Friday, 19 November

Another busy week over - now I only have a month left in Congo. Yesterday I booked my ticket out of here - I will be leaving on 18 December and arriving in Paris on 19 December (my birthday)! I will go to England on 24 December for Christmas...

I have had an interesting time here in Congo, but I am looking forward to seeing everybody back in Europe. Though I will miss the warm climate - I am sure it is very cold in Europe!!

In the next few weeks I will be busy with my usual routine of writing daily reports on the political situation and going to meetings as well as doing lots of administration for my departure...

Wednesday, 17 November

Congolese sculptures

Here are two sculptures that I got from an artist who occasionally visits my office. They are symbols of Congo and feature on the 10 Franc banknote...

Congo animals

Here are some animals on my desk that I bought in Butembo - they are typically from Africa.

My house

This is the house that I share with the transport officer.

Rainy season!

At the moment we are at the end of the rainy season. It is really sunny during the day and rains in the evening - this is a view from my house during a storm. In December the dry season will begin.

These pictures were taken during a visit to Butembo, a town located 50km south of Beni:

Butembo-Beni road

This is a typical image along the roads in the Congo - people sell fruit from little tables by the roadside.

Butembo

...Butembo is a very dusty town with lots of shops - you can buy almost anything!