franco-flop

The Francophonie summit has apparently been around for awhile. Its main page states the organization was created in 1970. The mission: "...to embody the active solidarity between its 75 member states and governments (56 members and 19 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 890 million people, including 220 million French speakers."

Active solidarity strikes me as one of those vague phrases that could mean any of a number of things. And so, while Kinshasa has been submerged in preparation and anticipation of the summit, I have been wondering what the exact purpose and proposed outcomes will be. I admit to not keeping up politically as much as perhaps I should and so remain in the dark a bit. My observations are completely personal. I have no sense of the meetings between dignitaries or any possible benefits this might actually bring to Kinshasa. Maybe it is enough to consider it just as another festival come to town, closing eyes to the problems and poverty and providing a chance for some to revel in frivolity and joy, if only for a weekend.

The streets have been cleared and cleaned, creating a ghost town reminiscent of the election period. Robocops line the streets and intersections. I dream of a photo with these police decked out in their fullest battle gear and sympathize with the heavy hotness they wear all day.  Taxis, pedestrians and any other rituals of daily life have been sequestered to the side streets. Roads to school are blocked off ("for your security" one officer tried to convince me. I argued a bit that separating me form my home hardly seemed to be in my best, secure interests but he was having none of my questions. "Can't you leave me with all of these questions?" he kept saying, when all I reasonably wanted to know was how to gain access to my house.)

I was attracted by events at the Botanical garden/Zoo area and tried to make my way downtown. It began with a small melt down from the kids- who did not want to travel by taxi or by foot. I had envisioned a day of walking and sight-seeing and possibly life size marionettes. The kids stayed home and I continued on the journey- though I never actually arrived at the gardens. I was still feeling positive as there were a few more days left to the celebrations and I had hoped to enjoy a film en plein air.....an advertisement I had received in my inbox promised movies on the lawn and made me reminiscent of summer nights at home.

We all packed into a small green car with no power steering and made our way through the nighttime streets of Kin in search of the zoo. It was a lot farther than I had remembered (good thing the walking journey from the day before never worked out because it would have been miles and miles of heat and complaining.) After a few wrong turns and several inquiries from pedestrians and police, we finally arrived at the zoo. It was dark and empty. Though a few other cars pulled in at the same, there was no clear direction about the location of the film. We found some vendors left over from their daytime exhibitions and after more roundabout conversations eventually determined that the promised movie en plein air would not actually be showing. It seemed too great a disappointment to simply return home so we made our way over to N'ice Cream for cold cone relief. I had been looking forward to a different kind of event to fill the Kinshasa night.

The National Ballet performance has been rescheduled three times, each time to a different location. I would love to go in search of this performance, and had also been eager to check out the promise of a marionette show at 9 am. But knowing Kinshasa, I remain doubtful about whether these events will actually happen. Patience and flexibility are needed, for certain. But the possible disappointment makes it all seem less worth it. Better to devise our own version of Francophonie...... fête a la maison. And just enjoy the extra day off from school, the quiet, easy to navigate streets and the colorful flags floating in the wind.