Her calm face and young age can be misleading. Fane has been pushed to the edge of survival many times. She grew up in conflict. The region where she was born, Kaga Bandoro, was under the control of the Seleka armed group until 2021. Violence, military presence and fear were not something distant. It has been part of daily life. 

Her father was killed when she was still a child due to the conflict and her mother became ill soon after. Suddenly, Fane, only five years old, found herself responsible for her four younger siblings, with no income and no food.  

All they had left was a small piece of land that her father used to plant peanuts. She started harvesting and selling them at the market. Every morning, she would arrive with a bucket full. She would sit for hours, peeling peanuts, waiting for customers. Business was slow, but it was enough to survive. 

The presence of military forces became normal to her. Vehicles, soldiers, weapons, they blended into the landscape. 

“I grew up with it,” she says. “Now I don’t feel anything. They are part of my life.”