Libreville's school

Donguila's school

Background on the drawings

The capital Libreville concentrates half of the Gabonese population. Even if the country is mostly covered with primary forests, most of the inhabitants of Libreville have never set foot there and are afraid of it. It is said that geniuses and spirits haunt the forest.

Donguila is the oldest Catholic mission in Gabon. The mission is at the end of the village, surrounded by forest and bordering a river. The boarding school students fetch water from the spring, and are asked to do community service work such as cleaning the yard of twigs and leaves to prevent a snake from hiding underneath. The forest represents a danger, the snake, an evil spirit, which should be killed or tamed.