Congo

Formerly the Beni Car wash

The first time we visited Beni in 2006 there was a car wash just down the street from where we were meeting. Yesterday I witnessed the government closure of that car wash. Several young men are now unemployed and out looking for work. Why would the Beni government do such a thing?

To answer this question you would need to see the car wash. Essentially it’s a little gully that has some water flowing down through it. The reason the gully has some water flowing in it is because of the town water pipe, which has long been sitting above ground due to years of erosion (by rainfall). This pipe had a lead in it that created an impromptu fountain. The water fountain was redirected by a rock that had been strategically placed on the pipe. About a dozen young men used this water to hand wash vehicles.

City officials fixed the pipe. Then they buried it, protecting it against further leaks. Good for them. Bad for the entrepreneurs who were making the best of the situation.

Congo’s infrastructure is almost non-existent. It took two (plus?) years for the city to repair this water pipe. It will hardly make a dent in the work that needs to be done here. How do I know?

The next morning when I walked by the former car wash, one of the poles that holds the town electrical wires had fallen over into the gully. Thank God the car washers were no longer working there!

(In the picture you may be able to see a line in the dirt where the pipe is now buried (in the center traveling a up and to the rights. If you look a the post to the left of the picture, you may be able to see that there is freshly dug dirt at the base of the pole. They fixed it the next day! (Go figure.)