An eye opening and emotional experience. Part 1 of 3.

DRC Blog | 6th February 2009

We arrive in Kinshasa 3 hours late on a hot and humid Tuesday night, as soon as we leave the airport terminal the electricity goes down, something I come to realise happens frequently in the city. My first taste of Congolese life is a busy road side bar we find on the way into the city. Music is playing, locals are drinking and we see the first of many of Kinshasa’s 26,000 street children. They talk to us in rapid-fire French – some have shoes, some don’t but they are all smiling at us, one is even dancing a bit. After a few hours of chatting to very friendly locals its time to go and as we do we see a small group of street kids helping stall holders to clear away after a night’s trade. Their reward is a plate of food which they sit quietly and eat. It’s hard to watch these young boys (no more than 9 or 10 years old) do any little thing for food while knowing that they have no-where to sleep. I get the feeling this trip is going to be an eye opening and emotional experience.

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