My buddy Grant Assenheimer, on assignment for Doctors without Borders, writes …

… Right now I’m typing from a small-whitewashed office in Shamwana, a tiny village in the middle of Katanga, the southern province of the massive DRC. Its Sunday afternoon and my day off. A generator is buzzing in the background, the Tragically Hip are playing on my IPOD and the storm clouds of the rainy season are building after a hot and sunny afternoon.

Dinner should be good. We bought some pork ribs at the “market” this morning…there was only 1 guy with meat and, after shoeing away the flies, he used an axe to literally hack off our selection. As with pretty much EVERYTHING else around here, we had avocado flown in from Lubumbashi so I’m making guacamole as a starter. Finally, we have local maize for a version of corn on the cob and will probably add some potatoes for starch. Our cook has Sunday’s off so we have to cook ourselves. No restaurants in town, charcoal for fuel, kerosene refrigerators and definitely no corner store when you run out of milk! Its not only getting used to a new kitchen but a totally new way of cooking! …

There are no landlines in the southern DRC and we are definitely not in mobile phone territory. Shamwana is a 2 hour flight from Lubumbashi and is really is in the middle of the bush. We do have a decent HF radio network and use satellite phones at a about $1.50 a minute as backup.

Internet?

Amazing enough, we have satellite Internet so I have pretty decent access to email and the Internet. I’ll be checking my Yahoo account … regularly and won’t have problems opening attachments or looking at pictures…so email away! The connection is also fast enough for Skype …

Good on ya, Grant.

Merry Christmas.