Zana’s Reviews > Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives > Status Update

Patrice Lumumba: “History will one day have its say; it will not be the history taught in the United Nations, Washington, Paris, or Brussels, however, but the history taught in the countries that have rid themselves of colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history and both north and south of the Sahara it will be a history full of glory and dignity.”

“...Had an outsider not happened to be on the ground that day, word of the collapse would likely never have been reported, just like the collapse at Kamilombe. How many other tunnel collapses and deaths go unreported? Was there a collapse at KCC the week before my visit? The week after? What about at Mashamba East, Kasulo, Tilwezembe, or Kamilombe? No one will ever know.

The dead here still don’t count.”

‘“Now you understand how people like us work?”

“I believe so.”

“Tell me.”

“You work in horrible conditions and—”

“No! We work in our graves.”’

‘“Congolese people feel that the Chinese treat us like animals. Or they think that we are dirty. They will not eat any food touched by a Congolese person. This is why they only eat in their private restaurants.”

As for attitudes in the other direction—“The Chinese do not have emotions. They are like robots. How else can they stay away from their families for one year at a time?”’

“Mutombo grasped my hands tightly before he descended. Our eyes locked in a moment of shared understanding. Although I would never see him again, we were forever linked by the flow of stones from his world to mine.

I watched Mutombo creep down the tunnel. Just before the shadows took him, he looked up at me and smiled, like the moment light first fell upon the earth.”

“...Mutombo’s daily descent created value denoted in the billions of dollars for everyone up the chain, yet only he and those like him assumed all the risk. The system was all upside for everyone but Mutombo, and the riches he created were stacked to the sky atop his earnest shoulders.”

“...The fact that families across the DRC are faced with the non-choice of putting a child in school or putting them to work so that the family can survive means that those families have been abandoned by the Congolese state just as much as they have been abandoned by the global economy.”

“The Chinese companies have a negative impact on the Congo through tax evasion and revenue evasion. How did we discover this? We discovered that most Chinese mining companies have two accounts: one account that they prepare for us that understates production, and another account that they show to the Chinese government and state-run banks that is higher than what they declare to us....”

‘“If I can describe the conditions accurately, I hope it may inspire people to help improve things here.”

Lubuya looked at me as if I were a fool.

“Every day people are dying because of the cobalt. Describing this will not change anything.”’

‘As we parted ways, Augustin had this to say, “Please tell the people in your country, a child in the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones.”’