Central African Republic

Back over in Africa, we were on to our next country: Central African Republic, or CAR for short. Now this is one of those countries I wouldn't have been able to tell you was a country until this project. But it's there, right in the middle of the continent.



It was once one of the most sophisticated countries in Africa, but it was decimated by the slave trade. The remains of the country were then under French colonial rule (the official language of the country is French and a Creole-ish language), who did basically nothing for those struggling to survive there- but cashing in on the diamonds and uranium the land had to offer. When CAR finally earned it's independence in 1960, the citizens were ruled by egocentric dictators who tore the country apart even further. There were recently a few years of stability, but the country has since fallen back into a civil war.

The few years of stability came after the ousting and trial of their previous self proclaimed Emperor. Emperor Bokassa was gave himself such a lavish coronation ceremony that he nearly bankrupted the already poor country. CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world. If you lived there, you'd make 98.67% less money. 

 If that's not bad enough, he's also been accused of being a cannibal. It was believed that he had his opponents murdered and then ate them (if he decided not to feed them to his pet crocodiles and lions).  Sounds kind of like that Equatorial Guinea dictator. 

But like I said, he was ousted. When he then ran away to France where he bought a chateau with the money he had embezzled. For some odd reason he went back to CAR, where he was tried for war crimes, and found guilty- somehow going from the death penalty to life in solitary confinement to living out his days as a free man.

In 2016, a new guy was elected, Touadeara. He seems alright. He ran on uniting the country, as it is a country torn apart by religion, as violence between Christians and Muslims runs rampant.

CAR doesn't even have the benefit of being in a stable part of the world - in fact it's in one of the most unstable. It is boarded by Chad, the Sudans, the Congos, and the bad part of Cameroon.

Even our book which always errs on the side of optimism, discusses just how dangerous CAR is to visit, and the official US travel warning paints a bleak picture of instability and unpredictable violence.  The nearest embassy, should you need any help is in Yaounde, Cameroon. If you do try and venture to CAR's capital city of Bangui (Bon-gee), it will cost you thousands in bribes to get there. Police at the boarders will let you through for a price, but be warned, they might take your belongings and charge you to get them back.

After the election of president Touadera, France pulled out some troops it had stationed there to support the UN peacekeeping missionaries that had been in CAR, but just in the last couple weeks, some of those peacekeepers have been killed.  The country for now, is off many people's radars. But that could soon be coming to an end, and not in a good way. The UN considers the violence 'highly worrying.' 

CAR does have some things going for it. Dzanga-Sangha Reserve is a sanctuary for animals amid the ravaging armed conflict. This reserve is in the Congo river basin and is home to elephants, leopards, chimps, and the lowland gorilla. In fact, CAR has the largest lowland gorilla population in the world. (Also, fun fact: 'gorilla' comes from the Greek word 'gorillai' meaning 'tribe of hairy women'). 

 

Nomadic tribes still roam in the land in CAR and live in grass huts. The AKA people are one of the most prominant. They have their own language, and are known for teeth sharpening- a mating ritual where teenagers have their top and bottom front teeth sharpened to a point.

The boys made their postcards and tried to focus on the positives. 

Calib's featured a wealth of diamonds below the surface. 

Peyton filled his jungle with gorillas and Aka people. 

And Hayden included the famed butterfly population of CAR. They are a brightly colored, very large unique species. Sadly, they are actually hunted so their wings can be sold to artists for mosaics. 

For dinner we had Sweet Peanut Butter Rice, Baked African Yam Fries with Sauteed Shrimp and Salsa, Spinach and Bananas. 

This dinner earned four spoons up. 

The main dish was really the star of the show here. Surprising, since there was sweet potatoes (we're still working off that $1.99 10 pound bag from Costco), but we did deviate from the recipe a bit. We skipped the cod, because well, we've discussed our disdain for fish. We also have talked about the difference between yams and sweet potatoes (for most purposes in America they are interchangeable, but that's not the case everywhere)- so we did a mixture of sweet potatoes and Idaho potatoes (I highly recommend the variation!) I would eat this one again, happily. Everyone but Peyton was on board. He picked out the shrimp, ate his side dishes and called it a day. 

The rice was not great, though. Asa is the only one who really liked it. The rest of us were not fans, although ours was not as soupy as the picture in the recipe.

Peyton picked a nice blue color for CAR

76 down, 117 to go!

Next Up: Belgium