As in the other stories from refugees, Claudine
and Mado recall traumatic days. Though their lives and those of their families
have been difficult since fleeing their home country of the Democratic Republic
if the Congo, they still find hope and joy. Is it possible for each of us to
learn something from the lives of refugees about expecting and experiencing God’s
hand of protection and provision? Read below and hear the voices of these two
women.
Claudine
Question 1: What was life like in your home country?
Life in my country was good until I lost my
parents. I had no one to support my studies for a computer degree. I didn’t
finish the degree because there was a huge misunderstanding between my parents and
their families before they died. Afterward, I was chased from my parent’s house
with my young brothers and sisters by our uncles. Fortunately for us, the
church that I attended decided to take care of us by arranging for a shelter and
our other needs.
Question 2: What made you decide to leave your country?
The reason I left my home country was I was
wanted by the government because of the strikes and protests organized by the
youth commissions against the war, crime, rape, and killing of the people of
the country’s provinces. Some of the organizers were shot and killed by my
country’s soldiers. Others escaped to different countries. I was among those
who escaped to South Africa. That happened in 2009. My husband followed me to
South Africa.
Question 3: What has life been like in your host/adopted country?
Life in South Africa is difficult since I
gave birth to my 3 children. My husband works as a car guard in a parking lot and
he does not earn much money. I work in the community at the grocery store as a
counter hand at the bakery. The pay is very little for surviving, especially since
pay day is only at month end. I must think about rent, electricity, water,
food, children’s transportation and school fees, and other needs. My husband and
I are just working for rent, water, and electricity. Sometimes we struggle for
food, but we always survive by the grace of God.
Mado
Question 1: What was life like in your home country?
When we lived in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC), the army and prejudiced people would come to my husband and
threaten to kill him because his mother was from the Tutsi tribe of Rwanda. They
fled Rwanda during the war when he was a child. He grew up in DRC, but still
they wanted to kill him. Sometimes when they came to our home to threaten to
kill him, they would rape me. I still can’t talk about those times.
Question 2: What made you decide to leave your country?
We came to South Africa because of fear for
my husband’s life, fear that I would be raped again, and fear for our six
children’s futures. I was a teacher in the DRC. One day we ran for our lives and
I did not think to bring my teaching certificates.
Question 3: What has life been like in your host/adopted country?
Now
in South Africa, I have 8 children. My children go to a Catholic school and I
pay some of the tuition fees by being a volunteer teacher. I also have a tent
covering a table from which I sell food in small bags that my countrymen like
to eat. I sell this food outside one of the city’s busy train stations. It does
not give enough money for us to eat more than one meal a day and to rent one
room in an apartment for my whole family of ten people.
Four
years ago, a missionary surprised us when she brought food for my whole family
to last for a month. On that morning, my children fought over the last
tablespoon of porridge. My husband asked, “What are we going to do?” I said, “God
will provide.” God provided that very day when the missionary came to our room.
She brought a month’s supply of food for all ten of us to eat three times a day.
Conclusion
Mado and Claudine
faced atrocities most of us will only ever hear about, but not experience. Their
lives are not easier regarding employment and paying for rent, food, and utilities.
Claudine and Mado and their families face prejudice and discrimination from the
nationals in their adopted countries. Yet, they expect God to intervene for
them. These ladies know who the Provider is. Mado and Claudine, too, help their
fellow countrymen and woman who are in desperate need by sharing their
supplies, too. All the while, they give God glory when He provides in ways each
of us take for granted.
