Vanity Fair does the Congo

Reading Vanity Fair’s July article Congo’s Battered Cockpits brought back to life Congo’s chaotic beauty for me. …Though perhaps beauty is not something most people would take away from an article about Congo’s frighteningly unregulated airline industry. The anecdote whose punchline is a plane bellyflopping on Brazza’s runway only to fly again no doubt will bring a nostalgic smile to any ironic soul who’s spent time in the Congo. (I keep my own air travel stories to myself if only to avoid being grounded by mother who occasionally reads this blog.)

But then, Vanity Fair’s article succeeds where most others fail: it creates an realistic image of the Congo without the pity party in tow. From the pillages of the 1990’s to the diamond smuggling back and forth across the Angolan border, one can begin to imagine how things work and don’t work in the Congo. The sense of complete freedom that only comes with the absence of government mixed with the destruction that decades without governance has intertwined itself with each story told.

For my own part, this article reminded me that living in the Congo, however briefly or long, gives one a sense that anything is possible in this world — no matter how outrageous, forgiving, or impossible. The Congo is filled with extremes: riches and poverty, opportunity matched with risk, and hope facing down desolation. Go out and read this one, folks; it’s well worth your time.

As for myself, I’ve been bumming around the US for the last month and am having a pretty good time of it. I’ll be heading to Costa Rica this weekend for a bit of holiday so stay tuned for the tales of woe as I discover that the phrase ‘Donde esta la cerveza?” is not a good substitute for actually speaking Spanish.