Balanced on heads

Much of commerce in Kinshasa is transported on the heads of women and men. Fabric is crafted into a doughnut shaped circle and set on the head as a base on which to settle items. We observed the assistance of 2-3 people lifting an item up onto this base for a person to carry.

People walk tall with grace and seemingly ease while transporting unbelievable amounts of products. Fruits and vegetables in baskets and tubs, displays of snack foods, flats of cartons with fresh eggs, cardboard boxes, foam mattress pads and building materials are common sights carried on heads. Some of the most surprising loads we saw were boards, pipes and corrugated tin.

The most amazing example we witnessed was a woman with three boards, each 2" x 10" and 12' long, balanced on her head and carrying a 25 lb. bag of maize flour to her chest. With these she maneuvered safely across four lanes of traffic, two each way, in the middle of a street and disappeared through a wooden fence into an adjoining field.






We are always in awe at the capability and tenacity of women. Notice in the last photo the woman in red is not only carrying a large container of bread baguettes on her head but also has her baby securely fastened to her back.