Na mbage ti kota ngu ti Oubangui [On the banks of the Oubangui River]

 

After 4 months in Bambari - OMG Bangui looks like a massive bustling metropolis!  I am agape at the stocked shelves of the "Bangui Mall" which is a fancy department store featuring a well stocked supermarket on the first floor.  Prices are somewhat crazy but if you can find it at Safeway or Walgreens, you can find it at the Bangui Mall.

I walk from one NGO residence to another which is allowed in daylight hours.  To my left, just 100 yards away - the Oubangi.  

That's Democratic Republic of Congo on the other side of the river.  Nice to see it, even if the bustling part of the waterfront is elsewhere.  A few guys eating lunch next to their dugout canoe to my left (not pictured.) 

My plane leaves for Richmond VA then NJ in three days, with me on it as long as I COVID PCR negative on Monday (why is a negative PCR needed to leave the country?  because!)  I will return in time for December 1 in Bangui - the national holiday commemorating the declaration of the Republic.  The leader of the campaign for independence from France, Barthelemy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane crash in 1959 on the eve of independence.  His party, MESAN (Mouvement pour l'Evolution Sociale de l'Afrique Noire) did not long survive him.  Yet, just across the street from the main office of my NGO in Bangui, faded letters on a wall:

The part on the left, translated, says "Cultural Space: Zo Kwe Zo" and on the Right, "Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa".  The MESAN party's motto Zo Kwe Zo (translatable as all people are equal) became part of the national motto (the other half being So Zo La, or each individual has dignity).  This was the headquarters of the founder of the Republic!  To me it's like stumbling across an abandoned building with a battered sign that says "George Washington, Esq."  Passersby ask why I am taking a picture of an old wall.  They are mildly intrigued that Boganda's headquarters was there.  I guess I am making too big a deal of the whole thing.  They must have used pretty good paint, though, since it's got to be at least 60 years old.

And, bonus!  Thanks to my Central African colleague who was his student, and a Peace Corps volunteer still in touch, I got to meet up with Marcel!  36 years later, the guy is kind, sharp and healthy as ever.