The hopes and fears of a nation flow with the Congo river

[dArKeR]

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , ON THE CONGO RIVER, CONGO
Thursday, Apr 22, 2004,Page 16

On the muddy banks of Kisangani, the river releases a man who risked cholera and crocodiles and spent three months on a decrepit barge -- all for a chance to travel a thousand miles to sell, at long last, a sack of plastic ladies' shoes.

Outside Mbandaka, where it trips over the Equator, the river glances up at the shell of a dictator's unfinished palace, now home to a pair of cows.

In a hidden creek in the hard-knocks capital, Kinshasa, the river hears the screams of an unwanted girl. Her father banished her to the water, believing that she was a witch.

Today, as this country tries to knit itself together after a half-decade of war that ended last year, the river is witness to Congo's slow, aching rebirth. It is both symbol and substance of the country's reunification, and the life it nurtures on its banks shows the enormity of the task.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/04/22/2003137674