Avenue Mulele Pierre qua Avenue du 24 Novembre qua (simply) 24
straight ahead. Btw, Armand Tungulu pulled his ill-fated stunt at the
Raïs not far from here on that very artery.
Avenue de la Gombe, in the eponymous commune downtown, boasts the
Halle de la Gombe that houses the French Cultural Center, and is one
of the city's spots with the highest density of private schools per
meter square.
On the left of the photo above is just one such private school called
C.S. Clessidra, owned by an evangelical pastor, whose walls are
painted yellow.
"C.S." stands for "complexe scolaire" (school complex), which means
that the tiny school comprises a kindergarten as well as primary and
secondary schools.
What caught my attention and frightened me was the massive cell
station that towers over the small school and is even perilously next
to one side of the tiny walls of some classrooms.
Apocalyptic scenarios flashed through my "catastrophist"'s mind that
ran like this one: "OMG!, kids' brains are frying in that school!"
I even brought to the attention of some friends of mine in positions
of authority this odd photo, urging them to have the school shut down
for endangering students' health.
With a condescending smile, one of these friends told me that it was
the government, with the technical advice of cellphone companies, that
chooses where to erect those base stations or antennas according to
some determined grids.
These companies provide so much needed cash in taxes to city,
provincial and national governments that authorities would just invoke
eminent domain laws to override any objections by homeowners, property
owners, or concerned neighborhood groups.
But cellphone providers would often come to an understanding with
property owners, paying them rent for the section of the property
where the base station is built. (My guess is that they pay this rent
to avoid their cell sites be vandalized.)
A typical for one of these base stations would fetch between $2,000 to
$3,000 per month! Little wonder then many of these cell sites dot
Kinshasa residences.
What's more, my pal went on to tell me, cell sites are totally harmless!
When I doubted his claim, he googled the string "danger of cell
sites," got hits, and made me read the following:
"Measurements made near typical cellular and PCS [Personal
Communications Service]installations, especially those with tower-
mounted antennas, have shown that ground-level power densities are
thousands of times less than the FCC's limits for safe exposure. In
fact, in order to be exposed to levels at or near the FCC limits for
cellular or PCS frequencies an individual would essentially have to
remain in the main transmitting beam (at the height of the antenna)
and within a few feet from the antenna. This makes it extremely
unlikely that a member of the general public could be exposed to RF
levels in excess of these guidelines due to cellular or PCS base
station transmitters"
(http://www.cellphonesafetyguide.com/questions/cellular-pcs-towers).
I was wrong. That huge base station at C.S. Clessidra ain't frying
kids' brains after all...
But the "catastrophist" beast in me suddenly rears its ugly head one
more time: "What if... What if that info is just a spiel coming from
an industry lobby group?"...
Besides, why such a behemoth in a schoolyard?
***
(Sent via BlackBerry)
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