Congo, Republic Wedding Bridal Fashion Jewelry 95

Congo, Republic Wedding Bridal Fashion Jewelry.

By Aamir Mannan. 

The main languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are French, (Ki)swahili, Lingala, Tshiluba and Kikongo, but there are over 200 languages and dialects spoken by around 250 ethnic groups. Over 70% Congolese are Christians, the rest follow African religions, Islam and other beliefs. Around 68% work in agriculture, 19% in services and 13% in the industrial sector. Many people in rural areas live without electricity; water sources are mostly unprotected and subject to contamination. Infections and parasitic diseases claim many lives, with the mortality rate for children under 5years being very concerning.

Education for the African population has been almost non-existent for a long time under the Belgium colonial rule. The little infrastructure that was built under colonialism focused on commercial exploitation of the territory rather than public welfare. Since the independence from Belgium in 1960 extreme political, social and economical instability has been dominant.
The years after independence were shadowed by civil war. In the mid 1990s the conflict in neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi had spread to the Tutsi group in eastern Congo. Civil disorder followed. When president Laurent Desire Kabila, who came into power backed up by Rwandan troops in 1997, shifted away from his alliance with Rwandan and Ugandan troops and ordered them home, a protracted civil war broke out. The eastern provinces of DRC are still under war-like situations, with monitoring by United Nations peacekeeping forces and the national army. People in this area are under constant threat. Most of the visitors in our group are from the eastern part of Congo, and have lived in refugee camps for many years. This has resulted in low literacy for many, as well as trauma. All are in Australia on humanitarian visas.