Central African Republic: Amid ongoing hostilities, Clotilde remains resilient

In 2023, armed tensions seized Haut-Mbomou. The following year, Mboki was engulfed in fighting, forcing the townspeople to run for their lives. Clotilde and her family were not spared.

“When our town was attacked,” recalls Clotilde with tears in her eyes, “we fled in a panic. Everyone went in different directions. I took my four young children with me. Their father tried to take some of our belongings with, but we couldn’t bring everything. I joined up with a group of other women, and we started walking, with no provisions and the constant fear of crossing paths with armed men. We made our way along rough trails, forded rivers, slept in fields, ate wild fruit and drank marsh water to survive. The trip took almost two weeks.”

When they arrived in Zémio, Clotilde and her children were exhausted, famished and dehydrated. 

“We arrived around 9am. Our feet were swollen and bruised. Some of the women were met by loved ones, but my family and I had nowhere to go. We set up under a tree, with no idea of what the future would hold,” Clotilde recalls.

A stranger, moved by their plight, came to their rescue. 

“A man picked me out because he saw I was alone with my four children. He agreed to take us in. He saved us,” says Clotilde.

After Clotilde had been in Zémio for several months, the situation in Mboki calmed somewhat, so she decided to return home, despite persisting danger in the surrounding towns. 

“I decided I would rather suffer in my own home than in Zémio,” she says.

On her return, Clotilde found that her house had been destroyed, her fields burned, and her belongings pillaged. Even her cutlery and teaching papers were gone. She nevertheless set about rebuilding her life, with the aid of kind neighbours and her own determination.