Archive for the ‘Life in Mutsora’ Category
A follow-up to the post from a couple of weeks ago about the habituated monkey found in Mutwanga.
After sending our Conservateur Communicateur to talk to the Mama who has habituated the monkey, I’m pleased to say that she does have all the relevant permission and papers to look after the monkey.
He’s a very friendly monkey and in good health too. You can see him on the shoulder of one of our men who went to talk to the Mama who looks after it.
Each Saturday Morning all of the Rangers of the Advance Force, except for those out on patrol, go for a 15km run around the town.
Blowing whistles and singing Lingalan songs, we give each other encouragement along the way.
Below you can see me in between the two rangers from Mutsora, who are not part of the Advance Force but have come along anyway to keep fit.
And on our way back to Mutsora Station I took this picture of the snow at the top of the Rwenzori Mountains, which can be seen from the town of Mutwanga.
Below you can see Safari driving the wives of the Rangers of the Advance Force.
In the front is the wife of the Commander, Elie Mundima. Every now and then Safari drives all the wives of the guards to the nearby town of Bulongo so that they can do their shopping at the market there. This is because when the wives go to the market here at Mutwanga, all of the prices more than double because the population here think that because we work for the park, then we must earn a lot of money.
And so Safari drives the wives to the town limits of Bulongo, so that those in Bulongo don’t see the ICCN vehicle, and then the wives walk the rest of the way to the market.
Where they will be able to buy our food at normal prices.
I love playing football. For the last month I have been organising a team of girls in Mutsora to play football. I organised an all women’s team when I lived in Rumangabo, and so wanted to do the same here. At first none of the girls were interested, but with some encouragement I managed to get a team together.
They play on both Wednesdays and Saturdays, in the afternoon, and the girls are a mixture of those from the school and those also who live in the same quartier as me in Mutwanga.
I also play football once a week, every Sunday, for Team Rwenzori, one of the teams here in the town. Team Rwenzori is in green.
Last Sunday we played the Okapi Muhenda, a village just 5km from Mutwanga.
And we won, 2-0! Football is one of my great passions and I hope to soon organise another team from all of the children of the Advance Force.
Here we are at the house of Mwaka, one of the Congo Rangers in the Advance Force, with his wife and their new arrival William.
We found this funny and someone said that he had a lot of hair like William from the WildlifeDirect team. We all agreed and Mwaka decided that because of this his son shall also be called William. Felicitations to Mwaka and his wife, and may William always be in strong health.
Some of the families of the Advance Force live in Mutsora at Camp Katanga, which has been rehabilitated since the war. Here we all are at Safari’s house in Katanga, celebrating the birth of his first child, Samantha. As he is the new father it is tradition that he buys the food and drinks for all of his guests.
In the above picture, you can see Safari in the middle, and below here he is dancing with his wife.
Just as the sun finished it’s journey across the sky, some of the wives who were dressed in traditional costume posed for the camera with their husbands.
And below, in the picture on the left you can see my brother Jules Aloma as well as Safari. The boy on the far right is Jule’s son, Gulain, and the boy on the far left is Elie’s son, Jose.
It was a great day, with celebrations continuing on into the evening. Together we gave Samantha the welcome that she deserves, and for that I would also like to thank Safari and his family. Welcome Samantha!
A couple of days after the birth, Safari’s wife Dorcas and Samantha were ready to leave the hospital in Mutwanga.
A few of the wives of the other guards went to meet them and to help carry things back.
And then came Dorcas, carrying Samantha.
Hello I want to bring you some good news of the birth of Debora, here she is with her happy parents Delphin and Debora.
And also the birth of Samantha, named after Samantha from the WildlifeDirect team. Here she is with Safari and his wife.
And here she is again.
I wish both couples the best of luck and hope that their daughters will have prosperous lives. To the future!
Hello All I would like to share with you my journey from Ishango to Mutsora. I was in the nearby town of Kambo, doing a patrol of the area and having a chat with the inhabitants, while the lift I was taking continued to Ishango to pick up Ephrem and William before returning to pick me up and taking us all to Mutsora.
Above you can see one of the buildings in Kambo. When my lift arrived from Ishango I was a little disappointed to see that there was no longer any room in the vehicle for me. No room at all. And Kambo is a very little village with not much traffic passing through. Who knows when I would be able to catch a lift next. There was only one option…
…and that was to squeeze ourselves in.
With boxes by our feet and bags on our laps, we travelled like this on the bumpy road for ninety minutes.
In Congo, there’s always room for one more.
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