The 26 year-old is one of the few Congolese Instagrammers photographing the reality of everyday life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to some of the world’s richest natural resources and the aftershocks of heart-wrenchingly bloody wars and civil strife.

For much of the world, Congo – a central African country the size of Western Europe that was colonized by Belgium – is known primarily through the lens of violence, rape, and poverty. Over three decades of regional and local conflicts, economic exploitation, and subsequent diseases and hunger have killed and displaced millions of Congolese. Countless international aid organizations also spend millions of dollars a year there, often commissioning photos to justify their work and interventions. And tourism in the east, home to the breathtaking Virunga National Park, has dwindled in the face of fighting.

In the country’s east, where they are based, periodic waves of armed conflict have ravaged the country since the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda and overthrow of Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997. Around Congo, corruption and exploitation are rife in the forests and mines where international and local companies vie for coveted minerals – with largely none of the profits ultimately benefiting the Congolese people. Opposition to the current President Laurent Kabila, who after 15 years is expected to delay upcoming elections to stay in power, can mean imprisonment or death.