Back home in Goma

It is amazing to come across the border of such a foreign country and feel a sense of home coming. Camille and Esther were there to greet us and get us through safely (and grease the necessary palms). This time we got held up by the department of health. They took our passports and went into an office.  One if the rules of traveling is to never let your passport leave your sight. On these trips I have failed that rule and Camille told me that if I stood around, they will want money. We got our passports back and all was fine.

The weather in Goma is notably different than before. The temperature is the same, with a little less on the humidity.
Camille says that it's Goma's dry season. It's their Winter!  Apparently there is not as much rain so the dust and smog hangs in the air. It is thick!  There is a great sense of hope here, though. Things have changed. Roads are beginning  construction because they feel peace is underway and can now begin rebuilding.  They have bricks laying in the center being prepared to become a center island.  The chiropractic adjustment features of the roads have certainly diminished. A very wonderful sign.

After having lunch with Prashan and his team, we were asked to go directly to Congo's version of the CIA. They needed to have us fill out paperwork and interview us for our permits to film outside of Goma.  We went inside the gates and were asked to leave our cell phones outside. A very stoic and intimidating woman in a structure no more sophisticated than that of a child's tree house was our first line of questioning. We signed in and then she escorted us to the side of a building where we went into basement-like room to meet a man, more stoic and more intimidating than the woman, and his assistant at another desk.  It was quite difficult for the three of us, Camille and the fixer to fit in the room. We were asked questions which came through various translations. We had a few pages of detailed forms that included info on our schooling from elementary on, info about our parents, our wives and kids, and criminal records. For some reason they had a hard time believing we all had no convictions. Everything was done on paper. No computers. Before we arrived there we were told the cost was $50/person for this process. After we were done our fixer asked about the payment.  The discussion got weird. We couldn't really understand but it seemed confused and maybe taking a bad turn. Then Camille said we should go. On my way out I said "Asante" (goodbye) to the men and they both changed their attitude immediately. The had big smiles and chuckled a bit. When we got out to the car Camille identified that he had never witnessed anything like what took place in that office. The men actually said "no" to the fee (bribe). They asked who told us there was a fee. The fixer wouldn't give the person up to them, who was actually the first woman. Definitely a HUGE sign of change in a region where corruption has ruled for years.

We then dropped our stuff off at Maji (Dr Joe's compound) and then ran to a meeting at the UN  with a man that our fixer had waiting for us. This guy is wonderful.  He handles all the access for CNN, BBC, and all media outlets. He really took a liking to us and set up a meeting with the head guy in charge of the entire eastern region conflicts for tomorrow morning. Normally this takes weeks. He plans on setting us up with troops to take us out into a jungle village where militia are surrendering into UN camps. We will go on Saturday and return on Sunday. He also is setting us up  in a helicopter and heading out over the jungle, through the valleys, and into the Lake of Fire (the volcano).  What an amazing and fruitful day.  Time to get some sleep.