first love

As I learn more about friends, colleagues, acquaintances who tell me about their experiences in Africa, people tend to identify a country as their focal point against which every other experience in Africa is compared and which no other place can even emulate.

When my friend came to N’djamena, I found myself in this very discussion. My colleague spoke about Togo, my friend-Somalia, another colleague-Burkino Faso. I can recall last summer when my friend compared life in Bukavu to Senegal. For another close friend, it’s Sudan. And I find myself doing the same in Chad. Are the stores empty as in Congo? No, stores overflow with overpriced imported goods. In Eastern Congo, cities lie on the edge of the Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika…in Chad? Almost nothing. Are there dance clubs? Mmm not in Iriba. (Yet.)

Ah, Congo, my first love. So magnifique, aesthetically stunning, romantic, chaleureux but so troubled at the same time.