Bukavu - who knew?

Mara:
Last night, Janny was kind enough to invite us to join her and some NGO and businessman friends for a night out in Bukavu. It was the last thing we expected when we began our Congo adventure.  The night started out at a local bar with Janny, her friend Vera and Vera's local IRC team. There was an incredible Congolese band, playing the music I grew up with! It was such a special moment to realize that I was in the DRC listening to live Congolese music, almost a homecoming of sorts and truly a "getting back in touch with your roots" moment. 

Liz:
We then headed back to our hotel (because it's one of the best restaurants in town) for dinner. After our meal (where we met the head of the IRC GBV division, a safari and tour director, as well as a German man who's doing mining certification-- great connections that we intend to use) we headed to the home of Janny's friends who were Lebanese businessmen. The view from their incredible home by the lake was spectacular and I was able to take some amazing pictures of the city lights reflecting on the lake. We had a great time with them and later we were invited to join all the expats at a bar/club called Chez Victoria. We danced until the wee hours of the morning and were dropped off at home by a UN driver. 

Both:
All in all we were amazed at what we saw at every turn. This is NOT the Bukavu the media and our research had told us about. The people here go out at night because they have the freedom here to enjoy life, and music, and dancing. And we're not talking about just the expat community.  The city was alive with people crowding markets and homes.  Bukavu is a thriving city with plenty of room for investment and for the savvy, business here is booming. Not just the bad kind.  Yes, there is A LOT of darkness and exploitation and coltan  smuggling and corruption. The violence concentrated in villages is a seemingly inhuman brutality.  We don't seek to minimize it with this post.  Our days to come will certainly be filled with things that are hard to see and hard to  speak about.  But, one of the goals of our project is and always has been to show that there is also LIFE here.  There is a country that is ready for growth and peace and ripe for legitimate investment.  

We ended our night sitting on a dock on Lake Kivu with a few South African pilots talking about the beauty that is the continent of Africa and the travesty that is its image throughout the world.  People stay away from Africa because it's seen as this scary place filled with only violence and poverty.  But, if you could step one foot on this magnificent continent and see it for what it is, just as it is... its raw beauty, its vibrant culture-- you could see beyond the corruption and the conflicts and the swollen bellies to see the real Africa.  A place that even in the midst of hardship continues to breath life into this world.  Millions of people call Africa home, call Bukavu home.  This is the real Bukavu: laughter, love, friends, family, fun, LIFE... Who knew?