Queen's Day

In Africa they have a saying that when someone offers you something to eat, you better take it cause you don’t know what will happen the next moment. Well, I guess that’s what happened to me yesterday.

I set off first thing in the morning to see an HIV/AIDS project run by a local NGO here in Beni. I came away very impressed and then joined 9 Congolese to attend the handing over of a new school building to the community of Lume. It was a beautiful drive (52 kms - 1.5 hours) that took us right through Virunga National Parc to the foot of the Rwenzori, one of Africa’s highest mountains, on the border with Uganda.

When we arrived hundreds of children were waiting for us, with parents and care takers and local officials among them. In the excitement of the moment the organization mistook me for being the Regional Director of World Vision for Eastern Africa and soon enough I was walking in front of a procession with a bunch of flowers in my hand, greeting the crowd and shaking hands of local officials: the Chief, the school’s head master, the district administrator, pastors and the head of the army and of the police...

A difficult moment came when the MC of the event expected the Regional Director to also address those gathered. Fortunately "the Director" had had some time to think of what to do when that problem would arise and prepare herself. Her short-but-to-the-point speech :-) was followed by World Vision’s Child Protection Assistent Manager’s prepared talk including the usual‘Vive la Republique de Congo’, and everyone seemed to be happy. The only thing they might have wondered about is why the Director for their region doesn’t speak a word of French, or Swahili, or Lingala for that matter...

After she handed over the keys of the new school building to the Chief, the procession went to inspect the new class rooms and latrines, followed by a ceremony of giving gifts: pour la visiteur! Well, la visiteur will leave the gifts with the World Vision team who really deserve them, and the absent Regional Director. After the first anxiety I had a few hours of fun. It reminded me of what we call ‘Queens Day’ in the Netherlands, where the Dutch queen visits local communities in the country. Here I was: for a few hours I happened to be the queen! :-)
But I am glad that from today I am a spectator again, watching things unfold from a relative distance.

(Photo: Listening to the national anthem of the DRC played by Lume's local group of musicians)