Papa Eben et Mama Mado

I know something about the women of Congo Kinshasa as I was privileged to be in a relationship with a Congo lady, Mama Mado. She taught me about many aspects of the Congo, central and west Africa in general, conflicts within Africa, conflicts within Africans in Europe (she had white in-laws and mixed nephews and nieces in Belgium, France and Germany) and she taught me love /loving.
Even before I met her I had a problem with people talking about Africa (Bantu Africa at least) as if it were one country or region. "I went to London and then I went to Africa". So I'd ask, "Which one of the more than 40 countries did you go to?" I'm not anything near an expert on any African subject or matter. No way. But I'm proud that I have some knowledge of Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria (Yorubas are credited as the source of Afro-Puerto Rican heritage), Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea (Spain's only black African colony), Congo Kinshasa (rdc), Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, etc.
And damn,I love those African women's clothes...of course, one reason is that they remind me of Mama Mado, especially the casual wraparound "skirt", le petite pwa? She wore that a lot when we were home alone.
Mama, as a mature lady is called in le Republique Democratique du Congo (correct?, she said I spoke Eben French). She used her French name in Kinshasa. She could only her Lingala names in Lubumbashi. Her full name went like this "French first name or personal name - Lingala family name (I think it's the mother's name) - Lingala personal name". She called somebody Papa Prisca because he was father of Prisca.
She'd be scolding me right now saying, "Keep up!" And I'd say, "Oui, oui, Mama."