By Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Until not long ago, if Zadhe Iyombe wanted to talk to his mother, he had to make the eight-day boat trip up the Congo River to the jungle town where he was raised. In a country with almost no roads, mail, or telephone system and a grisly guerrilla war raging, making that exhausting and dangerous trip was about the only way he could find out whether his 59-year-old mother was still alive.
Then he got a cellphone.
Now he talks to his mother every day. And once a week, he uses a text message to transfer five minutes of airtime to her phone to make sure she can always call him.
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