Le Sape: Extravagance or Fashion

These are sapeurs, acolytes of a 25-year-old movement called la SAPE—La Societé des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (aka Kitendi, the religion of the cloth) — that revolves around the possession of the most expensive, most luxurious, most extravagant fashion in the world. Followers of SAPE wear $10,000 jackets and $500 shoes, but these mostly young Congolese men otherwise barely eke out a living in the rubble of Kinshasa and Brazzaville or the ghettos of Paris and Brussels, washing dishes or washing bodies, and sometimes selling their own.

The craze started with le Pape de la SAPE—intermediary between the gods of fashion and practicing sapeurs—the musician Papa Wemba, born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in the Kasai River region of the Belgian Congo. Papa Wemba, an emerging pop star in the late 1960s, fomented a revolution in self-presentation, agitating for pizzazz over the dowdy duds prescribed by Mobutu Sese Seko's "authenticity movement." Mobutu was the first leader of Zaire after it was renamed—freshly liberated from Belgium in 1960 (Zaire is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). His authenticity movement, which frowned on all associations with Western culture, was part of an effort to distinguish African-controlled Zaire from the Belgian-controlled Congo. Under Mobutu, anything from Christianity to neckties was in danger of being banned.
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Telema Mpo Na Congo = Stand Up for the Congo

Check this out. Revolutionary music at its finest. In a time where Africa is now a topic of discussion again and it is cool to be part of a mission to help rebuild Africa, we have ran across a group of true Congolese cats that are not about the fame or $$, but they literally carry, The DRCongo on their back. “LOPANGO YA BANKA,” which means “House of the Ancestors.”

Mommy Balali Holds the Future of the Silverbacks in Her Hands

After the devastating massacre of five gorillas last month; a glimmer of hope is shining through, following the birth of a baby boy gorilla to a family of mountain apes in Congo's Virunga National Park. The gorilla was born on August 21 to Balali -- the only female gorilla in a group of apes known to researchers as the Munyaga family.

Nine mountain gorillas have been killed in the park since January; a tragedy for a species that is estimated to number in the hundreds. Only about 700 mountain gorillas are believed to remain in the world; with the majority (380) living in DRC.

While we strive to bring light to the plight of our people in the DRCongo, our friends at Wildlife Direct work hard to ensure that native animals like the Mountain Gorilla and the Hippopotamus don't go the way of the dinosaurs. Congo Rangers risk life and limb daily in order to protect these animals. Check out how Joseph Aloma, Elie Mundima, Atamato and other Congo Rangers endeavor to keep these endangered creatures safe. These rangers endure frequent attacks on their posts, threats to their lives, and deaths of their fellow rangers -- all to protect Central Africa's animals. Around here, that's what we call CONGO STRONG!!