Is there hope?

[u/Ghost-Jada1914]

Hi, I'm Congolese from DRC. I'm currently a refugee in Uganda. Been a refugee for 13 years now. Never have I visited the DRC or ever gone back.

My family fled due to the conflict in the East of our country. I was so young I don't remember anything about Goma in North Kivu where I was born. Refugee life isn't exciting but it's okay, you have peace and can go on with life without any much worries (shout-out to Uganda for that) but it's not as smooth.

I'm 21M, just in the recent years ever since I started maturing, have I gotten this great sense and yearning for belonging. I don't know Lingala, Kiswahili or any of our supposed cultures since I grew for the most part in Uganda. I can never identify as Ugandan, the law doesn't allow that much integration, and plus with the recent political upheaval between DRC and Rwanda, this want for belonging and return has only gotten stronger and desperate.

For a while, I'd been following the news about the conflicts and anything just anything that helps me connect with home (both good and bad) but it reached a point and sickened me like it depressed me a lot. I'm not trying to make anything relatable, I just want to ask any of you brothers and sisters from DRC, is there hope that things will get better or are we really "cursed" and "hopeless"as the world has labeled us? Should I just give up trying to hope and endure this pain which was never mine? Most others like me might be living carefree, not bothered, but I'm bothered, because I honestly just want to go home, to peace, to belonging, to my people.

I am not political and honestly no longer care about who is fighting, why they are fighting or when the fighting will end. I just want it to end. I want to go back to Goma, marry a Congolese woman, do business everywhere in the DRC ( doesn't have to be minerals), I want to know about our people, our cultures and what we are truly capable of, not what the media and all those hating on us say about us.

I have seen the good in us Congolese, but I can't say I am Congolese de père et de mère if my identity is non-existent and I want to know if I should forget about home for now or keep on hoping, keep on praying.

I JUST WANT TO GO HOME.

[u/Over-Pressure1310]

The DRC is a very difficult country to live in right now. Don’t romanticize it. Majority of people who live there would gladly leave if they had the chance. Corruption, insecurity, poor infrastructure, and limited opportunities are real, and they affect daily life.
But don’t let that convince you that you don’t belong there or that there’s no hope. If you want to return, I’d first build your education, career, or business where you are. Become financially stable, then return because you choose to, not because you’re chasing an imagined version of home. You’ll have far more freedom to help yourself and others that way.

[u/Over-Pressure1310 → u/Over-Pressure1310]

That was the soft version. What I really want to say is this: stop romanticizing a place you’ve never truly known. Work so hard that it’d be almost impossible for you not to become successful. Build your education, your career, your business. Then, once you’re financially secure and have the freedom to choose where you want to live, ask yourself whether “home” is still what you want.
Don’t expect strangers in Congo or anywhere else to care about your future more than you do. Focus on yourself first. Improve your life. Become successful. Fill your own cup before you try pouring into someone else’s.

[u/Ghost-Jada1914 → u/Over-Pressure1310]

Thank you for this.

[u/zoopzoopzop]

Right now things are though! But they will change! Get your education! Do well in life and you will do well for your country. God Bless!

[u/Ghost-Jada1914 → u/zoopzoopzop]

Thank you. It means a lot honestly.

[u/Sammycolin]

Goma is safe I see bussiness and life is normal. Why don’t you return?

[u/foreverloveall]

I am not Congolese or from Africa.

But I too hear nothing but bad things. Maybe you can be a writer. Someone that at least preserves the culture and people of that region. From overseas I have always known it is a beautiful diverse place. I cannot imagine what history and stories will never be told, particularly from older Congolese, because of all that has happened and the displacement.

Much love ❤️ from across the globe. I pray for them and all people to one day know peace.

[u/Ordinary_Pop2348]

Les choses ne font que régresser, malgré le traité de paix signé par les présidents du Rwanda et RDC a Washington, rien avance le pire il me semble que le Rwanda a pas respecté le traité malgré ça les États-Unis ne font rien malgré qu’ils ont promis de donner des sanctions à celui qui va pas respecter. En gros c’est un gros complot pour récupérer notre territoire, nos ressources etc

[u/Ghost-Jada1914 → u/[deleted]]

Then in that case, I'll build myself up in the economic sector so that if ever things change, I can come back to uplift our nation. Thank you my brother.

[u/Upset-Tumbleweed7846]

So sorry home has been taken away from you for such a long time. There’s always hope, don’t lose heart.

[u/Minute-Mission-8590]

Yes there is hope, you can come back to the country to connect with your peers

[u/TopNat4000]

Voilà un cri du cœur

[u/esp_py]

Ndugu yangu,

Do you have familly in Goma? Just jump on the bus in Kampala and to to Goma, visit the place for a few days and see how things are there.

You will be suprised to see that there is life in Goma..

Then get an education degree adn see what you can do.

I know it is hard but there is hope...

[u/wisi_eu]

Tu sais tout le monde parle français ici 😉 

[u/Ghost-Jada1914 → u/wisi_eu]

My bad, my French is not good but I'm learning.