March 10, 2006

UNIKIN

UNIKIN stands for Université de Kinshasa. To get there from my office, you have to do the following:

1. Take a left after the company sign
2. Drive verrrrry slowly in and out of the ditches and around the stalled cars
3. Get to the little man in yellow and fight your way across the intersection making sure that no one is reaching inside your car to grab your bag
4. Pass the stadium on your right, then the Palais du Peuple, then l'échangeur
5. Finally go straight past the first FINA Gas station, make a sharp left after, make a soft left around the white truck with no wheels, pass a small market with the two Vodacom antenna, around the rickshaw, make a left after the third Fina station, pass the Boulangerie, take a soft left after the fourth Fina station, etc.

I'm all for doing my colleagues favors, but driving to the public health school at the university for two hours is certainly not part of my job description. AND, they said all I had to do was to drive straight. Ha!

The university itself was pretty cool, though in serious need of garden upkeep, building rehabilitation and coats of paint. It was huge, bigger than my old neighborhood in Washington DC.

(post publishing note: I found my way back BY MYSELF, which is a small miracle)

2 comments:

juliana said...

Wow, what a journey. I can't wait until I start experiencing things like that.

Diego Garcia del rio said...

I would have liked to visit UNIKIN.... It was a landmark at its time, and yes, if you see it on the maps, it is HUGE...

Another of mobutus white elephants?

Congrats on getting back by your own!!!

Garci