Caitlin Hamill: Interview with a coworker

For my second blog post, I thought it would be fun to interview my friend and coworker Debra. Debra is also an intern with Tenke Fungurume Mining, and she is from Lubumbashi, the closest major city to the mining concession (about a 3-hour drive away) and the second-largest city in the DRC. Debra is interning with the Resettlement Action Plan team in the Community Development department, and we have been working together on a project over the past few weeks.

Debra and I in front of a Tenke Fungurume Mining vehicle before going to the field for the day, in front of the RAP (Resettlement Action Plan) office at Base Camp

One day at the office I was struggling to say something in French, and Debra responded in perfect English — “I didn’t know you spoke English!” I said, surprised, and she explained that she actually attends university classes in English, because she is a student at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation, a university just across the border from Congo in Kitwe, Zambia where English is the official language. Her mother is Zambian and her father is Congolese, and Debra has attended school in both French and English. She speaks five languages (Chokwe, Bemba, Swahili, French, and English), and she is studying social work at university. Next year she is considering starting another concentration in management to gain another set of skills.

When I asked Debra about gender roles in DRC, she told me that girls and women in DRC today have more choices and more opportunity when it comes to schooling, sports, careers, and marriage. Debra plays soccer every Tuesday and Thursday with a women’s team here, and she told me that girls sports programs have generally become stronger in schools in DRC, although it depends on the size and funding of the school. Debra told me that in the past, some tribes would not allow women to marry outside of their own tribe, but that is changing. For her ethnic group, the Chokwe, it is not uncommon for women to marry outside of the tribe and like in the United States, women are getting married later.

In DRC, women can become doctors, lawyers, and really anything else that they set their sights on, but limited economic opportunity and quality of education can prevent both boys and girls from achieving their goals. Growing up, Debra saw a need to help young people—she told me that too many young people drop out of school because they cannot pay for it, or because they are not motivated, and this is why she chose to study social work. After she graduates, Debra wants to work with youth and girls in particular, helping them stay in school and lead healthy, successful lives.

Caitlin Hamill: A Day at the Base Camp

Here at Tenke Fungurume Mining, I live at base camp along with many of the other employees of the mine. At base camp you can find our lodging, clinic where mine employees and their families seek medical care, our mess hall where we eat each day, a gym, social club, outdoor swimming pool, and tennis court, and finally our offices. It is very convenient to eat, sleep, exercise and work in one place. My morning “commute” is a 3-minute walk up a small hill from my room to my office, and I can stop in the mess hall and grab some breakfast on my way.

Base camp is located right on the edge of the small city of Fungurume, and about a 20-minute drive from a town called Tenke. Most of the research that I mentioned earlier takes place in Tenke and Fungurume, where you can find small shops, churches, schools, and a market. The local markets sell a great variety of products. Going to the market is a much different experience than going to the grocery store in the US, but I was surprised to find almost everything that I wanted, and an amazing variety of fresh veggies and fruits.

Congolese food at the Congolese food fair that was held at Bravo Camp during the month of June in celebration of Congolese independence (30 June) – sweet potatoes and fried caterpillars!

When I first came to the DRC in 2011, I really missed peanut butter. Lucky for me, peanuts are grown all over the country, and locally made peanut powder and peanut butter are easy to find in the market (and delicious)! One Congolese dish that I really like is fumbua—wild spinach greens cooked with peanut and tomato sauce flavored with smoked fish. It sounds strange, but it is great.

To get around town, I ride with my coworkers in the Community Development department in one of the big white land rovers. Although some of the main roads are paved and very good quality, to visit smaller villages we must take dirt roads that require 4-wheel drive—sometimes it is a bumpy ride! Many people walk, use bicycles and motorbikes to get around, and for longer distances there are buses that run between larger towns in the province.

My Congolese coworkers speak at least 3 languages — their family’s tribal dialect like Chokwe or Bemba, Swahili, French, and many times English, too! I am constantly amazed when I hear people switch rapidly between different languages, mixing French and Swahili…Even though I studied Spanish and Arabic in school, I am not yet fluent in a 2nd language, and I am still just learning French, the official language in the DRC. I think I have improved quite a bit since I arrived in June!

Meet Caitlin Hamill

Hi everyone! My name is Caitlin Hamill, and I am a summer intern in the Community Development department at Tenke Fungurume Mining, an affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. I am originally from the great state of Maine, “Vacationland,” as it is nicknamed, but this summer I chose to spend my vacation here at the mine site in Fungurume, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it is the chilliest part of the dry season (winter).

Me on a bus with families from Kasolondo going home to Lubumbashi as a part of the Kasolondo Repatriation Project.

How and why did I end up here in Congo at a copper and cobalt mine? Well, I am a graduate student in a two-year International Relations masters degree program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC, and I just completed my first year in May.  At SAIS, I am concentrating on International Development.

I am especially interested in how people make a living in places that are not well-connected to the global economy, and how to enable more people to reach a better standard of living. This area of development work is often called livelihoods and job creation, and I came to Congo to intern with TFM because I wanted to learn about how private companies like TFM contribute to economic growth and job creation in developing countries like the DRC.

One of the things I am working on as a part of my internship is researching a livelihoods restoration program for an upcoming resettlement. As the mine expands its operations, our department works with local villages to ensure that if people must be resettled, they are able to restore or improve their livelihoods. For example, if a woman makes and sells donuts in her village, our department must ensure that when her village is resettled, that she can still run her business and make just as much (if not more) income than she did where she lived before.

The upcoming livelihoods restoration program that I am working on will provide resettled people with seeds, tools, and fertilizer since most people on the mining concession grow maize to feed their families. In addition, the program will provide people with “income-generation packages” — these are things like small animals (goats and chickens) that people can raise and sell in the market, or vocational training in catering, tailoring, and other skills.

What I really like about my internship work is going out to the market and talking with people to gather information that helps us plan the livelihoods restoration program for resettled people. To be sure that our program will succeed, we must verify certain assumptions. For example, before we provide people with goats and chickens, we want to be sure that there is a demand for chickens and goats in the local market, so we visit the market, walk around, and talk with vendors and customers to better understand where there are opportunities for income generation.

Introduction: Culture of the DRC

This post was written by Benjamin Katabuka. Learn more about his work as a STEM professional here. 

ETHNIC GROUPS & LANGUAGES

Around 250 ethnic groups populate the Congo. Together, Mongo, Luba, Kongo and Mangbetu-Azande constitute around 45% of the population. The country has about 600,000 pygmies, who are the aboriginal people of the Congo.

French is the official language of the Congo. It is used by the state administration. Approximately 240 other languages are spoken in the country, but only four have the status of national languages: Kikongo, Tshiluba, Lingala and Swahili. Although some speak these languages as first languages, most of the people speak them as a second language after their own ethnic or tribal language. Primary education tends to be in the national language of the region, and the secondary education and beyond, tends to be in French.

MINING

Although the DRC population is among the poorest in the world, the Congo is widely considered to be one of the richest countries in the world regarding natural resources. It untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of USD 24 trillion. For instance, the Congo has more than 30% of the world’s diamond reserves, 50% of the world’s cobalt and 70% of world’s coltan. The economy of the Congo relies heavily on mining. Most of the smaller-scale economic activity occurs in the informal sector and are not reflected in the GDP data.

CULTURE

The culture of the Congo reflects the diversity of its hundreds of ethnic groups and their differing ways of life throughout the country – from the mouth of River Congo on the coast, upriver through the rainforest and savanna in its center, to the more densely populated mountains in the far east. Since the late 19th century, traditional ways of life have undergone changes brought about by colonialism, the struggle for independence, the stagnation of the Mobutu era, and most recently, the two civil wars. Despite these pressures, the customs and cultures of the Congo have retained much of their individuality. The country’s 70 million inhabitants are mainly rural. About 30% who live in urban areas have been the most open to Western influences.

The Congo is also known for its art. Traditional art includes masks and wooden statues.

FLORA & FAUNA

The rain forest of the Congo contain a great biodiversity, including rare and endemic species, such as the common chimpanzee and the bonobo, the African forest elephant, mountain gorilla, okapi and white rhino. The chimpanzee and bonobo are the closest living evolutionary relatives to humans.

Five of the country’s national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites. The Congo is the most biodiverse African country. The civil wars and resultant poor economic conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity.

However, as result of poor living conditions of the Congolese people, lack of education and armed conflicts, there is a major environmental as well as socio-economic crisis related to the “bushmeat”. The bushmeat is another word for the meat of wild animals. It is typically obtained through trapping, usually with wire snares, or otherwise with shotguns, poisoned arrows or arms originally intended for use in the the country’s numerous military conflicts. A rising population combined with deplorable economic conditions has forced many Congolese to become dependent on bushmeat, either as a means of acquiring income (hunting and selling the bushmeat), or dependent on it for food.

Unemployment and urbanization have exacerbated the problem further by turning cities like the capital city, Kinshasa, into the prime market for commercial bushmeat. This combination has caused not only widespread endangerment of local fauna, but has forced humans to trudge deeper into the wilderness in search of the desired animal meat. This overhunting results in the deaths of more animals and makes resources even more scarce for humans.

Introduction: Democratic Republic of the Congo

This post was written by Benjamin Katabuka. Learn more about his work as a STEM professional here. 

The Democratic Republic of Congo, sometimes referred as the Congo, DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa or DRC, is a country located in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the 11th largest in the world. With an estimated population of about 70 million, DRC is the 19th most populous nation in the world, the fourth most populous in Africa, as well as the most populous officially Francophone country.

GEOGRAPHY

The Congo is bounded by nine countries – the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania in the east; Zambia and Angola to the south; the Republic of Congo to the West. The country has access to the ocean through a 40-kilometer (25 miles) stretch of Atlantic coastline.

As a result of its equatorial location, the Congo experiences high precipitation and has the highest frequency of thunderstorms in the world. The area sustains the Congo Rainforest, the second largest rainforest in the world after Amazon. The Congo has a diverse landscape with plateaus merging into savannas in the south and southwest, mountainous terraces in the west, and dense grasslands extending beyond the Congo River in the north. High, glaciated mountains are found in the extreme eastern region (Rwenzori Mountains). 

The Congo River basin (meaning the Congo River and all its myriad of tributaries) occupies nearly the entire country and an area nearly 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq meters). The Congo River and its tributaries form the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. They have an important impact on the daily lives of millions of people.

HISTORY

The history of the Congo is a succession of painful and difficult situations from the pre-colonial era to present. However, the people of Congo have always been optimistic in the future of their country. Click here for an in-depth look at the history of Congo.

CONGO FREE STATE (1877 – 1908) & THE RULE OF KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM 

Belgian exploration, exploitation and administration of the Congo took place from the 1870 until the 1960. It was led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his exploration under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold II formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and made the land his private property and named it the Congo Free State.

BELGIAN CONGO (1908 – 1960) 

In 1908, following international pressure, the Free State from the King was taken over. From then on, as a Belgian colony, the Congo was called the Belgian Congo and was under the rule of the elected Belgian government. The governing of the Congo improved significantly and considerable economic and social progress was achieved. The white colonial rulers had, however, generally a condescending, patronizing attitude toward the indigenous people.

INDEPENDENCE & POLITICAL CRISIS (1960 – 1965) 

The Belgian Congo officially achieved its independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960 under the name of “Republic of Congo”. Patrice Lumumba, whose party won the parliamentary elections a few months before the independence, was appointed Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu as the President.

Shortly after independence, the provinces of Katanga and South Kasai engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership. The power struggles between Lumumba and Kasavubu led Mobutu, who was Chief of Staff of the new Congo army, with the support of the army and some foreign governments, to intervene and suspend the government. On January 17, 1961, Lumumba was executed in the Katanga province allegedly by the Katanga forces and Belgian paratroops and the support of the US.

Introduction: Benjamin Katabuka

My name is Benjamin Katabuka, and I am a Congolese national. I was born and grew up in northeast part of the country, in the Ituri region. I left Congo some three years after high school in 1996 and went to Switzerland as a refugee. After a quite difficult integration in a different country and completely new culture at the beginning, I managed after a year and half from my arrival to Switzerland to be admitted to a law school. After my law degree, I did another two-year program focused on business law. I completed this program in 2004. During my studies, I had a part-time job as a receptionist in a museum.

After completing my studies, I first worked as in-house lawyer in a public transport company and then moved to a law firm. In 2009, after almost 13 years, I left Switzerland and went to the US, in Philadelphia to join the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) School of Law for a one-year program on US law (LLM). I also passed the New York Bar and was admitted to practice law in New York.

After my graduation at UPenn, I was recruited by Freeport-McMoRan. I worked at the corporate office in Phoenix for 7 months in a small group called Business Development and Growth. In March 2011, I was transferred to the Congo to work for Tenke Fungurume Mining, an affiliate/subsidiary company of Freeport-McMoRan. TFM has a mining project (copper and cobalt) in the Katanga province, in southwest of Congo.

From March 2011 to January 2013, I worked as Senior Legal Counsel and from February 2013 until now, I am the Manager of Import-Export for our Global Supply Chain. I am in charge of the customs clearing of our goods for import and export, and putting in place procedures to improve the import-export processes. We currently import about USD 400 million per year and we expect to export, this year, about 200,000 tons of copper and 14,000 tons of cobalt. Import-export is a challenging area in developing countries like Congo as it is full of improper payments solicitations.

I speak French, English, Swahili, Lingala, and Kihema. The last one is my tribal or ethnic language. I am still single and have no children. I do currently live in a camp at the Mine site in small town called Fungurume, which is about 200 km from Lubumbashi, the capital city of the Katanga province. My parents fled the war in Ituri and have been living in neighboring Uganda for the past 12 years. I am from a family of 14 children. Most of them still live in northeast of Congo and some have moved to Uganda. I should have about 40 nephew and nieces!