Lydia Gomersall
Lydia Gomersall is International Rescue Committee UK media and communications officer. Before joining IRC UK in 2004, Lydia lived abroad for long periods in Japan and the United States. Her work with IRC covers over 20 conflict-affected countries worldwide. She's done a lot of work on the Democratic Republic of Congo from a distance, but her 2007 visit there was her first experience of travel in Central Africa.
Congo's road to health care is full of potholes
Author: Lydia Gomersall
Ancient lampposts lean at all angles in the central reservation, drunken reminders of a colonial past as we head out of Kananga at 8.00am, but suddenly the road surface quite literally drops away.
Looking to the side there is a line of asphalt four feet above us - another reminder of what used to be. Soon even that is gone and we bounce along on the mixture of baked clay, mud, pothole and fissure that counts as a good road most places in Democratic Republic of Congo.
...
Author: Lydia Gomersall
Ancient lampposts lean at all angles in the central reservation, drunken reminders of a colonial past as we head out of Kananga at 8.00am, but suddenly the road surface quite literally drops away.
Looking to the side there is a line of asphalt four feet above us - another reminder of what used to be. Soon even that is gone and we bounce along on the mixture of baked clay, mud, pothole and fissure that counts as a good road most places in Democratic Republic of Congo.
...
What do Congo's women really want?
Author: Lydia Gomersall
In the hill villages of South Kivu, which for years have been in the thick of Congo's bitter civil wars, something is changing.
The women, so often victims of violence, often sexual, are finding their voices. On the muddy roads surrounding Bukavu, the regional capital, some of those victims are still clearly visible.
...
Author: Lydia Gomersall
In the hill villages of South Kivu, which for years have been in the thick of Congo's bitter civil wars, something is changing.
The women, so often victims of violence, often sexual, are finding their voices. On the muddy roads surrounding Bukavu, the regional capital, some of those victims are still clearly visible.
...
How does a Congolese village decide what to do with $30,000?
Author: Lydia Gomersall
The eastern Congolese district of Kaziba, home to 36,000 people in 15 villages, lies high up in the mountains, 30 bone-jarring miles by road to the southeast of Bukavu town.
The scenery en route in this part of South Kivu, is breathtaking, a thin muddy track lined with banana palms, winding up vertiginous valley sides, thatched villages nestling below.
...
Author: Lydia Gomersall
The eastern Congolese district of Kaziba, home to 36,000 people in 15 villages, lies high up in the mountains, 30 bone-jarring miles by road to the southeast of Bukavu town.
The scenery en route in this part of South Kivu, is breathtaking, a thin muddy track lined with banana palms, winding up vertiginous valley sides, thatched villages nestling below.
...
Why are Congo's babies dying?
Author: Lydia Gomersall
Midway across the river the outboard motor on our pirogue, as the dugout canoes in this part of Democratic Republic Congo are called, falters and dies.
These simple craft, each hewn from a single forest tree, have been
paddled backwards and forwards on the Congo from time immemorial. But our
motorised version, I now notice, doesn't seem to have a paddle.
...
Author: Lydia Gomersall
Midway across the river the outboard motor on our pirogue, as the dugout canoes in this part of Democratic Republic Congo are called, falters and dies.
These simple craft, each hewn from a single forest tree, have been
paddled backwards and forwards on the Congo from time immemorial. But our
motorised version, I now notice, doesn't seem to have a paddle.
...
