TWO
Just four days before travelling to Kinshasa, Lewis had been awarded the title of Nzara’s very own Man of the Year. The competition was not endorsed by either national or local government, and there was no medal or official certificate for the winner to hang on his wall. Nor was it a popular event, with crowds of cheering people. Such an award had simply never existed in Nzara. At Lewis’s factory, however, a group of workers had taken to nominating one another for the prize every year and organising a modest celebration for the winner. In large part this was a response to International Women’s Day, which turned the local females into vengeful demons who spurned their household chores, refused to feed their babies and forsook the marital bed. During the celebrations the women would flo
