I told them not to call me that... I told them I'm a student to, but thre is a strong adhesion to custom here, and if you teach someone you must be ecalled professor. "Professor Joel," they say, "the conflict in the Congo is a very comlicated one, how do all these big ideas of conflict resolution apply to us?" ... hmm...
Sitting here, at the end of day five of six, teaching the esential principles of conflict resolution, human rights, and democracy, I try to explain to the estudents that there are no easy answers. What we've tried to uphold throughout this brief seminar is the fact that these idea are just tools, ideas that they might be able to use to better understand the conflict that surrounds them. I don't have all the answers. I don't pretend to know how to fix the Congo's problems. But maybe today I inspired somebody to take a stronger interest in human rights, in participatory democracy, that maybe one day he might do s0mething to change his country in a positive way(I say he because so far we've had only two female students, neither of which stayed for the whole course).
Today I presentd my lecture on "Rights and Democracy, Democracy and Rights." I tried to offer the students an idea of how rights might play a role in their life. Many of them didn't know how directly their new Constitution, adopted only nine months ago, borrows from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And so I gave a few examples of how their constitution borrows the exact wording of the declaration. I explained to them some of the charateristics of democracy, and asked them whether or not they flt that these are present in the Congo today. Of course they're not all here. I hope I stressed the point that democracy is a process, not a tat of affairs; that it need sconstant attntion and nourishment if it is to flourish. And continuing the metaphor that has dominated this fragile election period, I stressed that now, with democracy in its birth, what is needed is a great deal of nourishment and encouragment to help this new child grow into something strong and healthy.
The response has been pretty good. I have to admit, I got a little excited at the end of my lecture as I explained to these students, to my Congolese brothers (and today, one sister), that this new democracy is in their hands, that it's up to them to help it grow. I think I caught in their eyes the realization that the responsibility for the Congo's future lies not only in the hands of those in power, but that the Congolese themselves play an integral role.
I heard more than once a frustrated, yet hopeful comment: "What the Congo needs is more seeminars like this!" ... I agree. But alas, my plane ticket is booked, and no one is (yet) willing to pay for even this short trip, let alone the time it would take to stick around and try to foster more of this kind of learning.
I have been speaking with a few of the student leaders here, and I will be working with them, even after I leave, to develop ideas for the improvement of this fine country. I suggested (not realizing that in doing so I had committed myelf) that I could help set up a blog for some Congolese students to share their ideas online (keep your eyes peeled, it will happen). I am also meeting with some of these same students on Thursday to hear a bit more of their stories, and explor some more ways we can help each other in the future. ... We'll see what that brings!

-joel