It is lunchtime for detainees at the Berberati correctional facility in the west of the Central African Republic. Under the supervision of corrections officers, inmates prepare their meal. Eighty-nine inmates will share these small balls of cassava and the vegetable soup that accompanies it – their only meal of the day.
To help the detainees to feed themselves, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known under its French acronym MINUSCA, supports the prison authorities of Berberati in cultivating its own field of cassava.
The cultivation of this field also allows prisoners to learn the basics of agriculture.
While waiting for their cassava to be harvested, the prisoners and their minders are forced to find creative ways to provide enough food. This morning a local priest is holding a Mass in prison. All the money collected during the Mass will go towards prisoners’ food fund~ MINUSCA
