Word: matadi
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...returned to England disillusioned and physically racked by tropical sickness. In addition, the destructive effects of Belgian colonialism on tribal life made a lasting impression on the son of a Polish patriot who had been jailed and exiled for his activities against Russian imperialism. During an overland trek from Matadi to Kinshasa, the Diary notes, he "met an off[ic]er of the State inspecting; a few minutes afterwards saw at a camp-[in]g place the dead body of a Backongo...
...city consists of mud huts, where the people eke out a living on the edge of starvation. And corruption is a way of life. (According to popular belief, Mobutu simply does not pay his soldiers, which is why they set up road-blocks in places like Lubumbashi and Matadi, waving submachine guns and demanding bribes before they let drivers pass...
...Matadi, Zaire Republic--It was a six-hour trip up the Congo River. The first half was delta swamp with dense jungle and occasional mudflats where huge flocks of birds congregated. The second half was hills, cliifs, ravines, small huts wherever there was greenery, and lone fishermen paddling along the backwaters...
...Matadi is Zaire's outlet to the ocean, paved and built up by the Belgians before they left in the violent early 1960's. There haven't been any new buildings for a long time, and marks of civilization, like the concrete slabs covering the sewer ditches, are falling apart. Like center cities everywhere, Matadi is giving way to the suburbs: the villages which crowd the circle of hills around the city now use shale-and-cement and concrete blocks for building materials instead of woven cane and occasional tin-and-plywood...
...Kwilu but also in Unité Kasaienne to the east, and in Kwango province to the west. The government's biggest immediate concern was that they might cut off the Kasai River, through which the Congo's copper from Katanga currently travels to the Atlantic port of Matadi...