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Showing posts from October, 2013

Towards a world without "development" ?

Sixty years of development assistance later, the poor remain poor, inequalities are growing, and hopes for change are becoming few and far in between. Severine Rugumamu writes: " In the long run, and all other things being equal, foreign assistance dependence, like drug addiction, destroys rather than enhances the institutional capacities of the users, paralyses national initiatives ... and erodes the very basis of national sovereignty " Is development assistance just like a drug addiction? It certainly seems like it at times here in Mbandaka. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a particularly sobering example of how international involvement has failed to improve, maybe even in parts worsened the situation. Fact is that the average income is lower in 2013 than it was 1960 (the year of independence). Who is to blame and to whom can the Congolese turn to for help? Certainly the infamous kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko is on top of the list

More garden pics :)

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Above: First Pepper Flower / die erste Paprika-Blüte  Underneath: Dawa guarding the tomatoes and the chicken shed / Dawa bewacht die Tomaten, und unser Hühnerstall Gurkenblüte - mittlerweile ist der ganze Stock befallen : ( aber eine Gurke haben wir noch geerntet / Cucumber Flower ... in the meantime the entire plant has been attacked and is dying from what I believe to be Aphids (little bugger on the back of the leave :/  Melaine between Milpa (a mix of corn, beans and pumpkin grown in one bed) and Zucchini, cucumbers, bean and peas on the right / links on Melaine das Milpa Beet - eine Kombination aus Mais, Bohnen und Kürbis; rechts von ihm Zucchini, Gurken (damals noch am leben), Erbsen und noch mehr Bohnen... above: Mais / Corn Right: Renate beim essen (Reishülsen, getrockneter Fisch, gestampfter Maniok und Mais, plus Maispuder) / Our chicken Renate eating out of the home-made bamboo plate (my new receipt: dried Maniok, corn meal, corn, smok