"The normal laws of development are inverted here in the Congo. The forest, not the town, offers the safest sanctuary and it is grandfathers who have been more exposed to modernity than their grandchildren. I can think of nowhere else on the planet where the same can be true."
Butcher learns a great deal on his journey in the Congo. This quotation is his straightforward application of a native parable. Having seen generation after generation become softer and less equipped to survive in the jungle, the locals believe that the jungle itself is the safest place to live. Despite the treacherous lifestyle of the forest-dwellers, they remain insulated form western culture and thus safe from the only true danger, which is apathy.
"For those who think Africa's problems can simply be solved by the injection of money, I would recommend a crash course in cobalt economics in the Congo. In 2004 the cobalt boom meant there was plenty of money in Lubumbashi, but the presence of money did not guarantee that the local economy grew or even stabilised."
Butcher is writing this to inform his friends and family of the actual state of affairs in the Congo. He's hoping to discredit al the lies floating out there and the misconceptions about life in Africa. Actually, Africa has had many financial booms, which led to little to no economic security. Money means very little to a people who struggle for survival vs. nature on a daily basis.
"My journey through the Congo had its own unique category. It did not quite do it justice to call it adventure travel, and it certainly wasn't pleasure travel. My Congo journey deserved its own category: ordeal travel. At every turn I faced challenges, difficulties and threats when in the Congo. The challenge was to assess and choose the option best suited to making progress. But there were moments when there were no alternatives, or shortcuts or clever ideas. At these times, ordeal travel became really no ordeal at all."
Butcher writes the beginning of his journal after returning from the Congo. In retrospect, he classifies the trip as harrowing. He didn't go there on some grand adrenaline-junkie-style quest for adventure. He was merely fulfilling a promise as accurately and deliberately as possible. In the end, he learned that the true challenge of the trip was exercising good judgement. when choice was removed, he was able to sit back and relax a little because he couldn't do anything to change his circumstances.
"I was born here in the Congo. When my parents took me as a child back to Greece, it was more primitive than here. I used to look forward to coming back to the Congo because it was more advanced than Greece. Can you imagine that?"
Tim is surprised by this man's declaration. He preferred the civility of the Congo to that of Greece. In another time he probably would have understood, but the western world of Tim's day has painted the Congo as the most uncivilized of places, full of savages and disease. Even the native admits how funny his childhood observations seem in today's world.
