2015 - Mbomou region - Central African Republic
"In the Far East Central African Republic, some two hundreds kilometres from any habitation, a natural reserve emerges.
Its creation drains exclusively a male workforce, running away from the economic gloom, which hit their villages. Most of those men worked for Areva, the nuclear world leader company, until the exploration site shut down. This natural reserve represents one of the few work opportunities in this area. On the spot, welders, masons, cooks and rangers assigned to anti-poaching live together.
I followed for almost a year those workers exiled in a No Man’s Land."
Through this photographic project, I wanted to portray a positive image of the Central African Republic. This project was made in 2015, when the conflict, which had started in 2012, was still going on. Only sad and miserable pictures were brought from this enclave country in the middle of the African continent. This country has faced regular conflict for a long time with trivialization of violence as a consequence. Despite this situation, life is going on, like nothing ever happened.
12 pictures from this project were shown at the french Festival "Rendez Vous Image" in Strasbourg, January 2017.
Limited access
With its 17,000 square kilometres, this area is bas ig as half of Belgium. Its central base is two hundreds kilometres from any habitation. Males from surrounding areas converge by jeeps, crossing savannah and subtropical forests, to get a job.
« Minds under construction »
To protect this 17,000 square kilometres area, the first priority consists of the creation of an operational base. Hundreds of local workers are involved in its construction.
Building a better future#1
For these three masons, this job at the reserve is one of the rare job opportunities in the eastern part of the country, abandoned by any economical activities. Underground diamond excavation, more dangerous but potentially more profitable, represents the other work possibility. These three employees have their family back in Bakouma, at a dozen hours from here by bushes tracks.
Physical training
Apart from construction, dozens of villagers are trained in anti-poaching. Once operational, those rangers will patrol in the reserve to protect wildlife from poachers. In some reserves, in particular Garamba – North Eastern part of the DRC – patrolling is extremely perilous, as poachers are many and armed (150 rangers have been killed during the last decade only in this reserve). Football is a physical exercise, which also aims to develop the team spirits between the rangers, an essential feature during long patrols in the bushes.
Lost look before a day of work
7 am, time to start a long working day. Half asleep, equipped with a machete, the stone cutting will soon start for this young employee.
Thierry, 28, mason, single
Thierry was also born in Bakouma. Here, he is part of the mason team who are building the infrastructure of the base. He can work for several months before going back to his home village. As others, he has accepted this exile as it represents for him an opportunity to gather enough money to build a family in the near future.
Building a better future#2
The tiny salary they will get, based on the minimum salary in Central Africa which has not been upgraded since 1967 – will be used to take care of their family with food supply, school fees, and other various expenses.
Zéphirin, nurse in the bush
Everyday, at noon and also during the evening, Zéphirin is available for his injured colleagues. He is the only one authorized to provide treatment to its colleagues. These last ones have much opportunity to get injured though the various physical tasks they go through during the day.
Collective effort
Materials and food are predominately transported by trucks from Bangui. The journey can take several days to Bakouma. Then, from Bakouma, jeeps are taking over the transportation to the base of the reserve. Obstacles strew the winding track. Twice, jeeps have to cross the rivers on a « radier », a removable platform pulled by employees.
Mid-day refreshment
On one of the two rivers, some employees are building a stone bridge to replace the already existing platform. At mid-day, temperatures can be extremely hot under this tropical climate.
Bridge under construction
The bridge (on the right) will replace the current removable platform, and will make the journey quicker and safer between the base and Bakouma. During the wet season, the removable platform could become unstable due to the increase of the river flow.
Félicien, accountant from the capital city
Félicien is coming from Bangui and has recently integrated the administrative team of the reserve. Every two months, he alternates between the administrative offices situated in Bangui, the capital, and the base of the reserve. During these two months in the bush, Félicien lives remotely from his family, but has eventually adapted to his new environment and to his new mates.
Rewarded remoteness
At the end of each month, employees from the reserve are standing outside the accountant’s office to get their salary. Most of the time, this salary, even though it is tiny, is sent to their family in one of the jeeps driving to outside the reserve. This money will partly fulfil the needs of their families.
The correct amount
A carpenter checks that the salary he was paid was correct. In the outlying villages, traders do not accept large denomination notes bills. Consequently, employees are requesting mall notes, in particular 1,000 francs CFA (1,5 euros).
Manufacturing basic materials
Because of its remoteness, logistics are a real challenge during the construction of the base. Consequently, the manufacturing of some materials has to be done on the spot. It requires more work forces, creating more jobs for local people from surrounding villages. Here, workers are pressing bricks.
The body on bricks, the mind elsewhere
This young brick maker enjoys a short break and eats a piece of cassava. He is sitting on a heap of bricks, which have been drying for a few days. His look is getting lost far away, toward his home village, Bakouma. Behind him, the brick making goes on as normal on a traditional brick oven. Those bricks are baked for a few days to improve their resistance.
Industrial production of artisanal bricks
They are a couple of dozen workers making the bricks. Some are collecting the soil and moulding the bricks, others are tending the brick oven and are letting the bricks dry. Well dried, those bricks will be used for building the various facilities on the reserve.
Collective cooking
A couple of workers are cooking to feed the two hundreds employees of the reserve. Rice, cassava, peanut butter and plantains are at the root of the two daily meals of the employees. Furthermore, the management team had deliberately chosen to employ only men. According to their past experience, cohabitation between men and women in this remote area could cause problems. However, the women who stayed at home are economically involved on the project, through the agricultural production of food items consumed by employees.
Eternal restarting
The construction plans have changed and the masons ‘team have to demolish before rebuilding the building which will serve as an office for the expat staffs. Having no part in the decision making and obeying the orders from above, these last ones execute the decisions. Whatever happens, there are not paid by tasks, they earn a daily salary for the temporary workers, or a monthly salary for those who are under short and long term contracts.
Open air preparation
Two workers, busy in the kitchen, are preparing a big cauldron of gozo - cassava flour - which is a really filling food. The gozo is made in the surrounding villages, most of the time by the wives of the workers who stayed at home. This food is the base of the Central African food, and can be easily transported and easily kept.
Armand, the machetes sharpener
Armand comes from Bangassou, the regional administrative centre of the Mbomou, situated 250 kilometres from the base. This town, neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of the most important in the eastern par the CAR with its 30,000 souls. Armand was born in the mid 70’s, and is one of the few employees to have knowledge in electricity and in welding. He was trained while he was working for Areva - world leader in the uranium sector - which was prospecting for uranium around his hometown. Thanks to his knowledge, Armand can expect a better salary than his colleagues, with a bit more than 100,000 francs CFA a month (150 euros). This salary looks meagre for him considering his working conditions (more than 50 hours a week and only one day off) and the concessions given (he is returning home only once every three months).
Preparing plantains
Finely sliced, those plantains will be fried and eaten by hungry workers after one morning of physical work. With its 120 kilocalories per 100 grams, its vitamin B6, its vitamin C, its magnesium and its potassium, plantain is a necessary food supplement to face a long day of work.
Stone Cutter
There are about 15 working in the stone cutting team. They are between twenty and fifty five years old, and work in stifling temperatures for a salary of a little more than 30000 CFA (45 Euros) a month. Requiring very few skills, this work is considered a chore by the employees of the reserve. Among the jobs reserved for unskilled workers, are stone cutting, road building, brick making and, best case, being assigned to cooking.
Delivery of carved stones
Those stones will be used as the foundations of the important buildings. The ground on which the infrastructures of the base are built is made up of lots of big stones, ideal for this type of construction.
Nightfall welding
While the night is falling, Armand, the machetes’sharpener ends his working day by welding a metallic structure, which will be used for the building of a warehouse. Food and all type of materials will be stored in this warehouse. As he is the only welder, Armand is really much in demand by other services.
Purification of the body after a working day
A branch of a river passes close to the base of the reserve. This watering place is used as much to wash the vehicles as o clean oneself after a day working with stones, woods or soil. This moment is one of the rare relaxing times in the workers daily life.
Building a better future#3
For many fathers, the salary, obtained after a determined effort and sacrifices will be used to offer a private education to their children. At Bakouma, where most of the families live, private school is more prestigious than public school. Despite its high cost, many employees are gathering the necessary money to pay the school fees in order to provide their children with a better education.
Imminent taking off
Several times a week, a plane is commuting between Bangui and the base. Those planes transport expats, administrative staff from Bangui and building materials urgently needed. The employees, who stopped working to contemplate the plane rising into the sky, follow each take off.
Community rations
The rangers’ camp, in charge of the anti-poaching, is installed at a few hundred metres from the other employees’ camp. After a day of physical exercises, an imposing ration is necessary to fill the stomach of the rangers. This evening, they will have a plate of gozo (cassava flour mixed with water) served with Gounja (cassava leaves ground with peanut butter). Gounja (traditional dish from Central Africa, which can be found in DRC, formerly known as Pandu, or in Congo Brazzaville, as Saka-Saka) is not fresh, as it arrives dry to the reserve. It’s then soaked with water before being cooked.
Portraiture illuminated with a torch
In the evening,, the generator which creates electricity stops. In their huts, situated in the outskirts of the camps, the employees are about to go to sleep before another day of work. In the middle of nowhere, they don’t have access to a telephone network, which would give them a daily contact with their families. The only way is to write a letter and to give it to the driver of a jeep which goes to their village, or to use the satellite phone, but this last option is really costly and directly drains on their salary.
Ready to patrol
After a day of training, a trainee is resting with his camouflage uniform and the wooden-Kalashnikov he had carved himself. After a few weeks, he will attend the exams to be part of the rangers unit. If he passes the exam, he will then patrol inside the reserve risking confrontations with poachers. Because of the dangers of the duty, his salary will reach 100,000 francs CFA (150 euros), as much as a qualified worker with years of experience.
Nocturnal checkers game
In the kitchen, after that all the workers have finished their diner and had joined their huts, Dungous and Sylvain are playing checkers. This game is one of the rare hobbies in these remote areas. Soon, they will go and rest before another day of work in this No Man’s Land.