On the Trail with Bleu/Blanc

The children's magazine Bleu/Blanc was founded in 1996, in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a land where ownership of books (other than the Bible) was unknown, culturing the idea of wanting/needing a magazine was in itself, an accomplishment. Once the want/need was established, getting the magazine into reader's hands became the most difficult part of the process.

There was no functioning post office in the country, so even the initial contacts, made with the schools, were personal visits. Above, a Bleu/Blanc staffer had taken a taxi to one of the suburban areas, where he had to walk to a high school, due to lack of a decent road. His briefcase had burst open, spilling the materials down the eroded trail that he was vainly trying to negotiate.

Photo by M. Kizito