Whilst enjoying a lazy Sunday relaxing by the lake with Braam and Wissam, I got a phonecall from Nic. ‘Err there’s soldiers coming to Goma from Sake to attack, JGI are evacuating now and want us to go with’…. After several phonecalls to the UN and the SA army, we determined there was no immediate threat to Goma. JGI left on Sunday, followed by several other NGO’s during the week- for a relaxing time in the Kivu Sun Hotel in Rwanda! After hearing many different stories about what was actually going to happen to Goma, it turned out the UN and Congolese army did their job by fending off the nearing rebels. (Briefly…. The rebels are run by Laurent Nkunda. At the moment most of the rebels are being integrated into the Congolese army and the government. Many of Nkunda’s commanders are now on the government, but he refuses to join so fighting still persists).
So after the flooding…. The cricket infestation…. The walls continually falling down with the slightest rain…. Evacuation and rebels near Goma….. Just to add to the mayhem, most NGO’s had a lock down during the week as the losing candidate for presidency (Bemba) had the outcome of his appeal against the results. Thankfully he lost so there will be no more elections, and there was a bit of celebration shooting around Goma. Plus Kabila (president) came to Goma to discuss the rebels- not too much disruption but swarms of soldiers and police looking like Robocop, and helicopters flying round into the middle of the night every 10 minutes.
So then everything starts to settle down…..Till we get the cherry on the top…. the volcano erupts!!! Thankfully it was one of the smaller ones, and if my information is correct it is situated behind the Nyiragongo volcano (the big one) so the flow was not on it’s way to Goma. And the sky was even more amazing than usual! Hopefully we won’t have to see the effects of what the volcano can do first hand… the devastating effects of previous eruptions are everywhere you look in Goma, the height of the land has increased by over 3 metres. The tops of buried houses can be seen here and there, and abandoned rusty vehicles scattered around.
So after the flooding…. The cricket infestation…. The walls continually falling down with the slightest rain…. Evacuation and rebels near Goma….. Just to add to the mayhem, most NGO’s had a lock down during the week as the losing candidate for presidency (Bemba) had the outcome of his appeal against the results. Thankfully he lost so there will be no more elections, and there was a bit of celebration shooting around Goma. Plus Kabila (president) came to Goma to discuss the rebels- not too much disruption but swarms of soldiers and police looking like Robocop, and helicopters flying round into the middle of the night every 10 minutes.
So then everything starts to settle down…..Till we get the cherry on the top…. the volcano erupts!!! Thankfully it was one of the smaller ones, and if my information is correct it is situated behind the Nyiragongo volcano (the big one) so the flow was not on it’s way to Goma. And the sky was even more amazing than usual! Hopefully we won’t have to see the effects of what the volcano can do first hand… the devastating effects of previous eruptions are everywhere you look in Goma, the height of the land has increased by over 3 metres. The tops of buried houses can be seen here and there, and abandoned rusty vehicles scattered around.
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