The efficient, economical answer to supply problems, “MATROPOPO”, showed up on John’s budget request for the northern park. Whatever it was, it cost thousands of dollars. How are we to explain Matropopo to the finance department in Frankfurt, Germany?
John was in the forest camp of Katopa about to start the descent of the Lomami River. I asked him by satellite SMS: “What is Matropopo? How do I explain it? Is it French? Is it Lingala? Is it Swahili?”
He answered in the 160 characters – spaces included – allotted an InReach message:
“About matropopo: Logistics breakthrough. Not Swahili, not Lingala. Onomatopoeia. It refers to sound of big diesel motor: po-po-po. Ignition makes: Maattrrrooo.”
OK ,I get it. A sort of 3rd grade lingua-franca: Matrrrrooo— Matrrrroooo – po-po-po-po-po. So, what do I tell Frankfurt?
In order to be able to translate for the financial department I did my own “Internal Audit” when I met John in Kisangani: “The real breakthrough,” John said, “is not the matropopo – but its owner.”
He is very proud of his discovery of Madame Lucie Mosopa. She oversees the loading of her Matropopo, a combination of three outsize dugouts lashed together, and accompanies it from the port of Kisangani on the Congo River to the Port of Opala on the Lomami River and from the port of Opala to our port at Bangaliwa, the most northern of the Lomami National Park base camps. It takes her 6 days.
She maximizes travel speed by omitting all unnecessary stops e.g. the Outhouse is off the stern.
On the trip, she only pulls into shore to pass the nights. It takes four days to get from Kisangani to Opala and two, upstream, from Opala to Bangaliwa.
When we asked her how much fuel was needed, she did not hesitate or consult a log book; she knew. “We used 7 barrels one way from Kis to Bangaliwa.” That is the equivalent of 1400 liters or $1,750.00 by current Kisangani prices.
What is her crew ? Five: one captain, one mechanic and three sailors. I assumed they were somehow family as that is the way it is usually done in Congo. But no. These were the most reliable people that she could find in the ports. And she is always with the same crew.
And how did she start in the matropopo business?
She started like all the hundreds of “mama commerçantes”: using a commercial riverboat she bought goods in Kisangani, where they are cheap, to take them where she could sell them at enough of a markup to make a profit: Isangi, Opala, Basoko, Lokutu. Then brought back agricultural goods to sell in Kisangani. But she realized that she lost money waiting for the riverboat in which she rented space. It would take, two, three, or more days for it to accumulate enough of a load to be profitable for the owner to pull anchor.
She set about little by little to save enough to buy a diesel motor and her own large dugout. Now she has three dugouts that she lashes together to make the Matropopo.
Madame Lucie has a husband working in agricultural outreach and two children: 11 and 7 years old.
My conclusion: it takes a strong woman to own and operate a matropopo.
3 Comments
Great post.So good to have some positive news.
I had a good laugh envisioning you coming across matropopo on the budget request. Thanks for sharing
Entrepreneurship is alive and well on the Congo River. What a great story and instructive re what it costs to move goods and people there! Some kind of bush plane would be yet more expensive, I take it?