Meet The Instagrammers Challenging How You See The Congo
These women are showing the Congolese people beyond the headlines.
You’re missing out if you don’t know Ley Uwera.
The 26 year-old is one of the few Congolese Instagrammers photographing the reality of everyday life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to some of the world’s richest natural resources and the aftershocks of heart-wrenchingly bloody wars and civil strife.
She and Esther Nsapu, also from eastern Congo, are two of the region's most active photographers on Instagram. Their photos are flawless, but the stories they tell are challenging what outsiders see.
For much of the world, Congo — a central African country the size of Western Europe that was colonized by Belgium — is known primarily through the lens of violence, rape, and poverty. Over three decades of regional and local conflicts, economic exploitation, and subsequent diseases and hunger have killed and displaced millions of Congolese. Countless international aid organizations also spend millions of dollars a year there, often commissioning photos to justify their work and interventions. And tourism in the east, home to the breathtaking Virunga National Park, has dwindled in the face of fighting.