I first saw this book last summer. I knew that I would read it at some point. I also knew what type of book it would be. Last week I checked it out from the library. I was ready to descend into the deep depths of humanity’s cruelty towards other humans.
Kara provides an account of several trips he took to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to see the cobalt mines. Intertwined with his experiences and interviews are sections of the book that chronicle some of the history of the Congo.
For the individuals that toil in the cobalt mines often working 12 hours a day and many getting paid less than a dollar a day life is bleak. Kara writes of one of his interviews:
“They tried to have children but she miscarried twice. I thank God for taking my babies she said. Here it is better not to be born.”
Child labor is pervasive in the mining. If a child tries to sell the cobalt to someone who will pay a higher price they can be killed. After the death of one child an interviewee stated:
“What did that child die for, he asked. For one sack of cobalt? Is that what Congolese children are worth?”
In stressing the dire circumstances another person noted:
“Please tell the people in your country a child in the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones.”
The plight of the people is striking. Kara found the oldest person in one village and spoke with her. She was 69 years old and stated:
“People ask why are the children working in the mines. My grandchildren are there now. Would you rather they starve?”
Mine tunnels often collapse killing those who are trapped. Sometimes the bodies are found other times not. At the end of an interview Kara had this exchange:
“Now you understand how people like us work?”
“I believe so.”
“Tell me.”
“You work in horrible conditions an….”
“No we work in our graves.”
After returning to the Congo Kara visited a place he had gone the year before. He inquired about a woman he interviewed the year before to learn that she had died. In reflecting on her death he wrote:
“Hope in the Congo is like a hot coal. Take hold and it will scald you to the bone.”
Overall this is a hard book to read but it is well written and it provides a glimpse into the world where profits are more important than people. Everyone should read this book. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.
“And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.”
John F Kennedy
