Cell Phones & other oddities

The Congolese love their cell phones. This guy, who sat next to me in a cab, said he had seven; he only had four in his hands when I took this photo, though. Apparently, there are at least six cell networks in the DRC, and you need different phones to send and receive calls on them. Mention cell phones here and it's kind of like mentioning baboons elsewhere in Africa: Everyone has lots of stories. Someone I met the other day said he knew a Congolese guy with 10 phones.
The Congolese are also very particular about money. Dollar bills are accepted -- but only if they are pristine. I tried to pay for lunch with a crisp ten-dollar bill, but the waitress studied it for a while and handed it back to me, saying it was no good because it had a tiny rip in the top. Looking closely, I saw the rip, and fished around for a more intact bill. It's an odd feeling to have a pocket full of money but no ability to use it in an entire country. It's worse than odd when you consider that, according to some, there are no ATMs in the entire country. And this country is about the size of western Europe!

One more Congo anecdote: A Congolese man I met said he accidentally shook the hand of his father-in-law the other day -- a major faux pas in the DRC -- so he now owes the father-in-law a goat. Goats cost about $40 here in Lubumbashi, and about half that in smaller towns.