Travel to Democratic Republic Of Congo

Congo kitabu (A Fawcett Crest book)

Format: Unknown Binding
Author: Jean Pierre Hallet
ReleaseDate: 1967
Publisher: Fawcett
Rating:

A real-life hero
I nearly got to meet the author but couldn't get a ride to where he was speaking. I first read Congo Kitabu in the 60's while in high school and was in awe of this true-life adventure. This is one of those books everyone ought to read, because it is a page-turner, but also because it talks about a troubled area of the planet. This should be read with Out of America by Keith Richberg, a more current view of Africa. This is one of those books you'll never forget--it'll make a lasting impression and you'll want to read it again.

Expanding the boundaries of being human
Little did I know as I began to read Congo Kitabu that I was entering a real-life heroic saga. I had just seen Matrix Revolution, which seemed to me a mythical heroic saga, and, unable to sleep, searched my bookshelves for something to read.

Congo Kitabu is the story of Jean-Pierre Hallet's life in Africa between 1948 and 1960. To tell the details of those years would be to spoil a breath-taking story, so I will simply talk about Jean-Pierre.

This is a man who takes his life as it comes, with humor and a kind of courage few of us know. He becomes part of all he experiences, he cares, he's a practical visionary who sees the possibilities in people and situations and creates ways to bring those possibilities about. He's also a pragmatic realist who never seems to sucuumb to sadness or despair, despite circumstances whcih would make that a great temptation, but deals directly with whatever he faces.

His adventures, seeing the Africa of his day through his eyes, makes the book a great read. His heroics, both the everyday kind and the extraordinary kind, expand my understanding of what it is to be human.

In an interview Mr. Hallet says he never courted danger for its own sake, but. . . "it's simply that I refuse to have anything to do with that negative feeling called fear. " Conga Kitabu is a great read simply as a story, as the reader scrambles along with Hallet during his numerous and fascinating adventures. It's also the heroic tale of a man who rose above fear again and again as he followed his heart, his passion, his vision. As such it expands its reader into new territory, calling him or her to do likewise.

Action in Africa
As a field agent for the government of the Belgian Congo, he comes to help them grow crops and gets deeply involved in African society. If I had to pick the man who had the most interesting life on this planet, Jean-Pierre Hallet would be at the top of my list. The things he does are amazing-and it's all true.
At different times he:
lives amongst the field pygmies, (he wrote another book just about that)
loses his hand in an explosion, then swims from crocodiles,
kills a leopard with a knife,
starts an animal hospital,
witnesses a revolution,
goes through the Masai manhood ritual, killing a charging lion with a spear.
Those are just the highlights. A big man with a bushy beard and a mechanical hand , he was making the rounds of talk shows when I was a teen ager.

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