A personal look at life in the Congo

By Helena Cavendish de Moura, Special to CNN

Updated 1412 GMT (2212 HKT) March 11, 2015

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A family reunion takes place in the suburbs of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "All the gazes are going into different directions," photographer Leonard Pongo said. "There are clearly some mixed emotions here. And that is the DRC. It is a very complex country, and it is not always easy to read which signs are being communicated. There is a state of tension and confusion."
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A family reunion takes place in the suburbs of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "All the gazes are going into different directions," photographer Leonard Pongo said. "There are clearly some mixed emotions here. And that is the DRC. It is a very complex country, and it is not always easy to read which signs are being communicated. There is a state of tension and confusion."
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A flipped-over car in the Golf neighborhood of Lubumbashi. Pongo, born and raised in Belgium, first visited the country in 2011. He wanted to get a closer look at daily life in the homeland of his father.
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A flipped-over car in the Golf neighborhood of Lubumbashi. Pongo, born and raised in Belgium, first visited the country in 2011. He wanted to get a closer look at daily life in the homeland of his father.
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A blind man at the Nuru school for the blind in Lubumbashi.
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A blind man at the Nuru school for the blind in Lubumbashi.
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A young man kisses his girlfriend at a bar of the Ewa Bora suburbs of Lubumbashi.
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A young man kisses his girlfriend at a bar of the Ewa Bora suburbs of Lubumbashi.
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A local rapper named 9A poses after a concert at the Lubumbashi French Institute.
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A local rapper named 9A poses after a concert at the Lubumbashi French Institute.
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A morning service at a church in the city of Kananga.
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A morning service at a church in the city of Kananga.
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A pastor blesses a woman at the church in Kananga.
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A pastor blesses a woman at the church in Kananga.
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A pastor reaches toward Pongo to shake his hand and bless him in Kinshasa, the Congo's capital city.
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A pastor reaches toward Pongo to shake his hand and bless him in Kinshasa, the Congo's capital city.
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A night scene on the road from N'djili to Kinshasa.
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A night scene on the road from N'djili to Kinshasa.
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A mute woman on the streets of Barumbu.
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A mute woman on the streets of Barumbu.
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Train tracks at the Kananga train station.
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Train tracks at the Kananga train station.
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A damaged wall in a Kananga jail.
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A damaged wall in a Kananga jail.
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A man in Kananga goes over a supporters list for upcoming elections.
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A man in Kananga goes over a supporters list for upcoming elections.
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