“Our hearts just broke – they just wanted to get out of their lives," but “we had to drive off with Charlie and me hanging off the car literally beating the guys away.” Those are the words of Mike Martin about midway through Crossing the Congo: Over Land and Water in a Hard Place, the fascinating book he wrote with Chloe Baker (introduction) and Charlie Hatch-Barnwell (photos) about the trio's perilous 2013 drive across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from Kinshasa to South Sudan.
For those who think they know poverty, dysfunction, or basic corruption within government officialdom, they would be wise to pick up this essential book. Odds are they'll never view – or discuss – the three in the same way again. What the authors of Crossing report from the DRC brings new meaning to all three, and much, much more.
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