On Sunday, the official “Family day” was celebrated in Congo. For the prisoners in the Central Prison in Kisangani that meant a flow of visitors this Sunday. There were wives (some have several) and children and other family members and girlfriends and prostitutes that used this official day. It was exhausting for the two Norwegians because the noise was loader than usual and many of the male prisoners were acting extra tough. Some things were smuggled in as well to some of the prisoners. Everyone was tired on Monday, so that was a quiet day.
Wednesday August 3rd the yearly prison count took place. A representative from the authorities came to the prison for the occasion and with the warden and others the count were carried out. Every prisoner in Congo is counted and information about the prisoners is kept in a register that apparently is in Kinshasa. The two Norwegian prisoners sat with the others for three hours in the yard waiting for their turn to be called out.
I got a chance to talk to Joshua today and I told him more about all that’s going on in Norway with the bomb in the government building and the massacre at Utoya. There are severely injured people from Friday July 22nd still at hospital and funeral after funeral is happening. In regards to this Josh and I talked about how valuable life is – that even if he is in prison in Congo, every day is important right now just in the everyday prison life he and Tjostolv is located in, and not just the future when they get out.
Kari Hilde French, August 4th 2011
