[JordanFarmer]

Interesting that Bill points out in particular the poverty and hardships of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Interesting because it once had 3000 medical facilities and over 300 hospitals. Something like 80% literacy rate and 60%+ school aged kids attending school. The largest middle class in all of Africa, slavery was illegal (though that doesn't mean it didn't happen). This was of course when it was a Belgium colony. There were 80,000 Belgians living there. There was a massive infrastructure of trains and roads. Many diseases that kill tens of thousands now had been nearly eradicated through vaccinations.

Quite a far cry of how life is there now... Belgium was going to transition away and give the Congo it's independence, but the Congolese people had no patience for that and began getting violent. This led to a premature departure with a weak and new Congolese government. What followed was civil war and complete destruction of all infrastructure and means of living free of poverty... A sad story for sure. You can't blame the Congolese people for wanting their independence and certainly the Belgian people didn't treat them as equals (segregation wasn't the law, but it was a common social practice). I sure wish things could have worked out better. Though the Congolese people didn't have autonomy, quality of life was far better.

Be careful what you wish for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Congo