The Congolese: Africa's masters of portable skills deserve stability, education and peace!

In November 2022, the 3rd Inter-Congolese Dialogue held under East Africa Community was convened in Nairobi, Kenya, to find ways to restore peace, security, stability and quell warring forces in the Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Amid the talks, I reflected on the hardship displaced persons from the Democratic Republic of Congo have faced over the decades due to endless wars.

Every year since before the days that led to the death of now late Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, thousands to millions of Congolese have fled their country seeking refuge/asylum in other countries with, literally, nothing on them.

With every civil unrest orchestrated by various factions, millions have fled leaving behind memories. Forced to dessert their mineral wealthy nation, their heritage, history, friends, families, they have been uprooted from their sense of community, their schools, teachers, curriculum subject matter setting back generations of millions of children - children who've grown into adults withdrawn from the history of a nation they should have grown to love and appreciate but have had to abandon and flee.

The Congolese people have for long counted losses. Some have called it the mineral curse. Destroyed businesses, losing losing loved ones to mostly selfish wars. Flee they must, with one prayer - to stay alive. Separated from their lands, off they go, leaving most of their lands to those who have discovered minerals right underneath the very lands that have been fled. Those left behind especially in the mineral rich areas live in abject poverty. An irony considering this is one of the richest countries by mineral value. This is just a piece of the dirty game behind all the chaos that has bedevilled the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A sad reality.

How can one of the richest countries by natural resources valued in the trillions of dollars, be one of the most politically unstable in the world? How can this beautiful country with such rich potential for renewable energy solutions have some of the poorest people and very minimal industrialisation? How can this nation with such joyful people be the same country that produces the highest number of refugees as a result of war?

When I thought about writing this article, my intention was to bring out the joyfulness of the people of the DRC. I hope when I type my last sentence, I will still view it as such.

Let me share a short story.

By demographic standard I'm categorised as a millennial, a Gen Y. Growing up (depending on how old you're when you read this is not too, too long ago), I remember the unrest in the DRC always forced Congolese nationals to seek refuge across the border, in my birth town, Kasese, a border district in Western Uganda. There was this one time in my grade school when the school I attended and tens others, were temporarily turned into refugee camps for 2 - 3 weeks during school breaks to accommodate the hundreds to thousands of refugees that had fled deadly fighting between ADF rebel forces and peace keeping troops. I was 11 maybe? Even then I always wondered, "Will they ever get their lives back?' 🤔.

The truth is, they never did, and never really do.

They just pick up the pieces and start to build a new life wherever that may be. I mean, imagine your current life being taken away in less than 24 hours with no choice to salvage even one piece of it? Hard, does not even begin to describe how unfathomable that must feel. Reflect on this for a moment and think about how this has been the case for generations of Congolese nationals who have for lack of a better way to put it, 'come to terms' with this way of life. Being born into the world and being told to always be ready to flee. Flee a war that is 'none of your business'.

Some have sought refuge in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville and the Central African Republic (CAR is an-out-of-the-frying-pan-and-into-the-fire situation) before they find their way to countries outside Africa.

Today, Uganda 🇺🇬 and Kenya 🇰🇪 host one of the biggest refugees camps in Africa. In these refugee communities are refugees of school going age, studying in overcrowded classrooms. In 2020, I moderated an EdTechMondays conversation by Mastercard Foundation on how Education Technology can help improve learning in refugee communities using programmes that have been developed to accommodate vulnerable people such as refugee students.

From this discussion, I drew lessons. One of them being that, learners in these settings have more challenges than just lack of proper classrooms. Language barrier is one of them. Learning in a predominantly English speaking country when in your country of origin, French was the official language can be daunting. Then add to that, the fact that, the learners do not recognise any of their classmates. They miss their teachers, classmates, their support system from whom they've been separated from in the search for refuge, and so much more. I could go on. For them, life must go on. Forward they must think and onward they must look. The Congolese are some of the most resilient people I know.

I tell you what, the oxymoron here, is that inspire of all the suffering the people of the DRC have been through, they’re some of the most joyful people one can interact with. While their pain might have been normalised by the 'unknown knowns', wars I mean, if that took a while to process, and those with vested interests continue to drain the country’s mineral resources at the expense of people’s lives, these people still manage to make do and live happy lives! So deep are the normalcies of their constant fleeing that formal brick and mortar education is but a pipe dream - one that not many believe is of value at all.

This, is just one frame of the story of the people of DRC.

Let me tell you about one of my very own relatives from Congo-Kinshasa. He is late now. RIP. Here is what he once said to us,

“so deep is our pain, that we have moved on from crying over spilt milk. Now we encourage our people in the communities both male and female to learn portable skills such as dancing, hair dressing, playing musical instruments, tailoring, fashion design, cosmetology and others so they can find employment everywhere they go without having to speak the languages in the countries fate 'assigns' them.” (paraphrased).

Back then when my uncle said these words, it didn’t make sense to me. I was only a pre-teen. Many years later, today, it all makes sense!

Today, across the East African Community block, in many music band groups, there’s a high likelihood that your favourite back-up or lead singer, jazz drummer 🪘🥁 , bass guitarist 🎸 might originally from Congo-Kinshasa. Your favorite musicians' dance crew will have a Fally Ipupa somewhere outdoing all the other dancers and becoming an instant favorite at your go-to concert or hangout spot. Depending on the generation you're from, your favourite record artist from Africa might be a Rhumba record artist from the DRC. 😀🪩. When you walk into a textile factory or fashion design store, there will be one crisp tailor/designer originally from the DRC. At the salon or barber shop, your favorite hair stylist, manicurist, pedicurist might be a Congolese national. And the list goes on. Amid all the madness that has bedevilled their country, they are able to play their part in making others lives better. Happier. I might add.

My uncle had a point.

Their portable skills don’t require one to speak a native/official language of the country they find themselves in. These skills make the world a happier place. The mastery of their craft has created opportunities for them. I'm sure if you've met one of them, they're constantly in a rush, processing papers to go to Canada, Belgium, France and all the countries they believe will give them a better life. What constantly moves me in a humbling way really, is that, they'll hustle no matter what country they find themselves in.

If they can do what they do seamlessly, imagine how much more they are capable of, in their own country with a stable environment? Phenomenal, to say the least.

The point I'm making here with what has turned out to be a no-so-light article, is that, the people of the DRC deserve to have the choice to decide whether or not they want to live in their country, and not live at the mercy of warring rebel groups with vested interests or at the helping hand of refugee host countries.

The people of the DRC deserve to benefit from their vast mineral resources that the rest of the world continuously takes out.  They deserve a predictable, good education ecosystem so they can transform their nation.

The children of the Democratic Republic of Congo deserve to live with chronological memories of their families and their ancestry, not bits and pieces ripped apart by never ending wars.

Our leaders in the East Africa Community block, and indeed the rest of the world that benefits from the country's mineral wealth, all need to play a part in stopping the guns in the DRC, now East Africa Community block's youngest member.

The people of DRC deserve stability.

The children of the DRC deserves meaningful education.

The people of the DRC deserve peace.

The Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩 deserves a seat at the table of economic transformation.

Thank you for reading my light-not-so-light views 😀