Belgian Connections

It is very unlikely, indeed, to go by even one day in either Rwanda or Congo without hearing something about the Belgian colonial past, and the Belgian this and Belgian that. It is all hitting a pretty personal chord with me (yes, you all know why), so I have developed quite a sensitive reaction to all this. Mostly, of course, I hear negative stuff, but there's one sweet component to it all - and I shall begin by mentioning exactly that.

Belgian chocolate NEVER tasted better than last week, when I found it in a Delhaize-type 'supermarket' in Goma, after months of deprivation (NO, there is no chocolate available on regular basis). I just rushed to the shelf and grabbed all the Cote D'Or available (cruelly overpriced, of course), and for two days I literally JUST ate chocolate, like a maniac (which I would NEVER do in 'real life'.) OK, chocolate and beer. I left the Hoegaarden and Leffe aside and I stuck to the local bottles, whose labels... celebrate 50 years since the independence from the Belgians. (Chocolate and beer, btw, seems to be quite the diet I am required to follow in order to 'expand' - as I have been instructed to do by all Africans I speak to.)






A few days later, in Butembo, we stayed for one night at this absolutely picturesque, romantic hotel - "Auberge Butembo". It lies high on a hill, above the mad city, surrounded by large, quiet gardens. When I inquired about its history, I found out that it was built by the... Belgians, and then bought by a very rich Congolese (one of the few things that the colonialists didn't manage to rip out of Congo...) The Dutch guy who was giving me the background info had to go one step further and make this comment: "It's like you're in Belgium. It even smells like the Belgians." Okay...

Otherwise - pretty much tales of horror and grotesque, of what the Belgians did and didn't do, and how these countries fell apart after they left Africa. On the other hand, they are acknowledged for coming back as part of the international efforts to, somehow, stabilize Eastern DRC. There is, however, no love-loss there. And the day when we'll get some sort of good news from Congo is still a loooong way away...