Party and Conference (part 2).

Party

Last Friday we threw a party at IRC Golf 8; our house. Grant would leave the next day; back to New York. After working together for over a month we are really sad to see him leave. I know this sounds lame, but it's true; Raul, Grant and I formed a great team. In addition, Macartan who had been in town for over two weeks would leave the Monday after the party. Macartan in town means hard work, but also learning lots. He is a really special professor. He gives Raul and me lots of responsibilities and as a result we're motivated and work hard. We (of course) also make mistakes, which he knows and then spends lots of time (much more than if he would have done it himself) explaining how things can be done better. We learn so much that way! Next to that it is great to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks with one's professor and talk about other things than work. Finally, Grant had his birthday early August, Vera (our housemate) mid-August, and Raul and me have our birthdays the end of August. Reasons enough for a party, no? So we hired a Congolese band and with well over 60 people – from the IRC, different other NGOs, MONUC, the security guards, IRC drivers, etc. – we danced until early in the morning.

Great band.

Great people (fltr: Grant, Guillaume, Stephanie, Raul, me, Vera, Macartan, JB).

And the cleaning the next morning.

Conference (part 2)

Over the last few days I was able to get hold of a few more conference (August 6 & 7, see previous post) pictures:

Macartan and (part of) IRC's Sud Kivu TUUNGANE team.

Raul & Me. After a few busy days an evening off...

... and beating the professor in a game of pool.