Archive for the ‘The Journey’ Category

Posted on February 19, 2012 - by Kambale Musavuli

Thank You For Your Support

A few days ago, I put out a call for financial support for a friend who was in need.

I can report that she is doing well. I know it was a very short noticed. I am very humbled that supporters from Africa, Europe, Canada, and USA decided to provide financial support in a critical time.

What is also moving is that while she was still in need, she still had the word “Congo” in her mouth when I reached out to her to give her the update of what people did in her support.

Again, thank you for being there for my friend. I am forever grateful.

Until Peace Comes to the Congo,

Live.Love.Light.

Posted on February 15, 2012 - by Kambale Musavuli

A Much Needed Help for a Friend in Need

I have been on a hiatus for almost a year in regard to writing on this blog, but Valentine’s Day 2012 is making me come out to ask for your support.

The story is neither romantic nor joyful. I am writing this as I seek to support a true friend of mine who needs financial support for medical attention.

Here is a little bit about her.

I met her in 2009 while visiting a friend in New York. Of course anyone who meets me it is usually around the Congo. When I shared with her what was happening in my country, I was able to get her enrolled in breaking the silence around the situation in my country.

Over the years, I have gotten close to her and she was the first person who when she told me she loved me, I stuttered. I looked at her in the eye and was not able to respond back. That same night, I contacted her back to share that she was the first person I know who told me she loved me and I was not able to respond. I felt her love so strongly that I knew she loved my soul to the core.

No, she is not my girlfriend… she is more… she is someone who showed me why it was important to care about myself outside of work. I still remember how I did not know where to take a friend to diner in New York one day, and she was the person I called to help me find a nice restaurant in New York.

Most importantly, she is the woman who removed fear in me. She asked me one day “what are you up to Kambale?” I responded about what I was going to do that day. Then she said again “No, Kambale… What are you up to in life? what are you trying to achieve on this earth?” This started a very emotional talk of why I stand for peace in the world and how I came to find out exactly my reason of being. Since that day, she helped me see humanity in everyone starting with me. She helped me take some time to first start doing things for me, though I am still learning but without her, I wouldn’t even be able to stop and live.

So, what is going on?

I received a very alarming message from her yesterday, on Valentine’s Day reminding me that life is a journey we must always cherish. She shared more than what she should have told me, but I felt so much pain when I finally find out that she is in dire need. I can’t even share everything she shared… I felt so powerless that as she spoke to me, I could not even help her.

How could someone who saved my life… my personal life… be in need today and I can’t even help her?

This is why on Valentine’s Day, I sent an appeal on my social media network. I know what she needs and I shared I will try to at least raise $5000 for her medical need.

I don’t know if I will reach that amount, but I know I can only ask the universe, my ancestors, The Most Graceful and Merciful, the Almighty, all the powers who we may believe in… that at this time, they come to support the life of a person who is very dear to me.

For those who responded to my call on twitter and facebook. Thank you!

You can support by clicking on the button below and donating what you can.

 

Whatever you can give, be it $1 or more, will help tremendously. In coming days, I will give an update on her situation so you can keep up with how she is doing. I am devastated by the news and really do not know where to start.

I hope I was able to capture the beauty of her spirit.

All I can do is create the possibility and witness how the impossible becomes possible.

I believe…

I know…

She will be ok.

Posted on August 26, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

When Walmart Mocks the Suffering of Congolese

This week has been very engaging and busy for me. From earthquake in Manhattan to hurricane watch for the week-end. These natural disasters still do not top the action of Walmart who released on August 9 via the Walmart Youtube Channel a very disturbing commercial for their Back-To-School Campaign.

When I was made aware of this ad by a Congolese sister of mine who happened to have caught it on TV, I became very confused in trying to understand why Walmart would make such ad where they create the image of Congo that the world has been stuck with from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”

The commercial implied that Congo is a country where there is a high risk of contracting leprosy as one travels there.

Walmart ad made by the Martin Agency

As a Congolese, I could not let this go and not do something. This is also true for many of my Congolese countrywomen and men who have taken this opportunity not only to let Walmart know that this type of stereotypical ad is unacceptable, but to also say that we as Congolese will not remain silent anymore about how the world is misinformed about the situation in the Congo.

My little contribution to the movement is a letter that was sent today to the Chief Executive Officer of Walmart, Mr Mike Duke, informing him about the Congolese people’s discontent of their ad. Thanks to the tireless advocates who helped in the research and writing of the letter.

Here is what was shared with the CEO of Walmart. You can track the letter by following this link.

August 26, 2011

Mike Duke
Chief Executive Officer
Walmart Home Office
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

RE: WALMART BACK-TO-SCHOOL AD “URGENT CARE” BY MARTIN AGENCY

Dear Mr. Mike Duke:

My name is Kambale Musavuli. I am a Congolese Human Rights Activist and Spokesperson of Friends of the Congo. I am writing to lodge a formal complaint against your “Urgent Care” advertisement released August 9th, 2011 on the web and on TV networks, as part of the Walmart Back-to-School campaign. This ad, created by the Martin Agency, constitutes a serious offense to Congolese people in particular and Africans in general.

The ad misinforms viewers and customers alike, encourages prejudicial attitudes toward Africans, and desensitizes its audience to the greatest humanitarian crisis at the dawn of the 21st century, which is grossly under-reported and widely misunderstood.

1. Misinformation: The ad depicts a student researching WebMD on his smart phone as a means to diagnose a friend’s skin condition. In the process, he suggests that the Congo is either a unique or high-risk source for leprosy, and that he has pulled this information from the WebMD website. Research reveals no mention of Congo on WebMD’s leprosy page. The World Health Organization’s site referenced by WebMD states that leprosy in the Congo reached a stage of elimination in 2007. The same page confirms that 100 cases of leprosy occur annually in the US, meaning that one would not have needed to leave the country for exposure. Viewers are wrongly encouraged to associate leprosy and the Congo without any logical basis for the connection.

2. Prejudice: The ad is only 30 seconds in length, making full characterization of any place or people logistically impossible. However, the Congo has long held a space in Western imagination as a symbol of fear and contagion. With this historical and cultural context, referring to the country as shorthand for disease further entrenches prejudicial stereotypes. The ad encourages us to laugh at the idea that a Caucasian, American, middle-class freshman would travel to the Congo. The joke hinges on the improbability of his visit, either because of the boy’s race, nationality, income, or age. Congo’s undesirability as a destination remains a strong overtone throughout. Viewers are encouraged to think of the Congo solely as a place to be avoided and feared.

3. Desensitization: The media has not adequately covered the conflict in the Congo, despite the fact that it has the most human casualties worldwide since World War II. Nearly six million people have died in the last fifteen years of Congo’s conflict, many from disease because of poor living conditions and displacement. Part of the reason why the conflict receives little coverage is the lack of interest by American viewers. By referring to disease in Congo as a joke, the ad encourages viewers to dismiss conditions of struggle and conflict in the country as “normal” and, therefore, unworthy of attention, intensifying an already serious case of inattention and mis-education about Congo in particular and Africa in general. In fact, it plays into the vilest stereotypes about Africa that desensitizes Americans about the place and the people.

While no one is meant to treat advertisements as public service announcements, they nevertheless function as strong public messages. Ads have power, and this one constitutes a particularly aggressive form of ignorance. It is questionable to benefit as a corporation from the sale of technological products like smart phones while suggesting publicly that the poor living conditions in Congo are an unrelated misfortune, especially when metals found in the phone may play a role in fueling the conflict in the Congo.

I am just one of thousands of supporters, Americans and Congolese, demanding that Walmart takes responsibility for its negative impact with this ad. At minimum Walmart should:

1. Remove the “Urgent Care” ad from all forms of media circulation (TV networks, web, etc.),
2. Issue a press release delivering a public apology to the Congolese people about the ad, and
3. Educate and sensitize a.) your staff (especially the Marketing Department who approved the release of this ad) and b.) your customers by providing teaching materials that explain the situation in the Congo and what Walmart is doing to practice responsible sourcing as it relates to the Congo’s mineral resources.

Through your reparative actions, I ask you to fulfill your 2010 statement that Walmart “will make the absolute most of our opportunity and capacity to lead as a retailer, as a company, and as people who truly care about serving and helping other people around the world.” Thousands of people eagerly await your response and evidence of this commitment.

Sincerely,

Kambale Musavuli

Spokesperson
Friends of the Congo

Note:

Link to learn more about the Congo
http://www.congojustice.org

Link to Walmart ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUyxzgmoyuQ

Link to response from the Congolese community
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSejKW9OJjE

Link to Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CongoAdProtest/

Posted on June 20, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

Supporting Now AfriCAN in NYC Tuesday June 28

Hi friends, colleagues, family, and acquaintances.

I am proud to announce you that I am part of the Host Committee of an organization doing amazing work in African post-conflict zones, including the Congo! So, I’m writing to invite you to an exciting party that’s right around the corner. Now AfriCAN has teamed up with l’Altruist to stage a fundraising party for their efforts for Congo. The party will take place Tuesday, June 28 (7-11pm) at Gallery Bar (120 Orchard Street) in New York City. They’ll have great drink specials, the amazing DJ mOma, a short film directed by Now AfriCAN with exclusive images from Goma, interesting people and just the right atmosphere to help you let loose for a good cause.

Tickets to the event are $15 until June 27 @ noon and can be purchased online at http://nowafrican.eventbrite.com.  Tickets will also be available at the door for $20. Now AfriCAN works with the African youth living in post conflict zones through micro-finance, education and the media and needless to say, they need our help.  If you can make it to Gallery Bar on the 28^th you’d be helping Congolese entrepreneurs launch their micro-ventures while having a great time in the process.

For those of you who would like to support more, they have different level of donations corresponding to different types of micro-ventures that the youth in Goma have submitted to them:

• $100: you can support a young entrepreneur who would like to establish a cattle venture
• $200: you can help a young entrepreneur own a small kiosk, the primary place to purchase everyday needs  in Goma!
• $400: you can enable a young entrepreneur to acquire a chukudu (ingenious hand-made bicycles used in the region to transport goods) and transport goods and materials for cash!

Attached you will find the flyer of the event you can use as your Facebook photo to help us attract even more people to our event! But whatever you do, your presence, most of all, will help make a difference!

I know I will be there! Will you be there to support Congo’s youth?

Click on image to purchase ticket.

Posted on May 8, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

A Mother’s Day Poem

On this day, Mother’s Day, there are so many things I can say or write about my mother. I can speak of how my mother finished her college dissertation while pregnant with me, her last child. She always shared with us how tough it was to stay focus and committed to going to college while working to support the household and making sure that my two eldest siblings were ok too, all the while being pregnant.

I can speak of how my mother raised three children by herself in Congo… the nights when she had to be a dad and mom during the military uprising in the early 90s, and during the first Rwandan-Ugandan war in the Congo in 1996. I can also speak about her commitment that she made to her children about making sure we all were in school and had food in the house no matter the financial hardship. As a child, I witnessed how our house furnitures and her Sunday’s best- clothes were sold in the market just to make sure that tuition was paid (Yes, in the Congo, education is not free and the best schools in Kinshasa have really high tuition rates).

I can’t forget how she challenged us as her children to think, read, and be able to make analysis of political situation… I still remember the Paris Match magazine she will bring home for us to read, or her spending extra hours after work to make sure our homework was done…

Yes, she instill in me the passion I have today to not only push for excellence, but to know what is wrong with the elite life and how to help people from all backgrounds… Even one year, though I was able to go to schools such as Flamboyants, Petits-Anges, and Malula in Kinshasa (some decent schools in Kinshasa), she made sure for one year, I was able to attend a school called Petits-Bois, right in Kinseso, a neighborhood that could be considered as the ghetto of the ghettoes in Kinshasa (capital city of the Congo).

What I learned going there was invaluable. I saw how less fortunate kids than me were as smart as my former classmates in other schools, yet they did not have the same type of access to materials for their studies nor did they not have the same opportunities than the most fortunate ones.

Mom, as I call her, made me who I am today… Without her, I am sure I would not be the man I am today as cliché as it may sound.

For that Mom, I thank you for enduring the 9 months… and even more years later… to make sure that I contribute positively to this earth.

This is so true to many mothers in the Congo… the mothers in the East of the Congo are always on my mind. Every day, I think about how they live. Can you imagine living in constant fear of being brutalized by armed men? For my New York friends, think about living in the state of mind you had on September 11 2001 when you did not know what was going on… and take that feeling spread over 14 years… These strong Congolese women wake up every morning with that fear of the unknown and yet walk out their front door with their head high…

Knowing their strength, I can only spend this day not just honoring my mother, but all my Congolese mothers, who, when faced with adversity, they always rise up with strength and power.

To all my Congolese mothers, thank you for all you are doing… and us your children, will make it right very soon! “Our Time Will Come!”

Here is a poem dedicated to all the mothers on this day… a poem by Camara Laye

To My Mother

Black woman, African woman, O mother, I think of you …
O Dâman, O mother,
who carried me on your back, who nursed me,
who governed by first steps,
who opened my eyes to the beauties of the world, I think of you …

Woman of the fields, woman of the rivers, woman of the great river, O
mother, I think of you …

O Dâman, O mother, who wiped my tears,
who cheered up my heart,
who patiently dealt with my caprices,
how I would love to still be near you.

Simple woman, woman of resignation, O mother, I think of you.
O Dâman, Dâman of the great family of blacksmiths, my thoughts are
always of you, they accompany me with every step,
O Dâman, my mother, how I would love to still feel your warmth,
to be your child that is close to you …
Black woman, African woman, O mother, thank you; thank you for all
that you have done for me, your son, so far away yet so close to you!

A ma mère (French)

Femme noire, femme africaine, ô toi ma mère je pense à toi…

Ô Dâman, ô ma mère, toi qui me
portas sur le dos, toi qui m’allaitas,
toi qui gouvernas mes premiers pas,
toi qui la première m’ouvris les yeux
aux prodiges de la terre, je pense à toi…

Femme des champs, femme des rivières, femme du grand fleuve,
ô toi, ma mère, je pense à toi…

Ô toi Dâman, ô ma mère, toi qui
essuyais mes larmes, toi qui me
réjouissais le coeur, toi qui,
patiemment supportais mes caprices,
comme j’aimerais encore être près de toi, être enfant près de toi…

Ô Dâman, Dâman de la grande
famille des forgerons, ma pensée
toujours se tourne vers toi, la tienne
à chaque pas m’accompagne, ô
Dâman, ma mère, comme j’aimerais
encore être dans ta chaleur, être
enfant près de toi…

Femme noire, femme africaine, ô
toi, ma mère, merci ; merci pour tout
ce que tu fis pour moi, ton fils, si
loin, si près de toi !

Posted on January 31, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

And then there were shots…

Pow… Pow… is what I heard…

Is it New York? Kinshasa? Bukavu? Where am I? Wait a minute… I’m in Brooklyn… Why am I hearing gunshots inside a subway car? This is what happened to me about a week ago, the night of January 22nd.

What happened? Where was I going? What did I do? Well…

On Saturday 22nd, a friend threw a going-away party for herself as she was getting ready to travel the world and do some work in India. It was a nice social gathering with lots of like-minded youth. I met technology innovators, social entrepreneurs, passionate activists, all under 30 years old. After sharing with some of the people at the gathering the work that I do with Friends of the Congo, they were enthusiastic about bringing their skills to improve the capacity of our organization. What I remember the most from the conversation is that all of us shared the same ambition: Make the world a better place.

As it was getting late, I went ahead and said my goodbyes to the host and new friends. After I left the party, around 1 am, I checked in with “the system” (a term I use in order not to disclose the name of the person). For the past two years, a few strange things have occurred that created a need for “a system” so that at all times, it knows where I am. Just this month, the system was checked again when I was in a car accident; luckily, everyone was OK.

While talking with the system and sharing the outcome of the networking at the social gathering, the most important words the system said to me before I hung up were “Be safe, Kambale!” Was it the first time the system said that? Not at all… But it was odd the way it said it… and this actually stayed with me as I was getting ready to take the subway home.

Here I was, getting on the subway cart 8464 of the J train Manhattan bound…. Yes… I have now developed a habit of documenting my every single move… It was now about 2 am. There was a group of teenagers who entered the car behind mine. They looked Latino/Puerto Rican and seemed happy, probably coming from their own social gathering.

When the subway stopped at the Flushing Avenue stop, the subway doors opened and two teenage girls from the group on the next car entered the car where I was sitting. One was crying and the other told her friend, “Keep going!” Everyone on the car looked at them strangely…  Then… while the doors were still opened… we heard two shots in the car where these two girls had come from. It was 2:42 am

Yelling, running, and near chaos started… In the car where I was, people from many races were there… from black and  whites to Latinos… all of us stood up to go away from the shots and move forward toward the first car through the doors… I remember the look on the face of a young white lady on that car…

I’ve seen that look before… It was the look I saw in Kinshasa in the early 90s when the Congolese army (Zaire back then) committed mutiny and were attacking civilians. We were in school in Petits-Anges and there were shots in the area. They had to dismiss class… Some of my classmates had that same look the young lady had… when you have the fear of death… not knowing if you will be hurt… That was the look…

But why? Why was I seeing this look in New York City? I thought I had come to the US to be out of harm’s way!? Was it possible to leave a war-torn country to come to a peaceful country only to realize that militarism is everywhere? Yes… all were afraid of the gunshots… I am sure they had never experienced anything like this before… I kept asking myself why no one was actually verifying if anyone was hurt.

I stopped… started going back… Then I saw one teenager running with a gun in his hand outside the subway with blood coming out of his head. Then there were many others running back and forth outside of the subway with no weapons… but yelling… so what was going on?

As I got back to the subway car I had been in, I could not get through the next car because the door that connected the car was closed. I sat watching everything unfold… a few people who had been in the same car with me started coming back too… Ten minutes had gone by; then we start seeing police officers coming through. Now I needed to call the system to let it know what was going on. It was 2:56 am and my phone had no battery. I started smiling… the system told me to be safe… never knew that included being prepared. As I smiled and happened to look up, I started laughing so hard that people looked at me as if I was crazy. Right there inside the subway car, there was an ad for a TV series called “Justified.” Surprisingly, the ad had a man holding a gun as if he were ready to shoot.

Kinda funny… in the mix of all the turmoil, one can still find humor in the most challenging situation. That’s some wisdom I learned from two wonderful men, Sierra-Leonean author and activist Ismael Beah and Rwandan genocide survivor Claude Gatebuke, as they shared with me insightful knowledge of people’s humanity in the time of war.

My recollection and laughter was interrupted by the arrival of the police. After their review of the car where the shot took place, they noticed a young man shot in his leg. The paramedics arrived and cared for this young man. He was no older than 18, I am sure. The “crime” scene made me realize how Americans really take for granted the institutions that exist to hold individuals accountable in this country. It is not perfect as it needs serious reform, but at the minimum, the victim gets medical care much more easily than in Congo. Literally 15 minutes after the gunshots, the victim was now being transported to a medical facility.

After the police interrogation and finally me getting back on a different subway to get home, I realized how we all take life for granted. I have had so many close calls in attempts against my life in the past years that those who are close to me always worry about actions I take. I am at times careful… but sometimes I forget that one should not tempt death…

Last weekend was a reminder. A reminder that life is precious… that you should live life as if it were your last day… that you should always do your best to be safe… and have at least one person always know where you are at all times. It seems to me that Congo is not so different than New York in some ways… but the challenge remains for me to contextualize weapon proliferation around the world, for the same proliferation is how one of these teenagers was able to acquire a gun. In the justice system here, the young man will be arrested… yet… the problem will remain…

So… what will you do for your neighborhood here in New York? You never know when you may find yourself in the situation I was in a weekend ago… Learn more about gun laws in New York, study police practices in low-income communities, advocate for more resources in schools in low-income communities, and most importantly, MENTOR A YOUTH!

Posted on January 17, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

FOTC Book of the Month: The Assassination of Lumumba

Friends of the Congo has chosen The Assassination of Lumumba as the book of the month for January this year once more. When I first read the book, I had chills right after I finished its introduction. As a Congolese young activist, I realized how misinformed I was on what caused the death of my country’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Emery Lumumba.

After reading the book, I became passionate in researching everything I could put my hands on that spoke about him or kept records of his speeches and radio addresses from 1958 until 1961 when he was assassinated.

So who was Patrice Lumumba?

Patrice Lumumba was a “leopard warrior,” a nationalist, a father, a friend, a passionate Congolese who wanted nothing but the best for the Congolese. He was misunderstood by many but his writings show how he saw the Congo as the super-power nation that would help develop Africa. When he took power in 1960 as our prime minister, he faced tremendous challenges in keeping the Congo together due to the Belgian invasion of Southern Congo using Congolese sycophants as leaders of the secession of Katanga.

As Lumumba sought help to stop the secession of Katanga, he asked Russia to come to the rescue of the Congolese state in a context where the United States, France, the United Nations, all were unwilling to support the Congo in this Belgian-backed secession. This factor caused the United States to label Lumumba as a communist and make it easy for him to be sidelined. This propaganda was even refuted years later in 1960 by the CIA Chief of Station, Larry Devlin, who was sent in Congo by US president Dwight Eisenhower. Devlin recounts “I don’t think he [Lumumba] was a communist, I think he thought that he could use the Russians – one, to frighten the western powers and two, to provide the technical help which he needed.”

Western powers, particularly the United States and Belgium, in cahoots with the hand-picked local elites, took Lumumba away from this earth in a very gruesome way on January 17, 1960. Fifty years later, though his physical presence is inexistent, his words still resonate in the minds and hearts of millions around the world and young Congolese.

The author of The Assassination of Lumumba, Ludo de Witte, is a Belgian writer. He wrote a historical narrative of the events in Congo in 1960 that led to the assassination of Lumumba. When the book was published in 2001, it was a bombshell in Belgium, forcing its government to launch an inquiry into what actually took place in the Congo in 1960-1961. With hard facts and evidence inside the book showing clearly the complicity of western powers, with Belgium included, the Belgian government had no choice but to officially apologize to the Congolese nation in 2002. Up until today, the United States has not taken responsibility in its complicity for the assassination of an elected leader of a sovereign nation.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction page of this book of the month:

‎In September 1960, the Congolese government and parliament which supported Lumumba were swept aside by Colonel Joseph-Desire Mobutu. The war against the Congolese nationalists came provisorily to a head when, on January 17, 1961, Lumumba and two of his closest associates were assassinated in Katanga, which was then being propped up by Belgian military and government personnel.

This dark episode was suppressed for almost forty years, hidden from the history books. For fear of losing prestige, funding and other facilities, nobody has dared undertake a serious analysis and describe the Congo crisis as it really happened. No politician has taken the initiative of subjecting Belgium’s Foreign Ministry archives to careful scrutiny, or requested a debate or parliamentary inquiry on the subject. On the contrary – once Lumumba’s government was ousted, an attempt was made to deprive the Africans of the true story of his overthrow: not only had Lumumba been physically eliminated, his life and work were not to become a source of inspiration for the peoples of Africa either. His vision of creating a unified nation state and economy serving the needs of the people were to be wiped out. In an attempt to prevent another Lumumba ever appearing again, his ideas and his struggle against colonial and neo-colonial domination had to be purged from collective memory.

What is fascinating about this paragraph is that Lumumba’s memory has not been erased from the collective memory of Africans, rather it has been imprinted into the DNA of every African child. My hope for those reading the book is to contextualize the current struggle in the Congo through this historical narrative and understand that the challenge of the Congo in 1960 is still the same challenge today in 2011, which is that the Congolese control their own affairs.

Today, January 17, 2011, two articles were published in major newspapers that are worth mentioning.

American scholar Adam Hochschild, author of the book “King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa“, had an article published on the New York Times titled “In Congo, An Assassination’s Long Shadow”. Also, Congolese scholar Dr Nzongola Ntalaja, author of the book “Congo: From Leopold to Kabila – A People’s History“, published an article on The Guardian UK titled “Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century”. I hope you take the time to buy all three books mentioned in this post and read the two articles, as they will equip you to understand what is happening in the Congo today.

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of his assassination, let us all stand with the Congolese people in their ongoing pursuit for peace, justice and human dignity.

Posted on January 16, 2011 - by Kambale Musavuli

A poem about Lumumba written by a Facebook friend

Tomorrow, January 17, 2011, is the 50th anniversary of the brutal assassination of Patrice Emery Lumumba, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo. As the world commemorates this day, Congolese and friends of the Congo around the world are joining in solidarity with the Lumumba family to call for justice for the Congolese people.

I have been blessed to meet wonderful people through social media networks such as Facebook. I have learned so much about countries such as Algeria and Jordan, thanks to Facebook friends living in those areas. I also have appreciated Americans who have stood by the side of the Congolese and learned the history of my country to understand what has been taking place in the Congo for centuries.

A Facebook friend has just brought tears to my eyes today… She wrote a poem about Lumumba which made me realize that truly Congolese people are not alone.

Thank you Dorothy for your poem… and I know this will touch many people around the world.

Patrice Lumumba

Dedicated to the memory and spirit of Patrice Emery Lumumba
(2 July 1925–17 January 1961)

The soldiers stole you and two others
into the back of a truck
in the middle of the night
put you in a bag tied up your beaten bloody body with rope
sweating as they drove you into the middle of the country
Katanga Province, Africa
in a far off field
where there were no lights
where you could not see anything
they assassinated you and two ministers Okito and Mpolo

they attacked to kill you
they ripped apart your body
scattering it bone by bone across the fields
so that the blood mixed with the earth
they hid you and they hid their murder of you
they thought that by doing this your spirit would break
they thought that by doing this your memory would be broken

but a week before the killing you had written to your wife,
“I prefer to die with my head unbowed, my faith unshakable,
and with profound trust in the destiny of my country.”

Patrice Lumumba – born in the village of Onalua in Kasai province,
the Congo
you called for an independent country in those stuffy halls
where people taunted you with their viciousness
you were not afraid to speak the truth
because you knew that a village, a country, perhaps even
the world would remember your words

the night knows your secrets
the way you envisioned a united Africa
Lumumba
something about your spirit moves me
across these many years
in a land far away
something about your very presence on this earth moves
me to tears
just as your mother stood outside her small house
as the sky was changing to dusk
stood crying into hands which could not stop the tears
from falling, dripping onto the earth
so that a river of tears fell at her feet

Lumumba
Lumumba
your name should become a chant for all free thinking people
you who longed for corruption-free politics
who took pride in every step you walked
for a free independent Congo you said
and those words became a sacred chant for your people

they wanted your name to be forgotten
they wanted your warrior feeling to be cast out
they wanted to stamp on your vision
but it is not forgotten Lumumba
Lumumba
your mother weeping into her cupped hands
the tears filling her face her neck her body
Lumumba
your name is not erased from our history books
but brought back to life
and lived…

Copyright 2011 – Dorothy Johnson-Laird

Posted on November 29, 2010 - by Diane Bolingani

God and Congo

Your beliefs can be like fences that surround you. You must first recognize the existence of such barriers – you must see them or you will not even realize that you are not free, simply because you will not see beyond the fences. They will represent the boundaries of your experience.

The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts

Yesterday I was in a Nonviolent Communication practice group and we dealt with beliefs about God that we are uncomfortable with. I thought I didn’t have any but then I realized that I did.

Deep down, part of me thought that God doesn’t care about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If God cared, he wouldn’t let the people there suffer so. If God is loving and compassionate, then how can He allow such suffering? When asked what my judgments are about God, I realized I think God is cruel. God should get off His a** and stop the suffering. (And yet, at the same time, I think I shouldn’t be judging God. It’s scary to criticize omnipotent beings.)

The worksheet we were completing asked what needs of mine were not met by this belief. Well, if God doesn’t care about Congo, it doesn’t meet my need for the well-being of the Congolese people and territory. It doesn’t meet my need for everyone to matter to God.

When asked what I need to mourn when I see that my needs have not been met, I started crying. I realize that I don’t think I will ever be able to mourn for the over six million Congolese who have died, the boys and young men who have been forced to become “soldiers,” or all the girls and women who have been raped, mutilated and publicly humiliated. But if I knew God cared, that would make it somehow bearable. Thinking God doesn’t care deprives me of hope. It would be better not to believe in God than to believe in a God that doesn’t care.

As I was leaning over this abyss of depressing hopelessness and sharing the view with my friends, one of them asked, “Does God have free will?”

I leaned back and considered. What do I believe about that? I believe that God gave human beings free will. And when we were given free will, it gave us the opportunity and the power to stop the suffering – or to cause the suffering. If I sit back on my a** and allow others to cause suffering while I cry about God doing nothing, I am not using the power God gave me.

I believe that when I separate myself from God, I disempower myself. And when I believe that God is separate from me, I disempower God.

My new belief is that God does care about Congo. The Congolese people do matter to God. The proof? All of us who care. Because we are all one with God.

Posted on July 24, 2010 - by Kambale Musavuli

Rhodes University Breaks The Silence

Where do I start? Writing about this experience is quite a challenge. The number one place that topped all the schools I have visited is Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. I also enjoyed the wonderful students at the University of San Francisco, given that they actually have a class on Congo. I must also say that the students at Saint Lawrence brought tears to my eyes when they sang STAND UP to move the students on their campus to get engaged with Congo advocacy. Now, I have just been to a college campus in Africa and must add Rhodes University on the list of schools to remember.

Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, had invited Friends of the Congo to come share with the delegates at their annual journalism conference about how it uses digital media, commonly called New Media, to expose resource exploitation on the African continent. Who would have thought ten years ago that social media could become a tool for advocacy? In the past two years I have seen the effectiveness of using social networks to spread information about the situation in the Congo. With these new tools in the hands of indigenous people, we are all bearing witness to a new digital revolution where the common medium is now controlled by the people rather than the mainstream media. Due to this fact, I saw myself embark on a new journey to break the silence on the African continent.

So… what is this conference that I attended? The fifth annual Digital Citizen’s Indaba (DCI) [www.dcindaba.com], held on July 7th at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, drew together citizens, advocates, bloggers and activists from around the world to discuss how new media can revolutionize development work and give a voice to the unheard or silenced. This year’s theme, “Africa’s Underdevelopment: Digital Citizens Talk Back,” explored citizen media and the exploitation of natural resources, disasters, climate change and mega events. The DCI is a project of the Highway Africa Conference [www.highwayafrica.com], which took place on July 5th and 6th.

It was a long trip to get to the campus. A 20-hour flight from New York to Port Elizabeth, followed by a 2-hour drive to the town, made me appreciate more the scenery of rural areas. It has been so long since I’ve been to Africa. It was nice to get to see the land of our ancestors once again. I completely forgot that I was in a country that had a huge British influence. I was shocked to see the steering wheel on the “wrong” side of the car and surprised to see the car driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Then came the discussion with the student helpers, who came to pick us up from the airport, about which side of the road is right. My argument was irrefutable when I stated “driving on the right side of the road is the right way to do it!”

In Grahamstown, after getting checked in at the hotel, it was with a bit of sadness that I watched the music channel that only played American music for about four hours; when there were South African musicians that came on, their music sounded so Americans that I literally thought that Viacom owned the South African Broadcasting Channel (SABC). Was I in Africa? I came from so far to realize that there is a slow death of the African culture as Africa is embracing everything from the outside without keeping its culture. I hope to expand on this matter in a future post, but this experience was quite telling.

The following day, I met two other speakers as we had breakfast together. They were South Africans who gave me a piece of their mind about FIFA and other local issues in South Africa. They both came from Jo’burg. I appreciated their openness in allowing me to see that the issues that Americans face are not so different than the ones that South Africans are facing. The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental aspiration for every human being, but sometimes the greed of certain individuals interferes with the lives of millions and puts ordinary, hardworking people out in the streets. It was nice to make that connection with them and appreciate the fact they were willing to share their experience.

When I arrived on campus, I really appreciated the hospitality of the student workers and people around campus. I have worked on conferences and know how frustrating it can be. From a pompous speaker who wants his hot water in the bathtub to be a certain temperature in his hotel room, to the students who forgot to go pick up a speaker at the airport where he has been waiting for three hours – all of these issues can be very frustrating. But what I noticed from the logistical team of the conference is the patience and grace it had in dealing with all the issues at hand and the hospitality which has been unmatched during my stay in South Africa.

After participating in a few workshops that day, I returned to my room to prepare for the presentation I had to give the next day. I was asked to give a keynote speech since the person who had been supposed to do it had had a death in the family and could not join us at the conference. I had lots of ideas of how I should be speaking to the delegates about the topic at hand and Congo. I am always keen on making sure that people understand the historical context of issues in order to know what to do in changing the present. But this challenge was greater: how to contextualize Africa from a digital media perspective and make the Congo the emblematic example of what happens in every African country. I was set for a long night with no sleep. But… the all-nighter paid off.

The next day, I had 15 minute to make my case that the underdevelopment of Africa has its causes, but with tools at hand today we can address the many complex issues Africans face through technology. As I started my presentation, I was so happy to see so many young people in the audience. I have always been enthusiastic about the future of Africa when I see a lot of young Africans discussing African issues or even engaging in solving them. This event revitalized my resolve for a new Africa. By the end of the presentation, I made the critical point that Congo was a very important country for the future of Africa and therefore there is no greater issue today in Africa than the situation in the Congo, and it requires the participation of all.

The presentation was received well and I was added on a panel discussion on resource exploitation in Africa. This panel was quite interesting because at the end, a gentleman, if I should call him that, who I later found out works for a mining company, dismissed claims of the wrongdoing of a Canadian mining company by stating that they are doing a lot of great things. I will expand on this in a separate blog post. After that incident, I understood that what we do is so very sensitive and is being watched by all the forces against the Congo that I now have to be a bit wiser about how to bring truth to the people. I really am thankful that an employee of a mining company took the time to be disruptive at an event, thus exposing the true nature of what the companies are doing in Congo and now giving me more motivation to write about the actions on that one company in Congo so the world can see how the Congolese continue to be exploited.

After the workshop, I continued to attend the different workshops and later that evening, Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave a closing speech of the 4-day conference. His sense of humor is unique. He truly spoke to the heart of people. He reminded all of us how tough it was to fight apartheid by letting us know that not everyone supported their effort and some actually were OK with apartheid. He concluded his speech by telling us “Remember where you come from!” I really understood that as I have seen the many challenges that almost made me forget who I was – because when all is said and done, the only thing that is left in you is who you are. Who you are is defined by where you’re from. With no roots, a tree can’t grow! Strong roots will forever hold the tree through any turmoil.

Thank you, Archbishop Tutu, for a remarkable speech, and a very special thank you to Elvira, Jane, and Hailey (Digital Citizen Indaba’s coordinators) at Rhodes University and all the beautiful students there who demonstrated excellent professionalism!