Christmas in the Congo

We celebrated Christmas at our house on December 23 with an open house. We had about 80 guests to come to join us, and for our entertainment we had the choir from the International Evangelical English Fellowship, created "to help English speaking people to worship God in English in a French speaking country". They sang beautifully and brought speakers, equipment and used the grand piano here at hour house.

Here are some pictures I took at the supermarket of Christmas goodies for sale...many people are scrambling to make ends meet, but some are able to buy the nice things as shown here. I took these pictures in the Casino Supermarket, the most upscale store in town. Most things are available, for lots and lots of money.

Employee Christmas Party

The Congolese employees of the US Embassy here in Brazzaville held a Christmas lunch party after their intramural soccer game. Our two sons are visiting so we all took the opportunity to travel to the home of one of the employees, not too far away but takes awhile to get there as there are only a few main roads and lots of traffic.
Here are Mark and Michael with Benjamin, our host and the Economic Aide in the Embassy, at his home.

Here are a few more of the attendees, the people who loyally serve and support our Mission here in Brazzaville.

in Pointe Noire...

Here is a look at the "Grand Marche" in Pointe Noire, very busy and crowded..fish preserved in salt at left, and fresh..

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Pictured above are bags made of "plarn" or plastic yarn, strips of plastic cut from shopping bags. These bags were for sale in the market in Pointe Noire, I had never seen how to actually do it, and this lovely young lady showed me how. I thought it would be a good use for the bags that litter everywhere, but they were using new ones, which of course are clean and easier to work with.


Here is a seller of cloth material or pangas printed in beautiful colors and busy designs. I was surprised to find many of them are manufactured in England. The ones I saw cost about $10.

The French influence shows in the sidewalk cafes on Avenue Charles DeGaulle
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Here's the ad on the wall at "La Citronelle" and the reality of living it up in Pointe Noire.

Ship Visit at Pointe Noire

Light area in map at left is Republic of Congo with Pointe Noire southwest

The USS Leyte Gulf, pictured above, visited Pointe Noire, the Atlantic port in the Congo. The ship was in port December 7 - 12, and the Captain invited Americans in the area and Congolese military and civilian leaders to go aboard for a reception on deck with the added attraction of the opportunity to tour the ship and, memorably, to stand on top of Tomahawk missile storage. The sailors performed a community service project of rebuilding, in cooperation with Chevron Oil, a local primary school as well as enjoying liberty ashore.

USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was named in memory of the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Pacific. She is powered by four large gas-turbine engines, and she has a large complement of guided missiles for air defense, attack of surface targets at sea and ashore, and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). In addition, she carries two "Seahawk" LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters, whose primary mission is ASW.

Pointe Noire also is a site for several oil companies including Chevron, Murphy, Conoco and Texaco.





Two of our sailor hosts...
Anchors Aweigh....
Until we meet once more, Here's wishing you a happy voyage home

US Embassy Congo Brazzaville New and Present

Here is a picture of our new Embassy which will open January 20, 2009. Below is a picture of where the offices are currently located, in the BDEAC Building (Development Bank of the Countries of Central Africa), as of March 2006. Our original Embassy was looted and damaged in the civil war in 1997, and operated for years across the River Congo in Kinshasa. Embassy staff is planning a big opening and open house, and the U.S. flag will fly over its Embassy building here for the first time since 1997.

Signs

One of the things I like best about this town is the abundance of hand-painted advertising signs, some even signed by the signmaker. These pictures show a bit, but there are thousands out there that I have not had a chance to photograph. In many African countries, they have abandoned these in favor of more modern sign-making methods, but these really do it for me.

More Shopping

This is the local vegetable and fruit market, Marche' de la Plateau, near our house. I call this woman in the first picture "Michelle", I told her she looks like Michelle Obama. They are very friendly there, selling flowers, mangoes, pineapples, peanuts, bananas, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, also Congolese "fast food" which is a baguette with your choice of fillings, mostly avacado.

Our House is a Very Very Very Fine House in some respects

The Stars and Stripes hang at our front door

Front Entrance of Residence

Here's the good part

...with one dog in the yard, life is not so hard...and garbage out the back, trash tossed out the back door of the compound into a ravine, an established practice here I discovered! I was appalled to be part of the problem when I am looking for trash solutions! I have asked for burn barrels and materials to construct a compost pile out there. Here is Leroy surveying the damage.

Here's the bad part..
Mmmmm, this smells great!

Y'a Bon Banania

Y'a bon Banania, 1915 by Alexandre Andreis on left, a later version, and today's look..

I see this product in stores here in Brazzaville, and wondered what it is. This is what I found out. Its history...(mostly from from Wikipedia). Sounds like a French version of Ovaltine, now I have to buy some and taste it!

"In 1909, during a visit to Nicaragua, French journalist Pierre Lardet tasted a drink made from banana flour, ground cereal, cacao and sugar that was popular there. Back in Paris, Lardet began commercial production of a powder simulating that product. In 1914, he marketed it as Banania, showing an image of a woman from the Antilles. Her image was replaced in 1915 during WWI with the drawing of a widely smiling Senegalese infantryman enjoying Banania. Senegal was at that time a French colony whose soldiers fought as Allies in France fighting valourously in their red fezzes, with casualties of 30,000. Their courage endeared them to the French.

Lardet took advantage of their popularity for the launch of his product, handing out the product 'for our soldiers, the long-lasting nourishment they need, and which takes up the least amount of space'. The slogan "Y'a bon", "it's good," was coined from vernacular used by these soldiers. The slogan and character became inseparable as the expression was coined:" l'ami y'a bon" the "y'a bon buddy."

The advertising slogan and images have been labelled racist and colonialist by some who argue that they reinforce the old cliché of a friendly yet stupid African. Some French black people connect this stereotype with aggressive colonialist policy in Africa of the global group Unilever, the old unique owner of the brand.
In France the Banania brand is now owned by the French company Nutrimaine, which acquired it from Unilever in 2003. This slogan has not been used since 1977...

If you want to read more about Banania go to http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/16/features/blume.php?page=1

To Market To Market

Here is one market, there are several here in addition to the Avenue Foch and the grand supermarche'. It's Brazzaville's Marche' Total after a rain, it's much more doable when it's dry. This is not normally where I shop, but if there is a market, I have to see it. The main road of this market is much better.

Bats for Sale, Appetizing Young Bats for Sale....that's what's in the cage and in the seller's hand. I don't have any recipes for these either...

Leroy's Security Duty

Leroy, the African Wonder Dog

Leroy, our Golden Retriever, Malawian by birth, and loveable by nature, was cited for heroism by the Embassy's Regional Security Officer for his valiant effort to call attention to a neighboring guard in distress. Last night at 3 am Leroy barked and called attention to an attempted robbery nearby, leading to such a tamasha that the robbers aborted the attempt and left the scene.

Rain, Mud, Traffic

The green cars are taxis...1,000 francs ($2) for anywhere you want to go without a seatbelt.

Heavy rains and no drainage, plus many cars and lots of garbage and trash make for a pretty clogged up situation in Brazzaville. I was trying to walk in my neighborhood and came to this juncture, no way to get by....

A Wet Weather Favorite?
Fresh Caterpillars for sale! Get 'em while they're wiggling. I don't have any recipes for these yet...