Tenke Fungurume Mining company (TFM), which is 57% owned by Freeport (the company that I work for) has a concession from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My understanding is that they have allowed TFM to mine the property within the boundaries of the concession and TFM has to do a bunch of things for the people that live there. There are four villages that are within the boundaries of the concession. Here are some photos of the houses in the villages. Basically, they are one room grass huts. They don't have any water or electricity. It looked like they all had dirt floors. The cooking is done outside over small fires. The kids were still at home during the day so I assume they did not go to school. They had chickens and goats hanging around the houses. I am really amazed that there are people that live in those conditions. They were very happy and friendly. They waved at us when we drove by. There were a lot of little kids around the huts. As soon as they heard our trucks the parents and older children would make sure the little ones were out of the road.
So TFM built them all new homes. The new homes are made of brick and have a kitchen, living room and two bedrooms....and cement floors. They also provided outhouses with realy toilets and other washrooms where they can clean up. Of course, they also provided a big school. All of the houses are the same...except the chief's house, which is a little larger. The people seemed to be very happy to move to their new homes. They were trying to move in before the houses were completely finished.
Not all of the people live in these little villages. The town of Fungurume has several thousand people and the children go to school every day and a lot of the men and women are working or trying to get jobs at the mining operations. The houses are a little larger and more "modern" if that's the word.
No comments:
Post a Comment