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