Daniel Massamba Meboya

  Rubaya mining site - Photo courtesy of GettyImages RUBAYA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO — Julien Kakesa is 51 years old, but in the serrated hills of the Masisi Territory, age is measured not in years, but in the amount of red earth one has moved by hand. For Julien, a father of five, every gram of coltan extracted from the slopes of Rubaya is a bitter paradox: he handles the minerals that power the world’s high-tech future, yet he lives in a primitive, terrifying past. Since 2014, Julien has toiled in this global hub, a site responsible for nearly 30% of the world’s coltan. While tech giants in San Francisco and Seoul thrive on this ore, Julien’s reality is defined by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, illegal extraction, and the constant threat of the earth swallowing him whole. "I hardly make ends meet with my small family," Julien says, his voice raspy from a decade of inhaling mineral dust. "I know I am giving all I can to help exploit minerals worth a fortun...