The frog in the pan

We were talking to the head of one of the biggest donors to the DRC. It was the day before he was to leave after three years at the helm in Kinshasa: a time for reflection.

“Do you know the phenomenon of frogs?” he asked. “If they accidentally hop into a pan of very hot water, they’ll jump out instantly. But if they’re sitting in the water, and it is gradually heated up they just sit there, totally passive, until they die. That’s why it’s time to get out. I’ve just come to accept that nothing will work here.”

It was with those words still in our minds that we went away for a week end to a spectacular waterfall about three hour’s drive from Kinshasa. We had been told that it was very nice, but nothing prepared us for the extraordinary quality of the rooms which we and two other families were to occupy. The spacious design, with a wooden deck overlooking the falls, the quasi-Indonesian style and the immaculate fittings demonstrated that one did not always have to put up with shoddy workmanship, bad design and decrepit fittings and linen which we have come to see as typical of the Congo. This was truly world class accommodation, and while expensive was probably in line with international prices for such accommodation and location. We had two bedrooms, a living room with a deck over the river, two large bathrooms each with an outside shower and a small kitchen facility with mini-bar. $500 per night for four people didn’t seem bad.

There was only one problem. The showers in one room didn’t work and in the other the pressure was very very low and the hot water ran out. We complained to the very attentive man, Albert, who seemed to be looking after our rooms. “I’m so sorry to hear about that,” he said, “I’ll get a technician to put it right immediately.”

His optimism was misplaced, because that evening and the next morning we had the same problem, if not worse. The following evening it was the same again. Luckily we could use the bathroom in the other chalet, so it was less of a disaster than it might have been. After repeated reminders that the water was still not working, we, like the frog in the ever-heating water, gave up.

When it came to check out we complained. “Why, that’s the first we have heard of it,” they said, “You should have complained at the time.” Albert, apparently was the wrong person to complain to, but irrespective of that our complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears. Eventually we prevailed, and a little trip to our chalet was arranged so that we could show the management what the problem had been. But, as luck would have it the shower worked perfectly, and we felt a little foolish. Obviously Albert had actually done something this morning.

Although the wind had been taken out of our sails, they said we could raise the issue of compensation with the management in Kinshasa. But on the way back our resolve weakened and we had begun to wonder whether it was worth making such a fuss, and whether we had been quite fair to be so cross. What would be the point? We might wangle a free night out of it, in compensation, but with little or no water . . . etc etc. But two days later everything changed. She who must be obeyed ran into a friend who had been there the previous week-end in the same rooms as us. “It was so nice,” she said, “but we had no water. . .”