Seminar at the Official University of Bukavu.

Yesterday Raul and I had organized a several-hour seminar with Congolese professors and Doctoral students at the Official University of Bukavu (OUB) at the ISTM campus in Bukavu. The seminar was organized for two reasons:

1. Raul and I will split up in a week; I will be responsible for and living in the provinces Maniema and Sud Kivu; Raul has the provinces Tanganyika and Haut Katanga. The idea is that each of us will have a 'counterpart' with whom we will work closely together and train along the way for two reasons. 1. While we will leave the Congo in January, the evaluation continues for another half a year; the counterparts can take over from us. 2. It's a perfect knowledge-sharing opportunity. Raul and I will learn a lot about the Congo, and we can learn them about statistics, computer programs, etc. We want this counterpart to be a Doctoral student. So, Raul and I first presented the development project (Tuungane), which was then followed by a discussion about how the best evaluation would look like - in the meantime Raul and I checked carefully what they were saying and whether there was somebody that could be a counterpart.
   
   
Raul...



and Peter presenting the evaluation.


2. Needless to say, Raul and I also wanted to get to know Congolese academics - for us to see what they are working on and vice versa. So we had brief presentations of our research topics and after each we had several minutes of discussion. Raul and I presented our dissertation topics; Raul discussed the institution of the dowry, and I talked about migration and public good provision.

Peter's migration puzzle.

It's great to be a ... PhD Candidate.

Sure, one works a lot. But you can choose your own topic and thus make sure it is all good stuff. In addition, you can work wherever you want - and so we do. We don't work in the IRC office: it's too noisy and there are too many people that want to shake your hand and be social. So, over the last three weeks, we've been working at home from early morning till lunch, and then after lunch we would work in l'Orchid (one of Bukavu's fancy restaurants) until we get kicked out (most of the times around 11pm).

Because we had been working in the Orchid for many days in a row we needed a change of environment. I think they were also happy not to have Raul and me there for a change; two people in student outfits with laptop and paper spread all over the table - probably not the best for a fancy restaurant. So, we went to Centre Amani; a monastry in Bukavu with only Catholic nuns whom we were able to convince that we should spend a day there for thinking. It is beautiful: it's at the tip of one of Bukavu's peninsulas, it has beautiful views, big gardens, and it is quiet with church music quietly in the background. I'm sure we'll be going there more often. It's really great to be a PhD Candidate!

I couldn't decide which picture was better...

... so hereby both.

Nerdy thoughts from the Congo.

Taxis in Bukavu

There are a lot of taxicabs on Bukavu's main road ("Avenue President Mobutu" on Google Maps for the interested people); that is, normal-looking cars (see picture) that stop if you raise your hand. They also use their horns excessively and often stop if you don't one, so it's easy to get a taxi. Cost is 400 Congolese francs (around 0.45$) and because they only drive the main road (because that road is paved) the only thing you have to do is to choose the correct side of the road, sit down and wait until you want to get out again.

An average taxi.

Once in these taxi cabs you will observe clearly different behavior among it's drivers. In brief, the drivers can be divided into two groups: 1. One group of taxi-drivers that drive fast, 2. One group of taxi-drivers that drive slow. Why? Why are there seemingly two different strategies to obtain the same goal: earn the most amount of money. When driving fast one covers more meters per fixed amount of time and thus opens up seats faster. But when driving slower it is less likely that you miss potential customers. What makes a taxi-driver choose for either of these strategies? Some possible determinants:

• The other taxi drivers. Let's say that the taxi-driver knows from experience that there are more fast drivers than slow ones. As a result, the best strategy could be to become a slow driver because many potential customers are not picked up by the fast ones. So it could be that the distribution of fast and slow drivers is important.
• The mood of the driver that day. Maybe there is nothing rational to all this. Maybe after a fight with his wife in the morning, the taxi-driver is angry and thus puts the metal to the gas a bit more than otherwise. Thus, maybe a taxi-driver doesn't choose either one strategy for the rest of his/her taxi-driving career. One step further, maybe what is actually happening is that a driver has some mixed strategy where he drives fast some days (or hours) and slow the other.
• Reaction speed of the driver. If a taxi-driver is quick to react, he is less likely to miss potential customers. Consequently, these guys are maybe more willing to become fast drivers.
• Volume of the horn. Maybe what is important is the volume of the horn. If it is possible from a long distance away to notify potential customers that you are coming they have more time to walk to the road, and it is thus less likely you will miss them; i.e. you are more likely to be a fast driver.
• Any more?

Anyhow, I would love to know more about this, talk with the taxi-drivers while being with them in the car, etc. Unfortunately, these months Raul and I fall under IRC's security umbrella and there is a clear and strict rule that says "You are not allowed to use taxis in Bukavu". Aargh!

Phone credit in the Congo

As you know phones are important and very popular in Africa - also among the poor. If you do not have at least two phones you are not a real man.

There are several cellphone providers in Congo and Zain, Vodacom and CCT are the biggest. I have both Zain and Vodacom because they have the best coverage. I

n order to charge one's cellphone you buy phone credit. For example with Zain you buy "unites" (see picture below) of 500 (5$) or 100 (1$), type in *525* plus the 13 digit number and end with a "#".

500 Unites from Zain.

Now please follow me through the following steps:

1. These cards seem to be valid for a year.
2. Let's say there are a total of 1 million Zain users in Congo.
   [the DRC has a population of around 60 million people. Most of the country doesn't have coverage, but the big cities do. While Bukavu has only about 300,000 inhabitants, other cities are substantially bigger. The capital Kinshasa, for example, has 10 million inhabitants. So, let's run with 1 million Zain users for now.]
3. Every week I use about 6 of these 500 unites pieces of paper; or 30 of them if would buy the 100 unites. While I don't call much, I am a Mzungu and very rich so let's say on average people use 10 of these pieces of paper per week. That is, per year at least 520,000,000 times (1,000,000 * 10 * 52) those 13 digits numbers are used.
4. It's possible that Zain doesn't introduce these unites on the market at the beginning of the year, but gradually throughout the year. Also, we have to take into account that once a person uses one of these 13 digit numbers it can't be used anymore. However, we also have to take into account that there should be many more than the 0.52 billion pieces of paper around because sellers needs reserves.
5. So, let's say that around half a billion of these 13 digit numbers work and we know that there are 10 trillion (10^13 possibilities).
6. You see where I am going?
7. 1 out of every 2,000 tries should give you a hit. That is, on average every 2,000 times you enter a 13 digit number you earn yourself a dollar.
8. Many people in the Congo have cellphones. Many people are also unemployed. Filling in a 13 digit number takes less than 10 seconds, so every hour you can try around 400 times. In other words, when working an 10 hour day you earn yourself 2 dollars.
9. IDEA: What about hiring 100s of people, giving them a list with 1000s of unique 13 digit numbers on it and they can keep 100% of the profit.
10. BUT: I'm sure Zain must have thought and calculated this through; it would have been relatively easy for them to put 14 numbers on the cards instead of 13. I am still curious though.

Object #3.

Warm showers are dear to me and it is definitely one of the things I miss a lot when here (next to family, friends and great Dutch food); for proof of me missing showers see some previous posts here and here. Earlier this week after coming back from Buja, Raul walked through the garden and saw the big watertank given in the picture below. After some more investigation he also saw a boiler stuck to the house. After having a mechanic passing by to get things working we had a working shower!

Watertank - placed higher than the house.

Boiler?

Now there are two problems (I am Dutch so I have to complain - our national hobby by lack of major other problems): First, my shower is too low: if I stand up my shoulder hits the shower-head. Secondly, and more profound, how are we going to do this? I live with three more people: Vera, Jenny and Raul. We all like showers (the longer the better). However, the watertank has a limited amount of water in it and is filled only every so many weeks. We can't monitor each other's shower consumption (I think Vera and Jenny wouldn't allow us to monitor them while they take a shower) and thus even if we make a schedule saying, for example, that each day each person is allowed a 4 minute shower, I'll be afraid they'll cheat; that they will shower for longer and thus use more water. Knowing that this is my future water, I thus prefer to use my future water now, so I'll be standing under the shower for longer as well. Vera, Jenny and Raul will do the same.

Let's see how quick we'll be without water. Btw, I'm heading upstairs now to take a shower.

Blogs and websites I like.

Today I added several links to this blog (added to the bar on the right). These are links to blogs and websites that I like. There is a strong Africa - and especially Congo - bias. However, in the future this is likely to change ones I start working in other parts of the developing world; I'm still young. ;)

• Africa is a Country: Blog on Africa.
• African Arguments: Blog by the RAS and SSRC on Africa.
• Alex Engwete: Very informative blog on the Congo.
• Chris Blattman: Great blog on international development.
• Congo Blog: Blog on... Congo.
• Congo Siasa: Incredible blog on Congo by Jason Stearns.
• IRIN News: UN news on development issues.
• Project Syndicate: Ideas by some of the brightest minds in the world on development.
• Radio Okapi: News on events in the Congo by MONUSCO.
• Rootless Minds: Blog by friend and colleague Raul (until January with me in the Congo).
• Relief Web: Informative website on development issues.
• Solo Kinshasa: Blog about Kinshasa - capital of the DR Congo.
• Texas in Africa: Great blog by Laura Seay on development issues with a focus on the Great Lakes.
• Wronging Rights: Brilliantly sarcastic blog on development issues by (a.o.) colleague Kate.
• Wired Science: Great blog on sciency things.

Back from Buja. Back in the velvet prison.

Last Sunday around 430pm Raul and I came back from a weekend in Bujumbura; the capital of Burundi.

Burundi

Burundi is a small country lying to Congo's east and Rwanda's south. Before gaining independence in 1962 it was - together with Rwanda - the German and (after WWII) the Belgian colony called Ruanda-Urundi with current-day Bujumbura as capital. Burundi is Rwanda's less-famous brother; just like Rwanda the Twa, Tutsi and Hutu are the country's ethnic groups, and - just like Rwanda - the latter two have been going at each other for decades. However, while Rwanda's 800,000 death in the 1994 genocide brought the country to fame, Burundi's 100,000s of deaths took place over a more extended period of time - and thus we don't have Hollywood movies about it. For example, a genocide took place in 1972 when Hutus attacked Tutsis and the Tutsi-dominated military regime responded with large-scale reprisals. In 1993, the Hutu Melchior Ndadaye, who had won the first democratic election, was assassinated by Tutsi soldiers, which starting more violence that killed an estimated 300,000 since. Currently, things are relatively ok. While the last major rebel group (the FNL - Forces for National Liberation) bombarded Bujumbura as recently as April 2008, they signed a peace agreement shortly after that. And while rumors of new rebel groups being created are surfacing since recently, Burundi has been relatively quiet and stable.

Bujumbura

Why did we go to Buja for a weekend? One of the reasons was that we still needed some equipment for the evaluation that is difficult to buy in Bukavu (four digital cameras and some cables to be able to charge satellite phones, GPS devices and PDAs from Yamaha 125CC motorbikes). However, the most important reason was for Raul and me to take a break. We have been in Congo for two months without a holiday and both of these months were very intense. Moreover, Raul and I wanted to leave Bukavu's security bubble. In the last two weeks we started to feel we were living in a prison: we are not allowed to walk in the evening, one's movements are always tracked, if you want to go out of the small, predefined area of Bukavu you need to obtain a security clearance, etc. So, up to Bujambura where we have several friends: JB who works for UNDP, Sebastian who works for Burundi's ministry of finance, and Guillaume who works for Burundi's ministry of Social Affairs.

In three words: It was fantastic! Although we had preferred to take public transport (to get to know local people, learn more about the country, etc.) we were obliged (again for security reasons) to take an IRC car to Bujumbura. But once we were on the road Raul and I couldn't keep the smile from our face. The road from Bukavu through Uvira (via Kamanyola and Sange) towards Buja is about 4.5 hours and beautiful: hills, desert, towns. Once in Bujumbura we had the feeling we were in a different world. Bujumbura is located right next to Lake Tanganyika - which is the second-largest sweet-water lake by volume, the second-deepest lake, and the longest lake in the world. The city has incredible beaches (just be careful for the crocodiles and hippos after sunset), and is much more developed than Bukavu: there are bars, sophisticated hotels (see for an example here), and since 2 years (with the help of the Chinese an the European Commission) good roads. Over the weekend, we had breakfast with eggs, bacon and smoothies, went to the beach and swam in Lake Tanganyika, visited Bujumbura's central market, hang-out with friends, slept more than the normal 6 hours, and... (you're ready)... after two months in Eastern Congo I had a shower... with warm water! After all the luxury and several days away from Bukavu's security bubble, we're back in Bukavu with our batteries charged and we're ready for the very heavy weeks to come.

Photos

Banana anybody?

Buja's central market.

I'm from a family of construction builders and thus love this picture.

Random

• Man, I'm getting older. When 'young' you see those 'older people' that have cars, houses, proper salaries, etc. The guys in Buja had this - and I am of that age now. I never really notice it; I'm a PhD student and thus still study and don't really have a salary. I also live in New York where most people rent and live in small apartments. But people of my age are getting married, start making babies, getting mortgages, etc. I never really thought of that until Buja. Scary.
• On the way to Bujumbura we drove through Uvira, a territoire of Sud Kivu in DR Congo. The car drove over 100km per hour on roads where one really should not do that. The reason was for security. I don't know how much of it is true but the driver told us that different groups (Mai-Mai, Banyamulenge from Uvira's Haut plateau, etc.) have a tendency to high-jack cars on that road. I am not sure what was more frightening the idea of being ambushed or the car being high-jacked, or the driver driving 100+ km an hour. :)
• On the way to Bujumbura we also drove through the town of Sange, where about two months ago a truck caught fire and killed over 230 people (here). Congolese friends sent horrible pictures in the days after that. The burned-out truck was still there; as a horrible monument to the disaster.

Crows in the Congo.

Raul just ran out of the house screaming "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".


No, we're not going nuts. Raul and I work a lot at home. It's a bit unsocial but we are much more productive when we do not work at the office; at home there are no people around to shake your hand, there are no people that start talking to you, etc. However, in Bukavu there are a lot of crows; and they are noisy. They scream a lot. Moreover, we hear them walking/jumping on the roof; indeed, the tin roof-plates do not help with that. On average there are two of them in the garden and one on the roof and it's (really) annoying when you try to concentrate; something we do once in a while.

That's a small one. The big ones seem to be smarter and fly away more quickly.

In addition to being loud, those chaps are also really big, insolent and... scary. The reason why I think the latter is because of a great TED talk I saw about half a year ago. With the current internet connection I will have to wait for January to see it again, but for the people with a faster connection see

Training & Object #2.

Training

I know; there haven't been posts in a while and doing a post on Object #2 is a very easy way out; i.e. nothing substantive. In brief, Raul and I are busy preparing a training. From September to August next year - so for over 11 months - there will be around 90 people working for the evaluation throughout Eastern Congo. All of them have to be trained. The first 22 will start training next Monday for six days; these twenty-two are the first wave for the provinces Sud Kivu and Maniema. Raul and I will be doing the training so we have been working hard on putting a training schedule together that includes:

• Us presenting the project itself (goal of the evaluation, why a behavioral measure, etc.);
• Preparing and training from hardcopies;
• Training on how to use a PDA (most of the forms will be filled out on PDAs: saving literally 100,000s of pages and decreasing data-entry mistakes);
• Training how to use the GPS devices we'll give them;
• Training on how to drive a motorbike;
• Training the supervisors on how to use the laptops we'll give them to upload the data;
• And all of this should be combined with discussions, games, etc.

All in all, it's really great fun!

Object #2

Our house is not connected to the city's water system (which if it would probably wouldn't work well anyway). As a result, we have two 10,000 liter bags of water lying outside, right next to the house. Every so many weeks a big truck refills them. Interesting, I think. So hereby Object #2:

UNICEF? I do wonder whether a school somewhere in the DRC now lacks water (and yes, those are Converse shoes-footprints).

An afternoon on Lake Kivu.

Over the last few days Raul and I have been quite busy, and thus in need of a break. So the day before yesterday we asked two local fisherman whether we could rent their boats, got ourselves some beers, and enjoyed a great afternoon on Lake Kivu with some beautiful views:

Lake Kivu.

Random notes:

• My hair was cut the day before yesterday by... myself. Because we don't trust Congolese hairdressers (we have muzungu-hair), we bought ourselves a 2-dollar scissor. Result? Well, there is a reason why you don't see me on the pictures above. ;)
• I miss taking a shower. It is not that I miss the consistent flow of warm water over my body, but normally during those few minutes underneath a shower I have my best ideas. Unfortunately, these days I am too busy throwing water from the bucket over my head to think. Anybody a suggestion?

Object #1

Over the last week I've often been surprised how ugly, ingenious, kitsch, old, broken-down or overly big certain object are here in the Congo. As a result, hereby the first of a weekly post called "Object". Hereby the ceiling lamp we have in our house's living room. Kitsch? Nice touch as well is the that one durable light bulb (which btw doesn't work).

Lamp in the living room.

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.

Conference & Fun stuff.

I just noticed that nothing has been posted since August 2; well over a week ago. The reason is that it has been a busy week. It has also been a great week with as one of its highlights a 2-day workshop we organized in Bukavu.

Workshop

We're working on the evaluation of TUUNGANE - a development project implemented by IRC and Care in almost half of all the villages in Eastern Congo. The evaluation is one of the world’s largest (around 1,120 villages) and daunting (taking place in Eastern Congo). It is also the first of its kind; to get a true behavioral measure we’ll implement a development project in 560 villages. (Yes, much more on all this later).

The evaluation started in 2007 with a baseline, and for the last year we've been working on the final part. While we've been working closely with IRC and Care, we want to do everything to avoid a disconnect between the evaluation and reality on the ground. Thus, last Friday and Saturday we flew in IRC and Care field staff from all four province. We also invited local researchers. During the workshop:

• IRC and Care presented their work
• The Columbia Team presented the evaluation (yes, I gave a presentation in French)
• We all went over the hypotheses
• We discussed the quality (and the feasibility) of the measures to answer these hypotheses
• The Columbia Team provided the timeline (which villages when) and together we discussed its feasibility

It was an extraordinary event. The discussions were of high quality and very open and honest. It was very warming to see how IRC and Care staff - both field and management staff - were engaged and thinking through how to get the best evaluation for TUUNGANE - the program they’ve been working for for the last years.

Macartan explaining the evaluation.

Raul and Grant discussing the pilot that took place a week before the conference.

Fun Stuff

I received this from a friend of mine via email (also saw it later on Chris Blattman's blog). It's really nice.

A PhD in pictures.

Also, I just read a post of a Yale colleague of mine on Facebook. He is busy grading exams and while doing that he noticed how he was thinking of the Infinite Monkey theorem (more here). In brief, the infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

Infinite Monkey-theorem.

PS. I received some fantastic comments on my previous post (the one that dealt with churches). I hope to post a follow-up on that soon.

Why do we need a church?

Monday I took some hours off from work to go to Bukavu's Cathedral Notre Dame de la Paix (Our Lady of Peace) – the largest church in Bukavu and also the Archbishop’s seat. I was invited by a friend - Amuli - who was ordained as priest the day before and Monday he gave his first full-fledged ceremony. It was quite a happening; there were lots of people, part of the ceremony was that Amuli baptized 3 babies, there was lots of music and thus also a lot of singing and dancing. I also tried the latter. I really tried; but failed considerably. Take clapping one’s hands. This should be easy; one listens to the music and claps along. Not so for a Dutch guy: I mechanically moved my hands sideways and then calculated how much time it takes before they need to be back again in order to clap at the same time as the people that were standing next to me. Anyhow, it was a beautiful ceremony, I had a great time and am very impressed by Amuli.

Bukavu's Cathedral Notre Dame de la Paix.

Amuli at the back.

Part of the ceremony.

Nice ceiling.

Church in general is extremely important for the Congolese. People spend much time in church and on church related activities - also on days that are not Sunday. In addition, if you ask people “What public good project would you like?” many will say “A church”. Why? Why would people want to build a church when they go to bed hungry and thirsty? Why not work together and spend time and effort on activities that increase, for example, agricultural production. I have a really hard time understanding this and seeing this issue from the perspective of a Congolese villager.

Two weeks ago, for example, we were in the village Cazi in Sud Kivu’s territoire Walungu where people had constructed the first part of a building that upon further investigation was going to be a church; this despite the fact that many other - more productive - public goods were absent in the village. In addition, after asking where the nearest other church was I received the answer "A three minute walk away". Needless to say, I then asked "Why build a church if the nearest one is so close by?" and "Why build a church at all?". To the first I received from several people the answer "The other church has a 'program' and we can only go there on Sunday". To the second I received the answer "It is a church".

This issue fascinates me and I am lucky to be here for another five months. In my opinion church is a very unproductive investment of time and effort. Am I that wrong? Am I too current-day Northern Europe raised? Possible. Do people find comfort and protection in the church and church related activities? Is church like a mental food and drinks that can substitute for the physical daily hardship? More to come.

The to-be church in Cazi.