My Visit to the Village of Lau

One of the most important things to do on this trip was to give back to people. When I am in the DRC I spend most of my time in the heart of all of the action in Kinshasa. I have put a lot of focus on helping people in the city. This time I wanted to leave the hustle and bustle and go towards the outskirts of Kinshasa. We made a plan for the visit before we left the US.

Father Pius put us in contact with a chief of a village that is located between Kinkole and Kingakati. We left the hotel at 6:30am to avoid the maddening and road rage inducing traffic. Leaving that early allowed us to save about 90 minutes of sitting in traffic. After the drive to Kinkole there’s only dirt roads. You have to either get on a motorcycle or have a 4X4. It rained a lot two days prior so there was still water everywhere and the dirt roads were super bumpy. We made the best of the situation. It took us about 40 minutes to traverse the rough terrains.

Having a chat with the Chief (In red hat)

Once we arrived we met the leaders of the village and than the chief. Apparently under the new president, Chef Coutumier (Chief of the tribe), get security. It really show respect for our traditional ways and culture. Once the chief arrived we asked permission to visit, take pictures and engage with the Villagers. I just want to make a quick note, when I say Villager all I mean is people living in a village as oppose to a city, suburb, rural area etc. It has nothing to do with the condescending way people use the word Villagers to describe someone’s mentality or lack of knowledge of modern ways.

We visited Lau as part of Adolophine nonprofit initiative. One of our core mission (Les Amis de Mulunda et Georgette) is to give young people strong skills in a trade. We created the Bolingo (love in Lingala) collection with that in mind. The apprentice learns a skill, makes beautiful items for their fellow citizens and we give them out. We are spreading the love all around. The collection received high marks!!

We spent several hours in Lau. We made a short video to give you a snapshot of our day. I think seeing it visually will be more interesting than reading a five page essay :-). Plus you can also appreciate the beautiful landscape. It was over 90 degrees in downtown Kinshasa but in Lau it felt like the mid-70’s. It’s visually breathtaking, the people were so kind and funny and we can’t wait to go back.

We got great remarks on the Bolingo collection

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A Bientôt,

Adolophine