Friday List!

Sarah's List:

A few Congo friends tipped me off this week to this blog post: When You Kill Ten Million Africans You Aren't Called Hitler. Yeah. Just let that sit with you for a little while.

Part of the problem is that the situation in Congo is so confusing and too overwhelming to even begin to understand. One suggestion. Start with this excellent kids book:

Buy it here.

And work your way up to this one:

Buy it here.

Or have you heard of the eBook website BookBub? Tell them what kinds of books you like and they'll let you know when they're on sale or even free!

A savvy reader tipped me off to egyptianstreets.com. Find everything you want to know about what's happening in Egypt and Syria and everywhere in between.

Two guys sleeping in a mosque. Photo Credit: me.

Thanks so much for the great responses this week to The Picture That Did Me In. Especially to Elizabeth over at Something Slightly Resembling Gumption.

Relatedly, the thing I've been thinking about most is that Congolese life expectancy rate: 48 years. But think about it within the context of all the life saving interventions one has over a lifetime made possible by access. Here's a great series of reader responses to why they're still alive.

Landing in DRC. One of the many, many times.

Finally, need a laugh? Just click. Seriously.


Jill's List:

All about Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies.  (I'm not admitting to how much of this applies to me.) Thanks, Anna!

The cake I made Sarah when we all celebrated her "unusual wonderfulness". 

Mothers and grad school.  There's a baby penalty?!  And, there's this, of course.

Just an unfair blur?

Word on the Kinshasa streets is that some folks in the local government had the chance to meet the Pope recently.  He's been all sorts of busy: cold-calling regular people, banishing limousines, and driving himself around in a 1984 Renault Economy.  I'm so curious to know what they talked about...

Image from Wikipedia.

Movember is coming soon-ish.  For some reason, it's historically been a popular pastime here at The American School of Kinshasa. Thanks for the memories, Ellie!  Exhibit A:

Made this apple crisp last night with some of the precious rolled oats we painstakingly packed and brought 7,000 miles with us this year.  Totally worth it.

And.  Holy Kinshasa artists!  National Geographic ran an amazing piece that was extremely reminiscent of our visit to Aicha's studio a few months ago.

That painting?  Hanging in our hallway.