I am a Congolese-American student. The majority of my family was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), although my siblings and I were born in New York City. Over the years, we’ve heard lots of different stories and opinions on our country, but there’s always more to learn. The country has witnessed the development of multiple generations, has produced countless unique experiences, and yet, I know very little about it all.
To find out more, I decided to ask my family members from different generations about their experiences in the Congo. I spoke to my grandparents, parents, and an aunt from both sides of my family. Growing up during different time periods and staying in the country for different lengths of time meant each had a unique perspective to offer.
Contextually, my aunts provided me with the most information. My aunt from my mother’s side was the first to respond to me. Diane Tembo is an emergency medicine intern and my mother’s little sister. She was born in Kinshasa, the capital city, on July 10th, 1993, making her the youngest relative whom I interviewed. Currently, she resides in Romania.
As my aunt grew older, she noticed issues with job availability. When she was looking to become a healthcare worker, she needed to have previous experience in order to get a job. The problem lies within the country’s structure. The only options were unpaid internships which she described as “something that I consider to be exploitation.”
Despite the abundance of education opportunities and universities, “technological advances are not yet ready.” This causes problems in constantly advancing fields like medicine. “To find a hospital that accepts you as a general practitioner without experience is difficult, as you have to do a specialization or a master’s degree in addition,” said my aunt. “I wanted to do emergency medicine as a specialization, but unfortunately, this specialization does not yet exist in the DRC. That’s what pushed me to leave the country to go to Romania.”
My aunt’s 27 years of living in the Congo had provided her an excellent education, but technological downsides forced her to move to Romania for more opportunities in her field of expertise. In the Congo, many decades of profligacy, colonization, and consistent exploitation significantly set the country back in terms of advancements. Romania was able to provide her with the specialization she desired. My aunt has lived in Romania for the last four years, working happily.
“Brigitte Mukanga Eno is my name. Working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees/The UN Refugee Agency for the past 25 years. Born on 15th July 1968. I’m 56 years old, senior sister to your dad.” My aunt Brigitte gave me a lot of historical information regarding the Congo, ranging from 1965 to present day. As a nation, the Congo is massive and diverse, with over 250 languages spoken. Across the 21 different provinces, there are 4 major languages: Lingala, Swahili, Kikongo and Tshiluba.
In terms of her personal experience, she said that “growing up was amazing, because there was no war.” Originally from the Sankuru Province, her parents moved to Kinshasa in early 1970. “A family of 13 from 4 wives, our mother was the last who raised all the children. She had 5 children.” After their father’s death in 1980, everyone was split among various uncles across the country. Brigitte specifically was taken to Lubumbashi in the Katanga region.
There, she completed her university degree, eventually reuniting with her family in 1992 for a vacation, and returned back to Kinshasa to work as a magistrate. After working as a magistrate for 2 years, she was given the opportunity to work with the UN Refugee Agency. “And since then, I have been working in several countries on 3-4 year tenure of assignment, currently in Burundi.” Spending the first half of her life in Congo before the war and the second half in several different countries, she was able to provide an extraordinary amount of information about the country during both periods through her familial and occupational ties.
From 1965 to 1997, the Congo had one president: Mobutu Sese Seko. From 1971 to 1997, the country was named Zaire. Under Mobutu, the country was strong and respected, known for its rich mining companies, flourishing culture, and joyful music. However, politically, Mobutu was an authoritarian dictator with only one political party: the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution, or MPR. By the end of his regime, Mobutu lost his allies’ support and was overthrown in a rebellion led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
This is where the political scene gets chaotic. The current regime is fragile and disrespected. Moreover, “The genocide in Rwanda has fragilized the Congo.” In my aunt’s words, everyone has sympathy for Rwanda and feels guilty for what happened to them, hence, denial of what is happening to Congo. The lack of government accountability and ownership of their mistakes, mixed with the failure to put an end to rampant exploitation, is pushing the country further down.
Congolese politics in the post-Mobutu era continued to be hectic. Over 900 different political parties have brought chaos and flooded the country. Mobutu’s successor, Laurent Désiré-Kabila, was assassinated a little under four years after he came into office in 2001; his son Joseph Kabila filled in for him shortly after. Five years later in 2006, a controversial election was held in which Joseph Kabila was voted into presidency. Polls were boycotted, the collection of the results proved chaotic, and armed skirmishes ensued. After his third five year term was supposed to end in 2016, Kabila delayed elections by two more years, and he was eventually succeeded by Felix Tshiesikedi. Tshisekedi’s election in 2018 was extremely controversial as well. A large portion of the population believed that the other candidate, Martin Fayulu, won by a landslide. With that being said, the election in 2023 where Tshisekedi was re-elected could have been completely different if the results of 2018 were accurate. Then, instead of running for reelection, Tshisekedi would be attempting to make a comeback.
Provinces on the eastern front of Congo and the M23, rebels accused of being backed by the Rwandan government, have been at war for over 3 years. As my aunt said earlier, “Congo has been fragilized by the Rwandan genocide. ” After the many wars that have occurred in Congo, the government is significantly weaker, causing them to be treated poorly and ignored. Very few are aware that, less than a couple of months ago, there were supposed to be peace talks between president Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. The talks in Angola were cancelled and a resolution has seldom been mentioned since.
My Aunt Brigitte’s parting words to me were as follows: “Congo remains one of the richest countries in the world, but the people are poor because of the ongoing crisis in the eastern part of the country, bad government, and weak leadership. The people are amazing, diverse, life-lovers, and artists in their soul. So many opportunities in every aspect of life: agriculture, tourism, mining, technology, big reserves of green energy, young population, and cheap labor. Congo is the future of the world.”
In the media, all that seems to be covered is the war in the east. By no means are casualties, civilian troubles, and battles something to be swept under the rug, but the nation of Congo is massive. No other aspects of the country are ever spoken of. Growing up, telling anyone that I was from Congo would be followed with, “Oh that country that’s always in war?” Most people know very little about this beautiful country.
Congo is a vibrant nation plagued by chaos. On a political level, the country has been plunged into instability. The poor decisions made by leaders in the past years have caused major troubles for Congo on many fronts. The unresolved international issues leave much to be said about the country. Despite all of this, the rich culture of the country that I come from should not be overlooked. The complex and intricate history of the Congo can’t be written about easily. The country has an extremely deep well of knowledge that isn’t known by many.
The complex and intricate history of the Congo can’t be written about easily. The country has an extremely deep well of knowledge that isn’t known by many.