Milk, Cheese, and American Corn

It rained all afternoon with gusts of wind in Kishanga, two hours northwest of Goma in the mountains. I am sitting with a winter hat and sweatshirt on, shivering in the Catholic guesthouse watching amateur Christian music videos and I definitely would love a cup of tea. Kishanga used to be the stronghold of Laurent Nkunda and the Rwandan-backed rebel army, CNDP and was inaccessible unless you had CNDP approval.  

Today, a semblance of security has returned, although just several days ago a World Food Program Truck was stopped by armed and non-armed youth who are said by various sources to be CNDP members who were not integrated into the Congolese army. 11 tons of food were stolen. When I was returning I saw several women carrying the World Food Program sacks of flour on their backs.

While waiting for the other care in our group, we stopped at a town called Kilolirwe, which is full of cows and known for its yogurt (maziwa) and cheese. We stood against the car next to several houses that produce the yogurt and bought some hot milk to drink while we waited. Everyone around us spoke Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda. The doctor I was with spoke openly to me about the situation, not all of which I will quote here. But in general the message I received from him as well as others who have experienced this conflict for more than a decade is, there is no military solution. There is only a regional, political, diplomatic solution and until that happens, peace will be tenuous in eastern Congo.

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