Africa, as we all know, is a wild continent that tugs at our existence. The people are wonderful and warm. The art is stunning. But I can't help closing my trip to Africa, which this time consisted of meetings, meetings, meetings, with a passage from Doug Adams about his visit to the Congo documented in Last Chance to See. I fear Adams' sentiments are still relevant--not to me so much as to the researchers operating in those countries who face daily challenges to their work and its advancement.
Like most colonies, Zaire had imposed on it a stifling bureaucracy, the sole function on which was to refer decisions upward to its colonial masters. Local officials rarely had the power to do things, only to prevent them from being done until bribed. So once the colonial masters are removed, the bureaucracy continues to thrash around like a headless chicken with nothing to do but trip itself up, bump into things, and when it can get the firepower, shoot itself in the foot. You can always tell an ex-colony from the inordinate numbers of people who are able to find employment stopping anybody who has anything to do from doing it.
Fish caught and dried by small-scale fishers on Mafia Island, Tanzania.
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