Rovers and other very expensive cars
Rivers full of trash with birds floating by on little islands made of trash
Ridiculously expensive food prices, like $54 for a pint of strawberries or $34 for one persimmon (these prices are in USD)
Someone shoving their very sick baby at me, while I’m also holding my baby
Driving in an armored car with kids begging for money hanging off the side
A young boy with a skin disease on his face pressing his hands to our car window and our baby pressing his hands up to the window, smiling back at the young boy
Someone trying to sell me and my child a live hawk on a string
A burned out car on the side of a road
Getting stuck behind a hand pushed coal cart on the freeway
People balancing all sorts of things on their heads including live chickens and dozens of eggs
People selling puppies on the side of the road, that have clearly been drugged
A peaceful protest full of trumpet players
A goat on top of a semi truck
A driving school car, with a student driver inside, that was smashed beyond belief. I was surprised the car was still functional.
Kinshasa Poverty Looking For Glimmers
All of this is to say, it’s confusing, heartbreaking, enraging, to live in a country that just does not seem to care about people. The wealth divide here is stark and obvious, the poverty here is unfair and pervasive.
I’m trying to train my brain to look for the glimmers and positives in the Congo, and it’s tough to do when the poverty and pain here is so raw and quite literally shoved into your face at all times.
The one standout positive here is that the Congolese people I have met are kind, thoughtful, and caring. There are so many examples of resilience, ingenuity, dedication, joy and pride.
I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to comprehend or make sense of life and society here in Kinshasa, when so much of it seems shocking and inequitable. However, I will try my hardest to bear witness and look for the good, as hard as it may be.
*Disclaimer: all opinions are my own*
