What was life like in your home country?
When I left the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), socio-economic instability and many obstacles affected
it. The leaders and government would not allow young people to make use of
their potential skills. First, the big issue in my country is the corrupt
government. There is no justice or respect of human rights conditions in all
the sectors of society. The potential wealth for the country does not trickle down
to profit the communities. There are many, many people still living in great
poverty. Two mining companies surround some small cities. None of the wealth
goes to the local people, but instead to politicians who live the good life. People
of the DRC remain poor and affected by diseases caused by air pollution. Towns
centers have no good infrastructure at all. Wars and poverty propel people to
migrate, searching for a better life. When I left the DRC only the eastern part
of the country was experiencing war, but now rebel groups hostile to the
government affect all the provinces.
What made you decide to leave your country?
After I completed grade
12 in school, while in my first year at a university, I requested to join
military training. In my country, military service is not compulsory. It’s a
job with the poorest wage; even a security guard here has a better life than a
soldier in the DRC. A soldier in the DRC can’t survive from his. Sometimes
soldiers attack their own people at night to get something from poor people.
The government knows of this, but it doesn’t act on it. Since the country was
unstable because of rebel groups, the government needed young people to join
the army. Before, in my area, young people went for military training voluntarily
believing good could come with a high grade in the military as promised by the
government. Those young people never returned home, and no one knows their whereabouts.
The people heard the young men and women who went were not going through
training, but the government sent them straight to the battlefield with no
training. After we heard that, the government forced young people to join the
military for training with fake promise. The government realized the young people
of the country didn’t trust them. These young people were being kidnapped at
night or being arrested for wrong reasons to bring them to the battle field in
the eastern part of the country. My brother-in-law was working as a secret
agent in the government. He advised me to leave the country, so I decided to cross
the border to Zambia looking to get to South Africa.
What has life been like in your host/adopted country?
I arrived in South
Africa after leaving the DRC. The urban settings are intriguing and very different
from my home country. Unlike the government of the DRC, the South African
government works, but being a refugee here is a big problem. They make you feel
like you are the problem. South Africa has great potential to emerge in the
international world. Still, they make it very hard for foreign people, particularly
refugees and asylum-seekers, to get access documents (Green ID book, work permit,
and residence document). The people who work in the government offices make the
process of getting the required documents much longer and more involved. Often,
the workers deny you access to the proper channels and documents. In general,
South Africans are hostile to foreigners. That makes me feel like the hell in
my home country is still with me. Part of that hell stays within me even away
from my home country. Still I feel the hell that was at home. Part of that hell
stays within you away from home. The xenophobia attacks in 2008, 2012, and 2015
make that hell feel much more real.
