Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo

History

In the 1800's, Leopold II of Belgium created an international trading company. He exploited congo's resources. He also enslaved the people. He treated the region harshly. In 1908, the belgian parliment seized the domain from king Leopold. Congo became known as Belgian Congo. After the second world war congo negiotiated with belgium for their independance. In 1960, congo was named the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1965, Mobuto Sese Seko seized power and renamed the country the Republic of Zaire. In 1997, Laurent Kabila declared himself president and changed the country's name back to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Where people live

• Most congo people live in small villages, farming small pieces of land and fishing.
• A typical rural house is made of mud with a single room.
• These houses have no electricity and they have no running water. Water is collected from streams, rivers and wells.
• In the capital there is electricity but there are blackouts often. Many people steal electricity, this way they don't have to pay for it.
• The water pipes are bad quality and there are lots of interruptions.

Healthcare

Medical help is available in urban areas but it's hard to get it in rural areas. Many people in this country suffer from malaria, yellow fever, aids and cholera. Preventive medicine and mosquito nets are too expensive for the average congolese. In rural areas there has been ebola virus outbreaks because of being in contact with infected animals.

Natural resources

• DRC is one of the worlds largest diamond producers
• DRC colbat and copper mines don't function
• Some of DRC's other natural resources are oil, gold, silver, zinc, tin, uranium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, timber, cassava and banana trees.
• Even though DRC is wealthy with resources, they are hard to export
• DRC has hydro electric power

Pressing issues

• DRC is lacking a well- developed financial system. Because of this people sell cannabis for money.
• A big issue is that many gorillas are being killed and poached in DRC.
• Many children are used as soldiers

Population

• The DRC's population is 70.9 million
• Growing by 3.2 % every year.
• 47 % is younger than 15 years old
• DRC is home to over 200 ethnic groups
• 60% of the population live in rural areas

Environmental concerns

The environmental concerns are water pollution, deforestation and animal poaching. The cia world factbook reports that all of this is because of the large amount of refugees in the DRC. About 100 people per day die as a result of unhealthy water conditions.

Land distribution

Arable land( land suitable for producing crops)- 2.86%

Permanent crops( crops produced by plants that last many seasons)- 0.47%

Other- 96.67%

where people work

The majority of people in DRC work in rural agricultural jobs. These people farm corn, potatoes, beans, manioc and rice.

Wealth distribution

There is no current accurate data of DRC's wealth distribution. What we do know is DRC has 0.82% of the worlds population and only 0.01% of the worlds wealth. DRC is a very poor country.

Scacity of resources

DRC is not scarce on water, it is scarce on clean drinking water. Many people get waterbourne diseases because of this.

Country Income

The GDP is $21.93 billion. DRC is ranked 119 in the world for GDP. The GDP per person is $300.

Aid Costs

• Flight cost- From Johannesburg to Kinshasa,DRC. (South African Airways) $ 5,371 (2 people)

• Hotel Cost- (Safe Accommodation 3 star) $ 2,800 (14 days)(2 people)

• Rental Car Cost- (4 seater) $ 560 (14 days)

• Security Cost- One full time french speaking driver/ security guard

$ 1,400 (14 days)

• Mosquito Nets Cost- $ 7,000 (1,400 nets)

• Condoms Cost- $ 3,571 (10,000 condoms)

• Nurse cost- (For teaching how to use mosquito nets/ condoms) $1,904 (8 hours per day)(14 days)

• Total cost- $ 22,606

Sources

• www.Culturegrams.com
• Cia world factbook
• www.FLYSAA.com
• www.TripAdvisor.com
• www.tripbase.com
• Ivory Eagle Security Firm
• www.globalministries.org
• ww.geology.com
• www.projectmosquitonet.org
• www.johannesburg.olx.co.za
• www.everyculture.com
• www.payscale.com
• World Distribution of Household Wealth (James B. Davies, 5 December 2006)