Fleeing From War, Congolese Best Friends Find Each Other in Kenya
The story below was recalled by Congolese refugee David*, with some added detail from his friend, Joel*. All details and events described are accurate to the best of their recollection.
In a small village in Kalehe, located in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), two young boys named David and Joel, used to do everything together. They were neighbors, they attended school together, and they played football together. This all changed in 2008, when rebels approached and violently attacked their village. The DRC was facing its second war within the past two decades. Families started fleeing, forced to leave everything behind. David and Joel’s families did the same, with no knowledge of the fate of their extended family or neighbors.
Together with his mother, father and two younger siblings, David’s family fled to Bukavu in the southeast of the DRC. This is where they first heard of the extent of violence inflicted on their village back home by the rebel soldiers. According to rumours, the compound where Joel and David had lived as neighbors, had been destroyed by a bomb. They learned that some villagers had not had the opportunity to flee fast enough, and if they had not already been killed by the rebels, they had died from the bomb. With no news about Joel, David feared something terrible may have happened to him and his family.
David’s family had to keep moving forward. After Bukavu, the family fled into Nyungwe Forest in the southwest of Rwanda, where they hid for three months. They eventually found a road leading to Katuna, a place on the Rwandan-Ugandan border. However, the rebels had gained territory there, and when David arrived, the rebels arrested five families, including David and his family. According to David, the rebels abused and killed his mother right in front of him. David quickly learned that he was just one of many children who was forced to witness such atrocities and left orphaned. After his mother’s death, David knew he had to find safety. He managed to flee with a couple of other children over the border to Uganda, but was forced to leave his family behind, including his younger brother and sister.
David was spotted by a bus that was picking up refugees by the Ugandan border, and was put into a child protection facility. From there, David and a few other children were transferred to Kampala in Uganda, where they stayed in protection for six months. While David had finally found temporary safety, he had lost everything along the way.
In 2010, David was resettled and sent to Kakuma Refugee Camp in north-western Kenya. He was one of the few who had made it from his village and received the opportunity to start a new life in a new country. According to David, during his time in Uganda and Kenya, he felt more safe than he had back home in the DRC, but he still missed his home, his family, and his best friend.
After his arrival in Kakuma, David started to wonder what had happened to all those back in his home village, especially Joel. He decided to set out on a mission to find his best friend. David started by registering with an NGO that provided him with one free three-minute call once a month. David used these three minutes to call the only number he had for Joel, an old DRC number, hoping that it would work. It didn’t. Despite having no luck, he kept calling the same phone number for a couple of months.
After a few trips from Kakuma to Nairobi due to health issues, and later for education, David was eventually moved to Nairobi permanently. According to David things started to change in 2013 after he met someone working for REFUNITE in an IT learning center for French-speaking urban refugees in Nairobi. The woman introduced him to REFUNITE’s family reconnection platform, and showed him how to register and use the platform for free through USSD. David registered and added all the personal information he could think of that could help him find or be recognized by Joel. He started searching for Joel on the platform, going through a couple of profiles, until he found one that looked promising. After a closer look, he was convinced this was Joel’s profile. He sent a short message to Joel in order to check that it was the same person he had known all those years before.
David did not receive an immediate response, but refused to give up, determined to find his best friend. He kept waiting for an answer from Joel through the platform, and started simultaneously looking for Joel via other methods, by asking around at the IT learning center. An employee at the center knew a Joel who sounded just like the friend David had described. The employee gave David a new local number for Joel, and David gave it a try.
David called the number and someone answered, but they had difficulty understanding each other. David couldn’t tell if it was Joel, but decided to meet with the person on the other side of the line. They met up at the IT-learning center. During their first encounter, they both realized just how many years had passed. Eight to be exact. Neither of the boys were sure if the person standing across from them was the friend they had been looking for for all those years.
Joel decided to invite David over to his house to meet his family. Maybe they had a better memory of him. This proved to be true: As soon as David walked into Joel’s home, Joel’s father recognized him. This was the same David from all those years ago. As soon as the father verified what both boys had been waiting to hear, they felt relieved.
Being separated for eight years meant that they were somewhat strangers to start with, but soon felt the same connection from before. They updated each other on their separate journeys that had taken them to where they were today. David learned that Joel’s family had managed to flee the DRC at the same time as David, but had been lucky to not lose anyone along the way. While Joel’s family’s trip to Kenya had taken slightly longer than David’s, they too, finally made it. Spending years traveling through Burundi and Uganda, when Joel’s family finally reached Nairobi in November 2014, they were allowed to stay.
David and Joel now see each other almost every day, and Joel even gave David a new phone, so they can keep in touch easier. Both are also very active members at the IT-learning center, taking courses to help them further their skills. Once again, David and Joel are inseparable.
ABOUT THE INTERVIEW
*For security reasons, all names have been changed to protect the identities of the interviewees.
This interview was conducted by Lotta Relander of REFUNITE in Nairobi, Kenya on the 27th January, 2016. The interview was conducted in English, with some clarifications made Swahili.
For more information, please contact Alexandra Aparicio aa@refunite.org.