Poverty on the steets of Kinshasa
Poverty is a daily struggle for thousands of people living in Kinshasa and our field director in Democratic Republic of Congo ses it every day. In her regular blog she talks about the challenge of working in these difficult conditions and the glimmers of hope along the way.
You can become pretty blasé about poverty in Kinshasa. At every set of traffic light there are blind women led by children, men without legs swinging themselves between the cars, disembodied hands at the window, street children asking for bread. I put my sun glasses down and look forward. “Desolé. Ce n’est pas possible”, concealing fear and irritation. It’s worst when the kids say “mais vous etes War Child. Moi, je suis un enfant de la geurre” – but you’re war child, and I’m a war child. It is all so unfair – and you know it. But you can’t engage or you go mad.
And then you see a small child sweeping the road. Or hear about a child who has just started to study again. Or a girl that’s been raped. Or died. And its about individuals again.
NGOs. All of us are doing a job. Like in any other office we have budgets and reports. We have a timetable and limits. Most of the time, it’s like any other job. With the added pressure of “making a difference”. You can only hope. In the mean time the functioning of an organisation is about not having personality, about consistency.
People always say, if you change one person’s life, it makes it worth it. Working at a distance from the children, it’s hard to know if you do or if you’re making a difference to the enormous need. Listening to people and being flexible to what they need; changing programmes so that they are more suitable for partners and children – it’s about the best we can do.
And that’s why it’s good to be small. And why its not. We can only stick to what we do - a drop in the ocean. But at least we know the people we’re working with and can sometimes let the bureaucracy slip. Rarely helps when I’m facing down a homeless 12 year old from the height of my 4x4 though.
Angry Mob
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