|
Once a farmer, it was the death of Mbambu's
husband ten years ago that forced her to find a new way to
support her six children in a city where the majority of people
live in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 a day.
She sank her savings into a red motorbike, known locally as a "boda",
and hit the road.
Decades of unrest, including a civil war that ended in 2003 and
an ongoing Islamist insurgency, has made violence against women
commonplace in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
ranked one of the 10 most dangerous countries to be a woman by a
Thomson Reuters Foundation poll in 2018.
According to the United Nations, documented cases of sexual
violence in the east of the country rose 34% last year.
The novelty of a woman riding a motorbike taxi has won Mbambu
loyal clients, but also saved her life.
"One time I was riding from the countryside when I was ambushed
by bandits," Mbambu said.
"They were dressed in red blood-stained clothes and wanted to
harm me, but when they noticed that I was a woman on a
motorbike, they got very surprised and urged me to go on with my
journey."
Since launching her business, Mbambu has picked up a number of
regulars, with many women preferring her services to take them
to and from the market.
Now her children never go to sleep hungry, she said.
"My mum’s job helps us get food, education, clothes, medicine
and a lot more," said her daughter Neema Mandefu.
(Reporting by Erikas Mwisi Kambale; writing by Hereward Holland;
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. 
|
|
