Heart of Darkness

The final leg of the journey really was perfect for me. The sun was setting and there were huge vertically developed clouds on the horizon. I snapped a few photos out the window and sat back in my seat and thought, "How lucky...no...how blessed am I to be where I am at this moment." This realization came as I sat in the co-pilot seat of a Cessna 208 Caravan flying 12,500 feet over the open landscape of the DR Congo. It had been a long day of flying for us. We had been dropping off cargo and flying passengers between 3 different remote airstrips in the region. It was my first opportunity since moving here to go along on one of the flights and something I had been looking forward to since the beginning of my "Josh in the Congo" endeavor. With my dad and two of my brothers being pilots, I had spent plenty of time in small planes so that was nothing new. But doing it in a Third World country and in the capacity of helping people made it special for me. I loved every minute of it. Flying in low over the city as we come in for the approach, landing, takeoff, flying through clouds, turbulence. It was all exciting.

At one point during the flight I did try to read Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's significant work of English literature about the Congo. I thought it would be profound to read it as I soared over the country the book was about, but I made it through 4 pages before deciding I could finish it later. Not as profound as I thought but it earned the title of this post.