Moonlight

Moonlight Over Kananga: A Journey Through Memories

There are places that remain forever etched in your heart. For me, that place is Kananga, a city in the heart of Congo where I worked as a young agricultural specialist forty years ago. Even after all these years, it still pulls me back with an irresistible force.

A Different Rhythm

In Kananga, I discovered a life fundamentally different from anything I had known before. Everything revolved around the natural rhythms of the day and the seasons. The red laterite soil beneath your feet, the scent of earth after a tropical rainfall, the sound of voices drifting through the evening air - these are sensory memories that never fade.

Living by Moonlight

What stays with me most vividly are the nights. In Congo, you see the moon almost every day, not as a distant celestial object, but as a constant companion that bathes the landscape in silver. The long walks under that moonlight were moments of pure magic - moments when you felt completely connected to the world around you.

Close to Nature

Working in agriculture brought me into direct contact with the earth and its rhythms. This wasn't theoretical knowledge from books, but hands-on experience with local crops and traditional farming methods. It was a lesson in humility and adaptation, where Western knowledge met local wisdom and both were enriched.

The People of Kasaï

Above all, it was the people who made this experience extraordinary. The warmth of the local population, their hospitality and resilience left an indelible impression. In their community, I found a different way of living together, more direct and connected than what I was used to.

The Impossible Return

Now, forty years later, the longing persists. But it's a complex emotion - not just a yearning for a place, but for a time and for who I was then. You can return to Kananga, but not to your youth. The dreams I cherished there, the future I imagined during those moonlit walks - they belong to a chapter that is now history.

A Lasting Legacy

Yet this experience has changed me forever. The lessons I learned in Kananga - about simplicity, about connection with nature, about the power of human relationships - have become part of who I am. They form a compass that still guides me in a world that seems to grow increasingly complex.

The Moon Still Shines

Sometimes, when I look at the moon here in Europe, I feel that old connection again. For a moment, I'm back on those dusty roads of Kananga, young and full of dreams, walking under an African sky. These moments are precious because they remind me that some experiences run so deep they become part of your soul.

The Africa of my youth may no longer exist, but the essence of what I learned there remains valuable: the importance of authenticity, of living in harmony with nature, and of genuine human connections. Perhaps that's the greatest gift Kananga gave me - a perspective on life that stands the test of time.