DR Congo’s Angels

“Congo is a paradise where the angels are starving,” Aimee told me.

Not the answer I was expecting, having asked Aimee, an 18 year old girl, to describe her country to young people in Scotland.

Aimee’s poetic description of her country is, unfortunately, spot on. Despite being one of Africa’s richest countries in terms of its abundant natural resources, Congo is one of the poorest and most violent places on earth. War, corruption, instability, violence and poverty have been part of life for decades, particularly in the east where Aimee lives.

I was interviewing Aimee and 20 of her school friends in French for a teaching resource that SCIAF is developing to help school pupils learn French in Scotland. It is becoming increasingly important for teachers to incorporate a global dimension into the curriculum as our lives become ever more affected by what happens in the global community.

In French classes, this might mean learning about Aimee’s life in Bukavu. When I was at school in French class we usually learned about the lives of Chantal in Paris, or Jean-Claude in Toulouse. But the French speaking world stretches far wider than this and we hope that our teaching aid will enable young Scottish people learning French to understand this and at the same time learn about the issues affecting young people in developing countries.

All of the teenagers I interviewed are benefiting from SCIAF-funded projects. HALT SIDA has two youth centres in Bukavu and teaches young people about HIV/AIDS, what the disease is, and how to prevent it. Another, CODILUSI, trains young people like Aimee as peer educators so they can then go out and teach other youth groups about HIV/AIDS. Just like in Scotland, teenagers in DR Congo often prefer talking about sexual matters with people their own age rather than adults.

It was a privilege to gain insight into the lives of these Bukavu teenagers. I soon found that some of the questions I prepared were pretty daft. One asked about their least favourite school subject. The majority balked and laughed as they told me they loved all subjects and that attending school was privilege. Many families do not have enough money for the obligatory school fees and teachers often strike because of low government pay.

I was also amazed when I asked what music the students listened to. Some were fans of Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, and even Ireland’s Westlife! It’s a small world in some ways as Scottish teenagers listen to the very same artists. Indeed, there are many similarities between young people in Congo and Scotland although their lives are so different in many other ways. Hopefully, through SCIAF’s work and the new teaching aid they can both get a greater understanding of each other.

SCIAF hopes to have the French teaching aid ready for schools in Summer 2008.

January 2008