There is much that is maddening about this city, and much that is profoundly frustrating about this latest episode, but I can only applaud the irrepressible way in which it is reanimating itself today. I shook the hand of the first street-vendor I saw this morning, the tray on his head fully-laden with biscuits, cigarettes, herbs, etc.
Yes, most people have no choice: few keep food stocks for this sort of situation, so they have to work to keep going. But it’s an impressive phenomenon nonetheless. I think I will always be impressed by this further demonstration that no circumstances are too desperate for the Kinois spirit of making do and getting by.
I visited my office this morning, finding it unscarred and fully equipped. But nobody is going back to work until it’s been checked...
In Kinshasa, services come to you, whether you want them or not. The vendors and touts follow the money, day and night. By day, they line the busier streets, proffering everything from hard-boiled eggs, phone cards and ice cream to live rabbits and malachite kingfishers. Or they sell knowledge, finding what you seek in the market, for an arbitrary commission (quite useful, this).
By night, apart from the usual array of seedier services, hustlers gather outside restaurants, bars and clubs, selling cigarettes and guarding cars from imaginary threats. I’ve never seen a rose-seller here, but we do have good old-fashioned photographers. They seem to do OK, although I fear their days are numbered as digital cameras get cheaper, and more and more people take snaps with their phones....
In
Africa,
Work,
People,
Photography,
markets,
creativity,
night,
street,
D R Congo,
Kinshasa,
improvisation
Car: Chav chav, how-are-you?
Truck: Chav, fine-and-you?
Car: Check out this new use for wing mirrors. The fish get to dry in the sun without asphyxiating the passengers.
Truck: So what? We’ve been doing it for years....