Lao is working to build a 300 mile road to facilitate a mining project. His story is told in the film, Empire of Dust
Not the best “documentary” , yet it shows how Africans, left to their own devices, actually regress rather than progress.
Posted on 01/12/2018 10:45:31 PM PST by KJC1
I saw this account mentioned by another Freeper earlier, and I can't remember who it was or on what thread, but I spent hours reading this.
It is the travel journal, essentially, of a Belgian couple who drove across the Congo. I'm not even all the way through it, but found it interesting enough to post.
Thank you to the FReeper who posted this link today; I'm sorry I can't credit you with finding this as I truly can't recall who you are.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3621912/posts?page=7#7
Thanks, 4Liberty for reminding me, and thank you ctdonath2 for posting the link.
I’m still reading it.
As you get about half-way through it....there’s this great photo of a road and five-star potholes. It’s a good reminder for folks in the northeast of US to appreciate the 2-star variety potholes they encounter.
“The Fearful Master” has a great chapter on the early post-colonial Belgian Congo and what the bastard UN did to it.
Lao is working to build a 300 mile road to facilitate a mining project. His story is told in the film, Empire of Dust
Not the best “documentary” , yet it shows how Africans, left to their own devices, actually regress rather than progress.
One of my sons took a job as a “security contractor” for a company that did most of the work in Africa. He did one year all over central Africa. His position when he came home was “nuke the whole place, everything!”
Fwiw, here’s a Nigerian saying that Nigeria is indeed a Sh*thole.
Is the whole continent one big s—-hole?
I lost track of how many times this guy called it a shithole.
From what I can tell it mostly is. Most countries are run by totally corrupt governments or worse by dictators. Even South Africa has back slid into a racial morass. The Northern part is in chaos for the most part - thanks to Islamic radicals and Obama’s efforts. The Chinese are trying to strip mine the whole continent and even they are flummoxed by the apathy, stupidity and corruption. It is almost humorous if it wasn’t so sad.
Bkmk
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Big mistake. We were stuck. The water came to the bottom of the door. This particular mudpit had a bit of a funny smell. It was the favourite place of the pigs so it probably contained a fair amount of sh*t. It sure smelled like it. The entire village gathered round us while we got out, knee deep in sh*t. They did not offer help. We started clearing the wheels. Josephine hurt her foot on a stick, the pain could be seen on her face. The people thought this was extremely funny and burst out laughing. This was very humiliating for Josephine and I could see the anger on her face. We looked at eachother and understood that this was not the time to get angry or start discussions with 50 or so people. We continued to work. As I bend over to clear the mud from underneath the car my pants get wet up until my ehrm.. 'privates'.. . Once again this is the funniest thing these people have ever seen. Hilarity ensues. This was very humiliating to us. Eventually they offered to help us if we pay them. I tell them that I do not have money. They did not move an inch. It takes the best part of an hour to get us out. To their surprise we stop again and I get out and walk up to them. Very calmly I explain that we did not like it when they laughed at us. I asked them how they would react if they hurt themselves and we would laugh at them. The acknowledged that they would get mad at us. I asked them if they would want us to help them if they had a problem. The acknowledged this. I said what they would think if we asked for money before we would help them. They called us racists and immediately demanded money from us. "The villages usually had the worst obstacles. In this one village there was a big boghole filled with water. We drove in but did not see the pigs that were taking a bath so we slowed down to give them the time to get out.
...yet another "S#|+hole" village:
...and "National Road #1" just beyond that village:
~~~~~~~~~~
Yep -- I'd say that pretty well epitomizes, validates and justifies Trump's term, "shithole country"...
I liked the story in the OP about the guy's who would fill a big pothole with rocks -- for a fee -- so you could drive over it. Then they'd dig the rocks back out and wait for their next customer / victim.
I’m honestly surprised the Chinese haven’t started more or less openly annexing pieces they like.
This is why the Chinese welcomed the ouster of Mugabe, if they didn't actually make it happen. One of the first acts of the new regime was to invite the white farmers to return to their farms. Rhodesia was the breadbasket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe is a shithole. The Chinese need the white guys to run things and provide a stable food source for the workers who are going to dig up every mineral they can as feedstock for Chinese factories.
“I asked them if they would want us to help them if they had a problem. The acknowledged this. I said what they would think if we asked for money before we would help them.
They called us racists and immediately demanded money from us.”
Was this Africa or the west side of Chicago?
L
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