** Kikwit: The return of water, but at what price? **
Kikwit, a living city taken in the whirlwind of the Haikus of the Congolese daily life. On April 9, 2025, a breath of relief spread in its neighborhoods. REGIDESO, the water distribution board, announced the resumption of the distribution after a breakdown of its generator, a parenthesis of 48 hours which made the fragile balance between urban life and elementary needs tremble.
Kalema Ndolo, the interim director of the Régie, welcomed the return to normal. The inhabitants welcomed the news as a breath of fresh air. But behind the euphoria, an underlying question persists: what does this “normality” really mean?
## Normality in question
Of course, there were bursts of joy when the taps started to flow. Children, women, men rushed, buckets in hand, to the sound of a welcome sizzling. But what we don’t say aloud is the price of this euphoria. For two days, the city was plunged into a raw reality, where access to water turned into a fighter’s route: distances to be covered, polluted rivers to face and untreated sources of water.
We are far from an apocalyptic crisis scenario, of course. But this sudden return to “normality” illustrates a deeper discomfort. When was the last time Kikwit faced such a break? In reality, it is not just a generator who has broken down: it’s a whole system that wins, ugly and imperfect.
## ABOSE GESTION
REGIDESO is emblematic of a public service fighting against dilapidation. Yesterday dust mix with unwarmed promises. The Democratic Congo remains a prisoner of a dichotomy between wealth of natural resources and glaring precariousness of infrastructure. While we are talking about the immensity of the Congo river and its hydroelectric potential, the inhabitants of Kikwit are fighting to fill a simple bucket of water. The “return to normal” should not hide the fragility of a system that cannot afford to break down, even for 48 hours.
And this is all the contradiction: we celebrate the present but the latter is rotten by fragile foundations. What about the promises of a future where water flows freely, without interruption, without contamination? The truth is that the city is still awaiting its development, clear answers from the competent authorities.
## The norm of indifference
Between the scree of a generator and the happiness of the populations, another silence hovers. Who questions long -term solutions? Who calls into question the lack of investment in infrastructure, the failure of a system that should ensure a vital resource? It is not enough to restart a turbine so that the water returns to the pipes. We need a vision, a strategy in line with the hopes of the inhabitants. Basically, what prevents us from making it a discussion subject?
Life is flowing into joy, and yet this joy is tainted with frustration. Kikwit residents continue to deserve better. The fact that they were delighted with the return to water, after days of scarcity, should not make us forget that this distribution should never be subject to technical vagaries.
So what remains of this incident once the water is found? A failed meeting with the future, an opportunity to take central problems and imagine a kikwit where drinking water would no longer be a luxury. Because, for the moment, the fight continues and behind each drop of water hides a hope.
The real challenge begins now: to establish what really means to live in a city where water flows, and what each of us is ready to do to make sure that this simple right is never threatened again.