[ad_1]
Issued on:
For weeks now, Cyrille Traoré Nbembi has been filming video after video of the black smoke coming out of an old foundry and factory located just a few metres from his home in Vindoulou, an area on the outskirts of Pointe-Noire, in Congo. As his family and neighbours continue to suffer health problems, Nbembi reached out to the FRANCE 24 Observers team – and is calling on the government to take action
Cyrille Traoré Ndembi moved to Vindoulou, a town near Pointe-Noire, Congo in 2019. His garden opens onto the Metssa Congo foundry. The foundry specialises in recycling materials like lead and aluminium. It has been in operation since 2012.
Our Observer says that, just a few months after his family moved into the area, they all started having health problems. When he discovered that many of his neighbours were also experiencing the same symptoms, he decided to form a collective in a bid to fight for change and hold the foundry accountable.
I’m at my home right now. The factory is just behind me. There’s just an alley between us. The factory is barely 10 metres away.
And that’s not all. There’s a private school in the neighbourhood. It’s about 50 metres from the factory. It has 450-470 students.
Just below the roof, behind me, it’s open. The corrugated iron lets the smoke escape.
The smoke gets all over the neighbourhood, inside the houses and even the classrooms.
Everyone around the factory complains that the air is unbreathable.
Four or five months after we moved here, my whome family was suffering. We had cases of pneumonia, bronchopneumonia, and bronchitis.
The factory was temporarily shut down after a visit by local authorities, in August 2020. Back then, the ministry for the environment also established a commission to monitor the factory. Several locals also underwent medical exams, according to the Ministry…
[ad_2]
