Fieldwork in Uganda, Budongo Forest (2011)

Fieldwork in Uganda, Budongo Forest (2011)

Tuesday 28 July 2015

Ali Baba and the 7 "enquêteurs"



Piles of burning plastic in the middle of the road, you get stuck in the mud every 3 steps and a strong smell burns your nostril hairs on the way to the ‘centre de santé’. Bikenge is not really the most charming village in Eastern Congo. Young men come here to look for gold but find themselves lonely and far away from home. Daily life is dominated by promiscuity, prostitution, sexual transmittable diseases, excessive alcohol and drug abuse. When I think about it, it sounds a bit like 3 days of Tomorrowland, but with nice weather!

I put together a team of 8 motivated researchers to cross the whole ‘Zone de Santé’ to do a survey on health indicators in the area. It was meant to be as one of the candidates presented himself: “Je m’appelle Ali Baba et je serai ton chef des enquêteurs”. Hired!
Inaccessible roads guided us to the most isolated villages where you find amazingly friendly people but living in difficult circumstances. Households up to 20 people living under the same roof, having no access to health care, women are obliged to deliver at home putting themselves and their babies at risk. Family planning? Non non, il faut mettre au monde! When it is survival of the fittest this is the way life goes.

Congo is a fascinating place. Not only I had the honour to meet Ali Baba, but I can add Khadaffi, Beoncé, Bob Marley, Julius César, Nicolas Sarkozy and the twins César 1 en César 2 (as they were born with a caesarian section) to that list. 

 
Mother with child, village Riseri, Maniema Province, DRC (July 2015)

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