Magic in Kinshasa

The very last days are upon us and I am beginning to get a sense of how real this is. We're leaving. I am keeping a mental list of things I'll miss and...maybe things I won't miss so much- inspired by a hilarious teacher's speech during our annual faculty goodbye dinner. He began by remembering last year's dinner and a particular speech he'd made about missing someone's spouse. "Turns out," he said this year,"I didn't exactly miss him as much as I thought. There just wasn't a void. Now --- on the other hand, him? I actually missed a lot this year. Should have saved my big speech for him."

I am trying to remember that often it is the unexpected, hidden things we miss most. And so I keep my eyes wide and try to see Kinshasa with new eyes each time we go out. I'm also trying to build a few last minute memories of happiness to take along the road. For all the nuisances and misunderstandings of Kin, I do know her. And I sense it will be the knowing of her that I miss most.

In my search for those memories on the go, I set out with Nabih for a magic show at my favorite cultural center, l'Halle de Gombe, a place I know well and can be counted on to live up to expectations. Everything there is fabulous. They were offering a free show in the library and I was ready for some good old fashioned fun and disbelief. I found it was a lot easier for me to suspend my belief as an adult than many of the kids (read: Nabih) found it. Even as their faces were lighting up with joy and surprise, they were also trying hard to discern the trick, to figure out the secret and call the magician on it. For the most part, I had as much fun watching them as I did watching the show- when they were cooperating and being wowed and awed by the performance like proper children should. I found such delight in going with the illusions and not worrying about how it was all done.

The magician performed an assortment of the expected magic tricks- slights of hands with magic balls and scarves appearing out of ears and out of hats. He ate a balloon and spit out a deck of playing cards. He transformed 3 different sized ropes into equal sizes and eventually into 1 long rope. He made water magically appear in a pair of porcelain bowls.

Rabbit out of a hat trick--er, rather, rabbit eggs out of a hat

But he also did some fascinating mind reading tricks. He bent metal forks- despite several men in the audience testing them out and being unable to bend them one way or another- into shape or out of it. He levitated himself off the floor, made a cup of water hang magically in the air and performed a spell binding routine involving a moving flame and a dancing red light. He got the kids up front involved and for the more sophisticated tricks he moved into the back of the audience and involved some of the adults as well. I had a smile on my face the entire time. Such joy. He must find so much pleasure in making people happy.

The flame moved from this candle to the fabric
to his arm and back to the candle. It then transformed
to a red glow, was displaced onto a drinking glass
and took a tour into the audience popping up
from under shirts and behind ears.......

Some of his tricks involved music, adding to the mysterious ambiance of the performance. About halfway through the show, just after one of the fork bending tricks I think, several people in the back got up to leave. Based on the magician's response, fled would be a more apt description of their departure. He appealed first to them and then to their colleagues who stayed. "Do they think it is sorcery?" he inquired. He went on to explain that surely for everything he does, there is a secret. He's studied for a long time and practices often. It is an art. But there should be no confusion with religion. Religion is great for the soul, for the spirit but magic is something else entirely.

He went to lament that in the past there had been many Congolese magicians, often appearing in France and Belgium and right here at l'Halle. But now, not so many. They had stopped the practice of illusions and began calling themselves 'priests' and were suddenly quite wealthy. "Something to reflect on, non?" He posed the question to the crowd- a bit of social education happening on the spot. "Be careful about who you put your trust in."

It reminded me of a play I'd seen just the week before at one of the local schools. Two of the kids were pastors and used their deep voices to impersonate the Sunday sermons. "Au nom de JesusChrist," they intoned while raising their hands above the head of a child. Though I missed many of the small details of the play (my French doesn't handle garbled microphone speak very well) the lesson was clear. Be wary of priests proclaiming child sorcery and magic.  Be careful who you put your faith in and how much control you give them over your life.  And love your children. Cherish them, value them and keep them safe.

It was a bit disheartening to me to hear my own child being so cynical about the magic show. I myself had been enthralled. He claimed to know how all the tricks were done and didn't really receive my request to suspend belief and let the awe wash over him. Despite the fact that he's growing up and getting ready to go out into the world apparently, I welcomed the entertainment as pure fun. I was enraptured and simply delighted. Magic in Kinshasa. One memory in a box all wrapped up with a bow and ready for packing.

Open up your imagination......