Liquid peace

I'm currently working for a humanitarian aid agency in the Central African Republic. Part of our work involves repairing water points that were damaged in the recent conflict, and one of those water points is in the grounds of the hospital in Boda, a small market town in Lobaye.

I went back one afternoon to take some photos, and the lovely girl in the photo below was collecting water. We'll call her Fatima, and – as you can tell by the way she’s dressed – she’s a Muslim.

Before the conflict, Muslims and Christians lived side by side, but that all changed two years ago. The conflict in CAR was, ostensibly, Muslim vs Christian (although of course it’s much more complicated than that), and churches and mosques were burned down, alongside the fighting, killing and raping.

Now, Muslims in Boda live in a small, overcrowded enclave, separated from the rest of the town by rickety wooden bridges. It’s still not safe for the two communities to mix: a few months ago, a Muslim woman was very badly beaten for crossing the bridge into the Christian quarter, to buy milk.

So I was curious as to how Fatima was able to collect water. It turns out that the lady in the right of the photo, 'Cécile', knew Fatima’s family before the crisis.

Every day, she and her children meet Fatima at the bridge, walk to the hospital together, collect water and walk back to the bridge, where Fatima’s brother meets her. This way, Fatima is safe, and her family have clean water.