At the edge of the tropical forest of the Central African Republic, the village of Sakoungou has been home for nine months to a clinic set up by Senitizo, a small American NGO specializing in access to care.

Far from abandoning their ancestral rites, the Akas, a nomadic pygmy people from the forests of the south-west of the Central African Republic and the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, come here for free treatment, affected by viruses or bacteria coming from a more modern world that their elders did not know until recently.

Over time, some have settled in villages or towns, often to flee deforestation and violence in this country where many armed militias have made or still make the law here and there, and where conflicts between communities are often bloody.

In Sakoungou, some 200 km south-west of the capital Bangui, the area, in the prefecture of Lobaye, remains spared from violence.

A pygmy child in her hut in Sakoungou, March 11, 2022 Barbara DEBOUT AFP

Territory red, the track that leads there pierces through lush vegetation.

A few terracotta brick houses of non-Pygmy villagers rub shoulders, on the edge of the forest, with the shelters of simple dried foliage of the Akas, who still endure discrimination and contempt throughout the country.

Near the health center, one of the rare signs in the hamlet nevertheless calls out: "Pygmy village, let's protect our minorities".

According to Unesco, the Akas - also called Bayakas - are considered to be the very first inhabitants of the Central African Republic.

Ostracized, exploited

But, ostracized and literally exploited by other communities, they are pariahs, the poorest of the poor in the second least developed country in the world according to the UN, in civil war for more than eight years and almost totally dependent on the international humanitarian aid to feed and care for its nearly 5 million inhabitants.

"Discrimination against pygmies is found everywhere in Central Africa," Alain Ebelpoin, anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, told AFP: "very low wages, hard work... they are victims of humiliations, considered as serfs by the rest of the population".

A patient at the Senitizo health center in Sakoungou, March 11, 2022 Barbara DEBOUT AFP

Musicians - Unesco classified their polyphonic songs as World Heritage of Humanity in 2003 -, hunter-gatherers and diviner-healers, they are even "threatened with extinction as well as their forest ecosystems", alerted Mr. Ebelpoin already in 2012 , in his essay "Pygmy pride and 'pygmitude': racism and positive discrimination".

"I live between the forest and the village", says Juliette, dean of the Akas of Sakoungou, a sweet smile on her lips despite the ailments from which she suffers: in addition to an ugly abscess in the back, chest pains, vertigo and parasites.

She had never had recourse to modern medicine before the installation of the center of Senitizo.

Low life expectancy

"The Akas have many more health problems than the others and their life expectancy rarely exceeds 40 years", explains Jacques Bébé, the center's doctor.

"They consume undrinkable or even stagnant water, they have no hard shelter, no sheets, no mosquito nets, have difficulty in restricting themselves to taking medication and are treated in the traditional way by first place. When they arrive at the center, it is sometimes too late", says the practitioner.

Jean-Claude, in his thirties, came to the center to look for medicine, before going deep into the jungle in search of shrubs.

"That's for headaches, and this one for back pain," he explains, pointing to a plant with thin leaves and another with thicker tops.

A patient receives his medication after consultation at the Sakoungou health center, March 11, 2022 Barbara DEBOUT AFP

Juliette also heads for the entrance to the forest to find her family.

Only three basins and a saucepan furnish his hut.

On the roof, leaves and bark are drying in the sun.

In the background, water simmers on the fire.

A woman from her family prepares a decoction of different plants.

"It's very effective for the belly, here everyone knows the remedies of the forest," she proudly says.

Nevertheless: "when there is a health center nearby and they do not feel discriminated against there, they go there", assures AFP Alain Ebelpoin.

In the waiting room, Gaspard, in his forties, comes to treat his back.

"Life in the forest is difficult so I come to the village from time to time. To live, I collect caterpillars (a sought-after dish) but I am a cassava and banana farmer, hunter and fisherman", assures this man in rags.

"Modernization, I have nothing against, but I'm afraid that our traditions will disappear one day," he says thoughtfully.

© 2022 AFP