APPLETON — When I became a refugee, I walked almost 40 miles without food through the jungles and over the hills of the Congo to seek my new life in Tanzania.
I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo of central Africa. The Second Congo War began in 1998, when rebels attempted to overthrow the Kabila’s government. To stop the rebellion’s uprising, the government forced young men and women to join the Congolese army. Anyone who resisted was killed, persecuted, beaten or put into jail.
Soldiers came abruptly and without warning to town after town, taking anyone able to fight. But I grew up in a Christian family — my father was a preacher — and we did not believe in fighting. One day my family and I were seized and separated. I was put in a prison camp where I wasn’t able to see my family members for 14 days with limited food and water. We were beaten and had no hope of rescue.
In this Congolese prison, prisoners were taken one by one to an unknown destination if they resisted. Then it was my turn. But a captain of the guard happened to have the same last name as my own. One day he came to me and asked me the name of my tribe. After learning it, he said to me, “I’m sorry, the rest of your family was killed. But we have the same last name, and you look like you could be my brother. So I’m going to save your life.”
He ordered one of his soldiers to take me to the edge of the lakeshore. He showed me the way and said, “Walk. You can’t come back.”
After walking for days, I came to a boat that was going across Lake Tanganyika to Tanzania. I had no money, but the boat’s captain took me aboard anyway. From 1999 to 2013, I lived in this new country. Starting life alone in a new country was very difficult, even though the people spoke the same language as me. I felt homesick. I missed my family and my parents very much. As a refugee, my right to work and education were denied.
After many years of attempting to adjust, I finally realized I could never go back to my country. I had lost everything. I decided I needed to go to a better country. In 2012, I started the process to go to a third country. In 2013, I was accepted by the U.S. government, and that same year I arrived in the United States.
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