Kinshasa, October 5th, 2026 (CPA).- The making of wooden mortars has been described as a source of income in the Mbanza Lemba neighborhood of Lemba Municipality, in southern Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), by local mortar carvers during an interview with CPA on Monday. “Making mortars is an activity that enables us to earn money to meet our families’ needs, even though these products are not sold at appropriate prices,” said Izayila Sadam, a mortar carver in Lemba. “Through this activity, we are able to pay our children’s school fees and our rent, although we also need support from the authorities and well-meaning individuals to carry out this work, particularly through small grants that could help us purchase larger quantities of the wood we buy in Kimwenza,” he added. According to Mr. Izayila, mortar making is an art form just like other types of sculpture or painting, but it is not properly recognized in Congolese society. “We inherited the art of making mortars from our ancestors. For our part, we also train other people who come to learn from us, in exchange for a small fee, in order to preserve this activity,” he said.
“Although we do the same work as other art sculptors, we do not feel that we are valued,” he said, stressing that making a mortar involves “carving a piece of wood and giving it a shape according to the artistic vision, creating a bowl-shaped cavity that will appeal to or meet the expectations of potential buyers,” he explained. For his part, Itambala Sakisa, an itinerant mortar seller who operates in different neighborhoods of the capital, said: “I often buy already-made mortars at low prices and resell them as a street vendor because we do not have a market where we can sell our products. We are forced to walk several kilometers every day through different neighborhoods to sell them,” he said, calling on the government to create a public space where their products could be displayed and sold.