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A clarkston soldier is helping pick up the pieces in the Congo after a decade of civil war by teaching English.
Lieutenent Cinzia Zingone, 31, spent six weeks in Kinshasa trying to improve former guerilla fighters and soldiers' language skills.
But instead of teaching the Congolese traditional English, Cinzia concentrated on giving them a better understanding of military English jargon.
She is one of many who are helping the country get back to normal with the hope that peace will occur quicker if former guerrillas are intergrated into a United Nations force.
And she says despite the challenges she faced, she wanted to be part of bringing peace to the country.
She said: "I was delighted to be able to come and help the people move towards a peaceful country.
It was only a short course and we had to tailor it from scratch to our pupils. So it has been hard work."
But Cinzia admits one of the most difficult things she found out there was dealing with the extreme humid weather.
She said: "I don't know quite what I expected but the fact that it was terrifically hot during the day and terrifically wet at night made for a steamy atmosphere."
During her time in the country, the second poorest in the world, she even got to lead the passing out parade -the first time the Congolese had been lead by a woman on parade.
The country is about the size of Europe and consists mainly of jungle, but transportation is limited to UN or British Embassy vehicles, walking is not allowed and there are virtually no shops to visit.
She said: "I couldn't wait to get back home and away from jungle and humidity.
"The people are lovely in the Congo and I have the satisfaction of knowing that they will speak better English after the course, albeit with a Scottish accent."
Cinzia is based at the Defence School of languages at Beaconsfield where she is a military instructor.
She attended the Laurel Bank School in Glasgow before she joined the Army in 2007.
Lieutenent Cinzia Zingone, 31, spent six weeks in Kinshasa trying to improve former guerilla fighters and soldiers' language skills.
But instead of teaching the Congolese traditional English, Cinzia concentrated on giving them a better understanding of military English jargon.
She is one of many who are helping the country get back to normal with the hope that peace will occur quicker if former guerrillas are intergrated into a United Nations force.
And she says despite the challenges she faced, she wanted to be part of bringing peace to the country.
She said: "I was delighted to be able to come and help the people move towards a peaceful country.
It was only a short course and we had to tailor it from scratch to our pupils. So it has been hard work."
But Cinzia admits one of the most difficult things she found out there was dealing with the extreme humid weather.
She said: "I don't know quite what I expected but the fact that it was terrifically hot during the day and terrifically wet at night made for a steamy atmosphere."
During her time in the country, the second poorest in the world, she even got to lead the passing out parade -the first time the Congolese had been lead by a woman on parade.
The country is about the size of Europe and consists mainly of jungle, but transportation is limited to UN or British Embassy vehicles, walking is not allowed and there are virtually no shops to visit.
She said: "I couldn't wait to get back home and away from jungle and humidity.
"The people are lovely in the Congo and I have the satisfaction of knowing that they will speak better English after the course, albeit with a Scottish accent."
Cinzia is based at the Defence School of languages at Beaconsfield where she is a military instructor.
She attended the Laurel Bank School in Glasgow before she joined the Army in 2007.
