Arrival to Impfondo
August 12, 2015
Having left Brazzaville with Joyce and the kids, I got a proper look at the Congo jungle through the scratched plastic window of our rickety old flight to Impfondo. Joyce tells me that the pilots fly and land the plane using only their eye sight and no location equipment. We descended below the clouds to see an impenetrable thickness of trees, bush and rivers stretching right into the visible distance. I was in the middle of my self-assigned homework; reading Tim Butcher’s Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart. Coincidentally he had just finished describing the immense size and power of all the contributories of the river Congo. I am beginning to understand why so many people have been caught up in the mystery and magnificence of the river since it was first ‘discovered’ by the white man.
I am now in Impfondo, bang in the middle of what I believe is the second largest rainforest in the world, and its hot. Not the kind of hot you get in Greece or Italy, but a temperamental, clammy heat that wraps around your skin like cling-film. I got a glimpse of the very rural town as we drove through it to get to the hospital compound, but will be able to describe it more once I have spent some time there. The compound itself is a small village of one room bungalows painted white, each one catering to a different medical need. They have a Malaria building, a post-natal ward, and an eye clinic to name a few.
I have felt very welcome ever since we left England last Friday, and I was treated to a big lunch at the Samoutou (Joyce and Henri) family home, which houses an impressive collection of Western luxuries given the difficulty of transporting anything here. I have come to learn that Joyce has mastered the art of fitting a whole lot of stuff into a few small bags and then lugging it halfway across the world with three kids in tow! She really goes out of her way to make guests feel at home. I also met a few of the other medical workers, including Henri (finally!), who is the leading practitioner in the eye clinic and husband to Joyce. Tomorrow I will spend some time with him in the clinic.
Lying in bed on my first night I am filled with excitement, but also nerves, at the prospect of living here for the next 4 weeks. I am in a region whose language I have never heard spoken, and outside my room is the sweaty Congo rainforest humming with life. My ceiling is covered in fireflies flickering on and off like sparks. This is by far the most adventurous thing I have done in my life.
Guest blog by
Rowan Cassels-Brown
New Sight Summer Intern
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