Posted on July 5, 2010 - by Kambale Musavuli

Sankofa 2010: Prelude To The Return Home

African youth organizers of the conference in Montreal

A few days ago, I had my conviction strengthened as I witnessed how the Congolese youth worked together to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Congo’s independence in Montreal, Canada. I saw how Congolese youth leaders in Montreal organized film screenings and a fundraiser to support a hospital in Congo. I saw how other African youth joined the planning of the events and offered their expertise to make it an excellent week of commemoration from June 29th to Lumumba’s birthday date of July 2nd. This experience was a true testimony that there is a shift taking place right now around the world, especially within the Congolese youth where we now see the urgency of taking control of the destiny of our country, the beautiful Congo.

When I flew back to NYC on July 3rd, the following day I was to be on the plane to Africa. A lot of my past started playing in my head… It has been 11 years since I left Congo, since I left Africa… I remember how it felt leaving friends behind with this sense of guilt that they were still in harm’s way. I remember my involvement in the church while in Congo. I was an altar boy and really enjoyed being involved in the church. I used to wake up at 4 am to get to my church by 4:50 am so I could open the church for people who had the 5 am rosary prayers. Memories of how religious I used to be. I guess America happened to me…

I also remember the day we left… going through South Africa… then arriving in JFK after a hurdle for the connection flight. I go into details about this hurdle experience in my book which will be published in the near future. But what I miss the most about leaving Africa is the sky at night when there is a power outage. So much peace, a wonderful blue sky, a natural silence, an indescribable feeling of happiness… usually spoiled by the return of the power and noise of refrigerators and TVs turning on. I miss Africa.

Not anymore! I am on my to Africa… the day Americans celebrate being independent, I am traveling to still-dependent African nations.

I assumed due to the holiday weekend, there would not be lots of people traveling to the continent. I was wrong. A full plane of people from many backgrounds and ages, all going to the land that birthed us all. A land always full of surprises, with so much pain it has endure, and still producing vibrant people with hopes and aspirations to make a better world. This is what I’ve been experiencing as I am connecting more and more with the Congolese youth on the ground and abroad.

Yet my trips have always unnexpected encounters. Sitting beside me was an American citizen, heading to Zambia, to help with that nation’s census. He actually works for the US Census bureau and he is familiar with the Congo. It was interesting to hear that he was in Congo and left it around the same time my family did too… that was 1998. What also raised my eyebrows was when he told me that his wife worked for the US Center for Disease Control office in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, and was responsible for monitoring HIV infections in Kinshasa. She arrived in Congo in 1982. I asked a lot of questions about HIV as he has also done data collection for USAID in other African countries. He shared with me that HIV infections data during that time was a flat line compared to an increasing oblique line for new HIV cases in the other countries, which was good for Congo. My reply to that was to find out from him what caused the low HIV infections from the data he collected. His response was “behaviors.” He went on to explain that in other African countries, certain behaviors allowed HIV infections to spread faster than in Congo.

The whole time he was talking, I wondered why, out of the many people on the plane, I had to sit beside someone who worked for the census bureau and worked in Congo? He did seem like a friendly guy and we shared a lot about Congo, Africa at large, and the census work in the US. I may meet him again in the future, but for the time being, we both broke the silence.

While on the 20-hour-long flight, I had the opportunity to watch the many different movies available on the plane. I saw the movie “Invictus” listed there. I remembered that a filmmaker friend of mine, Kevin Wilson (producer of The Emmit Till Story and working on a Congo film), told me that it is a must-watch movie. I now understand why. Watching it made me appreciate Nelson Mandela, despite the growing criticism of him in progressive arenas. I could see how difficult it is for a leader to bring people who before hated each other to work together. A memorable quote from that movie that still replays in my head is when Mandela asked François, the captain of the South African Rugby team, “How do you inspire your team to do their best? … How to get them to be better than they think they *can* be?”

This is the challenge we all come to face some day as we work to revitalize the Congolese people to be inspired to see a brighter day in Congo, to strive for excellence and a better future for Congo. It is a tough job but we,  people of goodwill and Congolese together, must be better than we think we can be to meet the challenges we face in the Congo.

That is why I’ve returned to the continent this time: To inspire the African youth to not lose hope and accept the fact that we may not see the fruit of our work, but we must start rebuilding our continent.

That is why Sankofa is the only way to get Africa to rise as a phoenix… it has been written…

That is why I am writing you this from Africa… the mother of us all.

Now that I am here… I can see that the work that must be done will need all of us. Africa is ready. ARE YOU READY!