i am sitting here at the desk in the my guestroom in the Medair Bunia house, contemplating how to approach going to bed tonight as it has been 4 nights since i have slept more than 3 hrs a night. i contemplate how to approach the situation because while i am overly tired, the shouts, screams and celebration in the streets will most likely ring-out throughout the night. so much for sleep. oh well... how often is it you get to listen to a "city of hope" celebrate.
the election results here in the Democratic Republic of Congo came four days earlier and the first of the official words is that Kabila, the current president, has won. i say it like that because i am taking the pessimistic view out of caution. for a country that has suffered in an unforgotten war for 13+ years, where there has been more death than even in WWII, and 1200 people continue to die a day (directly or indirectly) from the effects of this war, it's hard not to take a cautious view here. but listening to the celebration outside... it makes me feel like i am at a college or high school football pep rally. cheers, chants, yells, screams, clapping... the kind of stuff that gets the blood flowing. but it sounds happy too, excited, hopeful, not overly agressive or anything like that.
while there is a great deal of hope in the streets here, i must admit that i am glad i am NOT in Kinshasa. rumor has it, Bembe (the opposition leader) feels he has won and is not going to concede. he announced at noon today that he felt the elections were rigged and that he had 52% of the vote. the first official results are Kabila 58%, Bembe 42%. it will be interesting to see what happens but in the meantime... i am going to enjoy the sounds of the "city of hope" in the streets of Bunia.
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