Commentary

*Ronald is Lucinda’s fifth child. "Doc" is Mama’s pet name for me.

**I was nearing the completion of my graduate program in English. I am not certain I had any goal beyond that. It was during this time, I believe, that I got the notion of going to Zaire. Joyce Joyce, then a young black professor from Georgia teaching in the department, introduced me to a friend of hers that had just come back from Zaire. He told me of his adventures in Lumbumbashi, a grand industrial city in the southeastern section of the country. He had taught at the university there. And I thought that would be a grand adventure. I could learn about Africa and learn French at the same time. I went to Zaire, but I never got to Lumbumbashi. I got as far as the resort town of Bukavu, far north of the university in Lumbumbashi. I returned to the States after ten weeks.

Though the adventure did not pan out the way that I hoped, it was exceedingly memorable. I studied French, made a few friends, and enjoyed the nightclubs that stayed opened until early morning. Even with its drawbacks of a strict regime and poor health, it was my "grand adventure" into the "heart of darkness." The worst problems were the airplane flights and the mosquitoes. Returning to Kinshasha, the pilot flew through a storm and the plane dropped thousands of feet. Passengers screamed and prayed. In Kinshasha, the mosquitoes were as thick as flies on a rotten carcass. I was exceedingly pleased when I stood on U.S. soil. The romance of Africa had been riveted with the reality of experience.