Congolese activist shifts climate views with rap, collective action

DW (English)

In Kinshasa, a young activist wants to change people's attitudes to trash and the climate crisis and strengthen local communities.

Transcript

00:00At this event, the music has a clear message, environmental activism.

00:12Our aim is to make young people understand that through music we can lead a real revolution

00:17and shape the vision of our environment and the climate crisis.

00:22Streets paved with rubbish, clogged up gutters, everyday life in Kinshasa.

00:28It's time to turn this around, says Ketsia Onema Pasu.

00:34It's terrible that so much rubbish is collected in such a small street.

00:38There's a huge lack of awareness about waste management, there's dirt everywhere, the roads

00:42are dustbins.

00:47Ketsia Onema Pasu heads up FANIA, an association working to protect both the environment and

00:54children's rights.

00:55Today, the 20-year-old and her team are collecting rubbish with street children from the district

01:02of Bandao.

01:04Now it's time to do some planting.

01:08We want to shift people's perception of the environment and lead them to understand that

01:12we can all take action, however small, with a sense of responsibility.

01:16A plant is like a child, we want to see it grow, we want to see it evolve.

01:22Ketsia grew up in here, in the DRC's capital.

01:25She was aware of the issue of pollution from an early age.

01:29When she was 12, she joined UNICEF's Young Reporters Programme and began writing about

01:34water pollution and children's rights.

01:37In 2021, Ketsia became a UNICEF Youth Ambassador for the Environment.

01:43Since then, she has continued raising awareness among authorities and the general public about

01:49children's rights, about access to drinking water and environmental protection.

01:57She takes us to Mbodi, the district where she grew up.

02:01It was here that she first noticed the damaging impact of trash on the area and on the Congo

02:07River.

02:09My commitment stems from the fact that I decided not to accept the situation my country was

02:14in, but to see it as a problem.

02:17And that's the biggest challenge, how do I, and all of us, manage to encourage communities,

02:22individuals, young people to get involved and say stop?

02:26What I enjoy most about my work is passing on new knowledge and a new vision of the climate

02:31issue.

02:32C'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est l'amour.

02:38The capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, has been growing rapidly

02:43for decades.

02:45It is the third largest city in Africa, after Cairo and Lagos.

02:50Its population of around 15 to 17 million produces around 10,000 tons of waste every

02:57day.

02:58A vast amount, especially in a city without a centralized waste collection system.

03:04During the rainy season, Kinshasa is regularly transformed into a river of rubbish.

03:12Ketsia and her team want to encourage people to reduce waste.

03:16They don't just focus on children, but everyone in the community.

03:23In the city's Masina district, they meet with the Trocadero rap group.

03:29Rapper She founded Trocadero.

03:36In him, Ketsia has found an ally.

03:42The public isn't easy, but we said to ourselves that with time, they'll understand and they'll

03:48adapt.

03:49It's a question of time and learning how to get the message across.

03:52The more present we are, the more we'll make them understand what our vision is, and I

03:56think they'll adapt.

03:59Through music, we can lead a real revolution and we can impact the vision of our environment,

04:08the vision of the climate crisis.

04:10And that's something that's going to happen over time, little by little.

04:13It's about changing mentalities, about understanding that it's fine to rap, but it's better to

04:18rap with a real message.

04:21Buoyed by her determination and supported by friends like the Trocadero rappers, Ketsia

04:27continues to sow the seeds of change in Kinshasa.

04:31Little by little, she's building hope for a cleaner city and a community committed to

04:36tackling the challenges of climate change.

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