Dynamic Africa
Formerly, "This is Africa/fyeahAfrica".
(Profile Photo by Mama Casset)
DISCLAIMER:
I do not endorse any of the products or opinions shared on this site, nor do I claim any of the work posted here to be my own - except where stated. All posts originally made by me are credited. If no credit is given then the work is either my own/written by me or reblogged from another source.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
Student, 24
Based in Cape Town, South Africa
From Lagos, Nigeria
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(As an unemployed media student, all donations go into ensuring my survival in this cruel world and future projects I hope to embark on).
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(since Oct. 21th 2012)
READER SUBMISSION
“This picture of my mother was taken in 1979 in Kinshasa, Congo DR. She is a mukongo from the Bakongo people.”
submitted by Mavonda
FRIDAY NIGHT SOUKOUS: Felix Wazekwa - Que Demande le Peuple
With the all the tempo changes, you feel as though you’re getting various songs in one continuous stream. That’s what I love about Lingala music.
DYNAMIC AFRICA HOLIDAY GIFT LIST ITEM #12: A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art
A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art provides a unique encounter with the Independence movement that took hold in urban cafés of the Congo.
This study is developed around a series of about fifty urban art or popular paintings, a genre traceable to the 1920s, by the influential artist Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu. It chronicles contemporary social and political realities in its depiction of the dramatic political career of Patrice Lumumba, the father of Congo independence who became the nation’s first Prime Minister in 1960, but was soon after killed under mysterious circumstances.
This book helps us understand not only how Congolese view the turbulent years of their independence, but also how it relates to their beliefs. The paintings show how art contributes to the creation of a national history and national heroes, and shapes the national consciousness in a newly independent, multi-cultural society. Essays discuss popular urban art, the life of Patrice Lumumba, Tshibumba’s series of Lumumba paintings, the Congolese memory of Lumumba, and Congolese cultural heroes.
War Child* teamed up with art charity AptART* to paint a mural on the side of a street children’s drop-in centre in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The children were involved in designing the mural and painted it themselves. It includes the lion (symbol of the DRC), the colours of the Congolese flag, and a big peace symbol.
Some of the 45 children involved in the project stand in front of the finished mural
The children also received lessons in portrait painting. Most of the street children War Child works with had never used a paintbrush before and very few have ever attended school. Each child was given their photograph, a paintbrush and a canvas to put their new skills to work.
The self portraits of the children are ready to be stretched on to canvas to be used in an exhibition.
Two of the children work on their self-portraits.
Decades of conflict and poverty have left many families unable to properly support their children.
The centres supported by War Child are a haven where children can eat, wash their clothes and get access to the education and counselling that help to rebuild their lives.
More than half of the girls supported by War Child in Goma are survivors of sexual violence.
Much of Goma is still covered in lava after the eruption of the nearby Mount Nyiragongo in 2002, which devastated the town.
The children standing in front of their mural.
(source)
*This is my first time coming across either of these two organizations and so far I have not found any alarming or concerning information about them. If anyone has information or any criticism about either War Child or AptART, feel free to drop it in dynamicafrica’s inbox as my quick research was probably not thorough enough.
A young Congolese girl wearing a necklace of photographer’s flashbulbs strung together on a string. Photograph by Nat Farbman.
Monieka, Belgian Congo
June 1947.
(via manufactoriel)
Ambroise Boimbo was a Congolese patriot who stole the sword of King Baudouin I of Belgium on June 29, 1960 in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) on the eve of the independence of Belgian Congo.
Original footage of Patrice Lumumba’s Independence Day speech on June 30th, 1960, taken from the Raoul Peck documentary “Lumumba: La Mort du Prophet”.
Watch the entire film here.
Happy Independence Day to all of our followers from the Democratic Republic of Congo!
June 30th, 1960
“Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.
It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.”
- From Patrice Lumumba’s Independence Day Speech
Photo Story: Youth Rappers In Eastern Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of those places that photojournalists and print journalists alike often risk their lives by travelling to the ‘Heart of Darkness’ (insert major eye-roll) in order to report on the horrors of the long-lasting internal conflict the country has seen, and its on-going effects. Just how genuine these acts of ‘bravado’ are, or whether they are done for some sort of career gain, is something that readers are left to decide for themselves at the end of the day.
Polish journalist Agata Pietron is not entirely an anomaly as in recent years, we’ve seen several Western journalists redirect their attention to focusing on the daily lives of the citizens of the DRC. On a mission to seek out this ‘everyday-ness’, Pietron travelled to the DRC in late 2009 initially to conduct research for a story on women’s issues (she is unspecific about which), and ended up becoming privy to the local rap scene in the North Kivu region. It is painful to read
Excerpt:
Not surprisingly, the reality was that many of them were having a hard time. Some couldn’t afford the $50-70 per semester school fees and were being forced to drop out. Others were graduating, with little hope of finding a job. Some of them even had a fatalistic attitude that is chilling for me to think about as I listen to the news the last few weeks. Eimable, 20, told me that when the time comes, he will go to the forest to join military group and become a colonel, or general. “Other countries will have no power to stop me. When I will manage to seize territory, occupy few villages, learn to kill, rape, burn houses and destroy everything, others will start to respect me.” For the time being, he was studying pedagogy at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique (ISP) in Rutshuru.
One of the only ways these youth found inspiration was through music: rap and hip hop. They listened to it on the local radio, and when the Institute’s Internet connection was working, they watched videos on Youtube of American and French rap groups. They said they felt a connection to the music because it is black music sung by blacks from the ghetto, from nowhere. The expression of anger on issues of social justice and rights resonates with them. Their clothing, ghetto celebrity style, started to make more sense.
Many of the youth I met had actually formed their own bands, and had organized a concert, which they invited me to attend. And I did. It turned out that this was quite an important event with cash prizes for winners around $100.
For many of us that’s nothing, but in Congo, it’s a decent bounty. (The average monthly salary for a teacher is around $50.)*The event took place at the Kaoze Community Center, in the village of Rutshuru, Nord Kivu, and lasted for two days.
*Not sure who the ‘many of us’ she’s referring to is as for me (and perhaps for many of you reading this), $100 has always been a lot of money
Boko man from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Man with characteristic ‘cockscomb’ scarification that was obtained by carving the same place several times.
Photo by Augustes, M. Bal.
Congolese photographer and videographer Sammy Baloji explores the “beautiful time” when the labor of hardworking Congolese built a flourishing copper mining industry in what is now the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Following independence in the 1960s, this industry suffered greatly under mismanagement by corrupt governments. Baloji’s collages and photographs bring together images from the past and the present day to interrogate the meaning of memory.
The history of his country, Katanga, has influenced Sammy’s works. The latter are dedicated to the industrial culture of Congo, which is a country characterized by many mineral sources exploited by Belgian colonisers.
In 2004, he became fascinated by the phantom character of Gécamines (General Mines Society ) factories in Lubumbashi. They are the symbol of the past wealth epoch of Katanga and show a particular side of Africa - the industrial side.
These are the author’s thoughts on memories and the ruins of colonisation:
“My previous works were dedicated to colonial architecture. To some extent, my current works have a direct connection with the colonial past, which gave birth to the cities of Katanga province. These cities were built upon mines. The latter belong to Katanga’s history. The essence of my question lies in the daily life of Congolese people. They are traces of the recent past, which is also present.”
Sammy Baloji’s images are not merely glances at that reality, but photomontages that merge ancient black and white photos of mines of Union Minière du Haut Katanga with contemporary colour images of actual mines and devastated landscapes.
Sammy Baloji illustrates the history of the Congo, which has several dark sides illustrated throughout history by different governments and particularly during the colonial epoch.
He says “To superimpose past onto present reveals the will to denounce past and present abuses.”
Al Jazeera Witness Presents - “Antoine: A Journey From Hell”
In 2002, Antoine Vumilia, a political officer in the regime of Laurent Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was sentenced to life imprisonment for supposed involvement in Kabila’s assassination.
Detained in Makala Prison, Kinshasa - considered to be the worst prison in Africa - Antoine endured nine years of dehumanising brutality before managing to escape.
Witness joins Antoine in Brazzaville as he waits for his claim for political asylum in Europe to be accepted and fills in the time by returning to his first love, theatre directing.
Including footage shot secretly inside Makala Prison, this is a disturbing and moving portrait of what it means when your rights are stripped away and you lose everything, including your country.
Filmmakers: Arnaud Zajtman and Marlène Rabaud
An estimated 15,000 people fleeing the fight in DR Congo have crossed into Uganda in the last one week, statistics forwarded by district officers in south-western Uganda to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees have indicated.
Fighting between DR Congo government forces and rebel groups belonging to Bosco Ntaganda has raged on for over three weeks now, forcing more people in eastern DR Congo to flee. It is estimated that between 6,000 to 7,000 were camping at the border town of Bunagana by Friday when officials of the UNHCR visited the area.
“Most of the people want to first settle with locals since they believe the situation will normalise within few days. Our community has been following the process of immunisation which on the other hand has not been a priority in Congo. This inter-mixing may lead to contamination thus reversing Uganda’s gains in immunisation,” Mr Musa Echweru, the state minister for Disaster Preparedness, said.
UNHCR said it had started the process of settling the refugess last week.
“UNHCR on Friday started to transport people from the border to a transit centre at Nyakabande. As of Sunday night, there were 6,163 at Nyakabande where capacity is increasingly stretched. We are providing basic aid.” Mr Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR spokesperson, said.
To ease the congestion at Nyakabande, UNHCR is stepping up transportation of those who are willing to go to the Rwamwanja settlement. There is still fear of further mass displacement if nothing is done to resolve the conflict and agree on peace process by both the DR Congo government and the Ntaganda led rebel group.
Uganda currently hosts more than 150,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi, the DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan out of which 90,000 are from the DRC, some 40,000 are urban refugees living mostly in Kampala. The majority of refugees, however, are spread across eight settlements.
“Beauty Routines”
Top photo: Ituri District, Democratic Republic of Congo
Bottom photo: Lagos, Nigeria
-DynamicAfrica
Bukavu, March 2012
