The Cost of Cobalt has worked exclusively with leading NGO, pact, to have candid conversations with four former child miners about their experiences in artisanal cobalt mines in the DRC.
Here's what Abiga had to say...
Hello, my name is Abigaël Mwadi Kalong, but people call me Abiga. I am 16-years-old, and I live in the Musompo neighbourhood in Kolwezi. I was born into a family of 11 children, and I live with my mother. I was forced to drop out of school at the age of 14 (Grade 1 secondary school), to start working to supplement the family’s income. In 2018, I started going to Musompo Maison quarry where I washed minerals and sometimes sold cakes. There, I earned between 5,000 and 8,000 FC, which I used to buy clothes and food for the household. I stopped working in the mine in 2020, after following sensitisation sessions led by Mr. Dany, one of the Musompo Neighbourhood committee sensitisers. I was selected to follow a six-months apprenticeships in tailoring.
What was it like working in the mines?
In the mines, I used to work in a group with other children. The mine is a place for boys, not for girls because the miners, for the most part, have a low level of education and abuse children, especially girls. Diggers sometimes get drunk. I have very bad memories of the mines: the smell was bad and the image I have of the quarries is that of a punishment or a prison. But considering our misery, I had no choice and could only go there.
How did working in the mine make you feel?
I was in much pain and felt uncomfortable in the face of the very atrocious working conditions. I felt insecure and unprotected in the face of the adult diggers who were constantly hitting on us to become their girlfriends. When I would see a man coming towards me, I was afraid because I felt defenceless.
What was an average day like working in the mine?
Everyday was a chore. I would wake up, without even taking the time to put on body lotion, and would either pick up and/or clean up minerals, or I would go to different sites to sell my donuts. I worked all day like an adult, tirelessly and without wearing any protection or following safety measures. The heat was sometimes unbearable, the air was dusty. Sometimes I was starving and I was exposed to all sorts of risks, including asphyxiation, landslide, fatal accidents, infectious diseases. When I would pick up and/or clean up minerals, I and would earn between 1,000-2,000 FC per day; if I sold the doughnuts, I did not make more than 1000 FC/day.
At the end of the day, my entire body ached. All day long, I had no possibilities of doing anything else: going to school, playing with friends, enjoying family life or entering a vocational education training curriculum. I had no other option.
How do you think the issue of child labour can be addressed/changed?
I would like Pact to continue sensitising children and their parents, so the latter especially can understand that in the mines, their children are slaves of adults. Pact needs to find resources to increase the number of children they can support in the apprenticeship program and if possible, support their parents with Income Generating Activities so that they have sufficient income to meet the primary needs of their children: health care, education, food, clothes, etc.
The Congolese government should reinforce and apply the child protection law and take strong measures to prohibit the economic exploitation of children. You know, the police used to ask us for money to let us enter the mine. I would also like the government to remove all children who are still working in the mines and send them to school. The Government should also build learning centres/vocational education centres for the children who feel they are too old to go back to school.
What are you doing now that you’ve been through the program? What new skills have you learnt and what are your plans for the future?
I am already a seamstress in my apprenticeship master’s workshop, where I work with other friends. There, I earn between 20,000-50,000 FC/day if I have many clients. Working alongside my apprenticeship master, I have gained a lot of experience and even started getting a name for myself because almost everyone in my neighbourhood knows my story. Everyone now calls me Abiga.
My ambition is to have my own workshop one day and become an apprenticeship mistress for other girls who are working in the mine.
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