African Heroes: stories of brave badasses

Help for Lodging and School in Congo

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 22:31:00 -0400

Since May, things have been challenging for our favorite Congolese kids. They couldn’t pay rent, and lost their housing. The 16-year-old went to live in the Don Bosco orphanage, and my friend, the 19-year-old main character of this blog, went with his little sister to a friend’s house. He managed to find house painting gigs that paid for food through the summer. The littlest brother, whom you may recall became a street kid last Spring, refuses to rejoin his siblings and continues to live under the protection of a street thug in his 20s who beat up my friend when he tried to extract his little brother from the ranks of their thieving, drug taking gang.

Goma, their town, has been surrounded by rebel forces from the M23, a new incarnation of the former group, CNDP, which was for a time absorbed into the national army of DR Congo until they realized how bad it sucks to be in the Congolese army.

As I post Les Paul and Bob Marley Youtube videos on Facebook, my Congolese friend posts status updates such as: “This morning I saw a dead body suspended from the telephone pole as I was leaving my house.”

He found an affordable place to live with his siblings in August and moved in, promising to pay the rent by end of the month. It is $50 for three months. His 16-year-old brother ran away from the orphanage and moved in with the other two. Now the schoolyear is starting, and they have no money to pay the tuition.

My friend and his siblings need $127 to pay for rent and school, asap.

$51 – one semester of college for the 19-year-old
$26 – one semester of school for his brother and sister
$50 – rent through November 1

Please help! Click here to donate to my paypal account. I will provide you with Western Union receipts as evidence.

"J'ai constaté que les plus riches dans la monde, ils sont commerçants. Donc, je vais devenir..."

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:13:00 -0400

“J'ai constaté que les plus riches dans la monde, ils sont commerçants. Donc, je vais devenir commerçant. Et toi aussi, Emily, tu vas devenir commerçant. Je vous encourage.”

- And my Congolese mentee becomes my mentor

In 2009, I spent two weeks in Dungu, a remote town in...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:17:00 -0500

In 2009, I spent two weeks in Dungu, a remote town in northeastern DR Congo where Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army had recently struck. Children from the countryside had stopped going to school because they were afraid to walk through the woods and risk being abducted by rebels. But as the armies of DR Congo and Uganda were working with UN Peacekeepers from the Moroccan Royal Army to fight off the LRA, the area was safe again for children to go to school. I was working for UNICEF, which was supporting local NGOs to rebuild schools and get children in attendance.

I spent Eid ul-Fitr at the Moroccan Army clubhouse, eating and celebrating with their General. He had captured LRA rebels and held them briefly, during which time he conducted interviews with them. His conclusion was that the two prisoners had been cognitively destroyed by Kony’s terrorism, and were beyond repair. One was a 14 year old boy, un gosse, as he said in our common language, French. When the General asked him his age, he said he was 40. The General disputed this, but it seemed that Kony didn’t believe in our number system, and along with other insane tenets, had convinced his slaves of his nonsensical numerical system. The other prisoner was a 40-year-old woman. When asked her age, she said she was 4 years old. The General described her as having a blunted affect, almost catatonic. He released them into the custody of the national Army.

This is a radio spot in the local dialect of Lingala which I produced after visiting a school and interviewing children and the principal. The children interviewed are the most ambitious in their 1st-8th grade school, and discuss dreams of becoming journalists, government ministers, doctors, nurses, priests and teachers. Many of these dreams are rooted in experiences they had during the LRA attacks, such as witnessing gravely injured civilians and wanting to be able to treat their wounds, or wanting to write articles about the atrocities or make government decisions to protect the population.

In the latter part, a UNICEF program leader explains that in order to hold a position of leadership in society such as the ones the children aspire to, one must be educated. She then encourages children to go to school. It was broadcast on a radio station reaching the area that was established by the UN Peacekeeping Mission’s Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration unit.

Relevant today in the wake of the KONY 2012 video release.

THANK YOU!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:36:34 -0500

To two readers of this blog who donated $30 each for the kid’s rent. As the kid says, que Dieu vous benisse.

Lodging for Orphans in Congo: Please Help

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:22:00 -0500

As I explained several posts ago, the Congolese kid hero of this blog for the last two years lost his house/shack in a rainstorm in December. He moved with his siblings to a rental house that is $30 a month. Because he’s a kid, the landlord is asking for three months rent at a time. He scrapped together $30 but he needs another $60. Please help. You can also fund rent for a longer period. The kid will write you an email to thank you and post weird messages on your Facebook wall.

It is hard enough when you are 17 19 and have no parents and have to take care of your siblings and try to finish school. Helping the kid to pay the modest amount of rent for their lodging is a simple way to help. In the United States we spend up to $10,000 a month to lodge orphans. $30 is not so much to ask.

Donate via Chipin with PayPal:
http://africanheroes.chipin.com/lodging-for-congolese-orphans

Powertripping Sadists, or a Failed State: What's better for children?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:18:00 -0500

What is JFK University?

I’ve never heard of it. But it educated a social worker who has institutionalized a young man in a reform school since he was a boy. This young man is now 16. He has never been on a sports team, gone to a party, and can’t walk without being followed by an adult. He was abused when he was a child, taken away from his family and placed with a foster parent. He acted out and was placed in an institution. He’s lived in one ever since. In the institution, children are not allowed to go to the bathroom, enter the kitchen, watch TV, go outside, get a drink or an apple without asking permission. If they walk out the door, they’re AWOLing. This warrants a physical restraint – to “protect” the child. This is California, not a warzone. The kids get sick of their institutionalized lives and the people who supervise them. They rebel. Depending on its manifestation, they might be restrained on the ground by three people as they scream and beg to be released. This can go on for hours. Screaming, crying, vomiting. Other children are supposed to carry on about their business watching “The Princess Diaries” or sleeping as this violence goes on in the hallway, the living room, or outside on the lawn. They are expected to heal from the trauma of their lives in such an environment. What often ends up happening is they become more violent. I’ve seen it. I work in this place.

The social worker from JFK University won’t let the 16 year old go live with his older sister, even though she’s an adult and has prepared to adopt him. The social worker thinks he will do violent things. After all, he does violent things in the institution. Instead, he will be shifted to another institution until he turns 19. Then he will be dropped into the world like a newborn baby.

My friend’s mother worked in a psych ward, but she quit last month because she was discouraged by such revolving cases. Someone is victimized, they can’t cope, they wind up in the ward, and then the mental health establishment takes over, making sure they stay forever. It’s like taking an unemployed person with a welfare check to a junk bond broker. My friend’s mom called the people she worked with “powertripping sadists,” from the lowest mental health aide to the chief psychiatrist.

The social worker works for the state, “protecting children.” My kid in Congo has lamented that his failed state doesn’t do more for orphans, but lets compare his life at age 17 to that of the California kid.

California

age 16

Congo

age 17

California

Capable student, enrolled in “special education” school filled with disruptive students

Congo

Capable student, enrolled in “magnet school” filled with bright students

California

Parents: none. Parental rights terminated upon abuse and exploitation.

Congo

Parents: none. Died after exploiting and neglecting their six children throughout their lives.

California

Responsibilities: eat food prepared by institution, attend special ed, attend therapy, attend “day treatment” games of capture the flag, do a chore, bathe, sleep.

Congo

Responsibilities: run small business, purchase food, pay siblings tuition, raise siblings, excel in school to attend university

California

Leisure: attend “day treatment.” Play with other kids in institution yard during allotted free time. Watch TV. Play video games. Read. Play Monopoly.

Congo

Leisure: go to parties, date girls, have friends over, play soccer, go to church

California

Belongings: clothes

Congo

Belongings: clothes, cellphone

California

Health: fine. Medi-Cal holder.

Congo

Health: fine. No health insurance.

California

Lodging: house

Congo

Lodging: house

California

Coping mechanism: going to therapy, watching movies, calling sister, talking to peers

Congo

Coping mechanism: talking to peers, dreaming of college, praying to God, calling mentor in California, Facebook

STOP

These two boys are not that different. At age 14, they were interchangeable: intelligent, poor, depressed, exploited and neglected. At age 14, I drove the Congolese kid to an institution for orphans and tried to enroll him. Being someone from California, I imagined that his prospects would surely be better if he could be protected through his teenage years by caring adults. He took one look around and asked to go home. “These kids are savages,” he said. “I’m not living here.”

I didn’t agree with him, but it wasn’t my choice to make. Then his parents died, and all of his siblings were put in his responsibility. At age 15, he became the legal guardian for three smaller children. The state doesn’t take care of children. I worried immensely about him and his siblings, I still do. But he continued to pursue his studies, and his mood leveled out. He became a popular boy at school with the smart crowd. He is focused and responsible, and obsessed with going to college. I never would have thought it could be better to be an orphan in a failed state, but when I heard that this boy from California was being sentenced to more time in an institution, to more time in the pandemonium and low expectations of a special ed school, and denied his request to live with his sister, I really had to wonder – is it better to be an orphan in a failed state?

Little brother becomes dreaded "enfant de la rue"

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:23:00 -0500

It’s been too long since I updated on the kid’s life. He is not a kid anymore, for one thing. He’s 19. I can hardly believe the little urchin I once knew is a responsible young man – the head of a household and guardian of three younger children! There’s been a lot of news in the last few months. Congo had its elections. By reliable accounts, they were rigged. The kid and his compatriots worried about a civil war. Kabila “won” again, although his opponent, Tshisekedi, has also declared himself the President and inaugurated himself. But there is not yet a civil war. We’ll keep an eye on that. It does look pretty certain that man-child Kabila will have another term to play video games and mistake funds for Congo’s schools, army, police, and healthcare for his allowance.

Our hero, the kid, had his house washed away in a rainstorm. He and his siblings scattered to friends houses. During this period I had nightmares that he got sick from exposure and I worried that his little sister would be sexually molested by opportunistic men in the place they were crashing. I warned the kid that his little brothers could become street urchins and bandits now that they were homeless. And I quickly managed to persuade him that the solution was not to rebuild his house but to rent another one. Within twelve hours of that conversation, he had found a house to rent in the same neighborhood for $30 a month, begged $50 from a friend to pay part of the deposit, and installed himself and his two brothers and sister. Good work!

But alas, the homeless weeks took their toll on the kid’s smallest brother, a 13-year-old who used to be his favorite sibling. He started hanging out on the street with runaways, smoking and drinking. Once the kid rented the house, the little guy ran away to be with his friends on the street. He stopped going to school and became, in the kid’s words, a bandit. In quick and decisive action, the kid shipped him off to Granny’s house on the island of Idjwi. He has been living there for two weeks now, and returned to school. Apparently there are no runaway street children in Idjwi, and little brother thanks big brother for “saving him.”

Big brother is working hard in school so that he may pass exams to enter University in two years. As a result, he has delegated the gasoline sales business to his 16-year-old brother, a former bandit who is now a churchgoing student and apparently, the family breadwinner.

Little sister, whom I have so worried about – I can call her Cinderella after her evil aunt adopted her and made her toil away day and night without sending her to school – is thriving in school now that she lives with her older brothers and has her tuition paid by generous foreigners. She is in the top of her class, she sings, she recites poems, and she smiles all the time. Her older brother is very proud.

And to wrap this up, the kid is on Facebook. He just sent me a friend request. As an aspiring college man, he elected to fill in his education information with “pas encore” – not yet.

And that’s a wrap.

Back to School: Please Help

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 14:36:44 -0400

“La rentree scholaire” or the return to school is happening, which means the kid in Congo and his little sister need $51 and $13 respectively to pay for their public school. If you are a fan of the amazing kid or want to help an 8 year old girl who has never been sent to school because she is a girl, please click here and donate to my Paypal page. I will send the money to Congo. Click here to learn about why public school costs money in Congo and other African countries.

Congolese Teen Finishes "Heartbreaking Work," Writes His Own

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:06:00 -0400

As I said earlier, I sent the kid in Congo, now a man by his own account, David Eggers’ memoir, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” since the two have a common experience. David’s parents died and he raised his little brother, and so goes the Congolese experience, only there are two brothers and now a sister who has been abused and needs help. The kid loves to read and loves when I give him homework assignments, and he’s always interested in learning how people do things elsewhere. He wrote his essay about the book in June, but there’s no postal service in Congo, so we were stumped for a while about how he could get it to me so I can get it to David Eggers, the man himself. Finally the kid was so resourceful as to ask a humanitarian program manager to use her computer so he could type and email his handwritten essay to me. Here it is.

ENGLISH
Thoughts on the life of David Eggers
Unable to count on members of his family, he didn’t want to count on God to save him nor on anyone else. He wanted to find the means to save himself and his little brother. I think David Eggers is a decisive man. He decided to earn his living; unfortunately he was in the position of having to raise himself and his little brother.

The event that I find very interesting is that David Eggers would do anything to earn a living, and he ended up surviving. He didn’t want to count on God. He wanted only to get by on his own force and his own means. He didn’t want to scatter, leaving his brother, but he wanted to stay with his brother, live with him, and share his suffering with him.

Between myself and David Eggers there are some similarities. Me also, I live with my little brothers very far from town in a little house and it’s me who hustles to find something to eat and a means to pay for my brothers’ school fees. It’s not easy to get by, I force myself to do anything to raise my brothers.

Truly, to take care of myself is very difficult. I do all of this because I love my brothers and I don’t want to loose them to the streets. I say this because in our country the government doesn’t take care of orphans; the result is that orphans lack the opportunity to go to school, they are hungry and homeless. It’s for this reason that orphans live on the street without a means to eat and are thieves. There have been times when they steal things from people, get caught and killed. Others are taken to prison where they suffer. Truly, it is grave here, there are no orphanages, and the orphans suffer.

I remember when my parents died, I was sure I could count on my extended family. In the past, they had given us anything we needed, they even let us live on their land, they gave us food and clothes and other things. Only two months after my parents died, they left us like they didn’t know us. They told me they weren’t capable of taking care of [me and my siblings]. Since then, I decided not to count on my family. I left their house and returned to my parents’ empty house where I started to sell gas. With this gas I earned a living. It has been two years since I started to sell gas, and little by little I get by. In the past two years, my extended family has not come to visit us and myself, I decided also not to visit them.

Since then I no longer want to fight with the rest of my family.

FRENCH

                         Le pensées de la vie de David eggers et ceci sans qu’on sache il ne voulait compte sure le membre de sa famille et il ne voulait pas compte

Tout a DIEU pour le sauver ou bien d’autre personne pour le sauver    sa pensées il voudrait trouver le moyen de se sauver et de sauver se petit frère ,je trouver que David eggers était un homme de décision ; IL avait décide de gagne sa vie ,malheureusement il a parvenir a se sauver et se sauver ses petit frère.

                    L’événement que je trouver très intéressant, et : David eggers a fait n’importe quoi pour

Pour gagne sa vie, et il a finir par ses sauver et il ne voulait pas compte tout a DIEU pou le sauver sa pensées il voulait seulement se débrouille par sa propre force et sa propre moyen. Et il ne voulait pas s éparpille avec ses frère il voulait seulement reste ensemble avec ses petit frère il encor il voudrait partager sa souffrance avec ses frère.

                    Entre mois et David eggers il ya une partit de similarités mois aussi je reste ensemble avec mes petits frère très loin de la ville dans une petite maison et se moi qui se débrouille pour trouver quoi a manger et comment mes petit frère peut étudier, se ne pas facile de mes débrouille je mes force pour fait sa pour trouver comment mes petit frère peut parvenir a grandir. Vraiment pour

Êtres responsable pour moi se très difficile je fait tout ceci parce que je l’amour de mes petit frère je ne voulait pas le perde dans la rue. Je dis tout sa parce que DANS nôtres pays le gouvernement ne s’occupe pas avec l’orpheline ; raison pour la quelle les orphelin manque de opportunité éducative et alimentaire et de logement. SE POUR Cela que les orphelin loger dans la rue pour manque quoi a faire pour trouver quoi a manger il vole le chose d’autrui ,il ya de moment quant il vole le chose d’autrui on l’attrape et on le tue il ya les autre on les amène dans le prison et il souffrez la bas vraiment ici se grave ,il n’ya na pas des orphelinat pour les orphelin . les orphelin souffre

                    je mes rappelle quand mes parents son décède je faise confiance et je compte sur le membre de notre famille ,car il nous donne n’importe quoi :et nous avons commence a loger sur leur habitation ,il nous donne de la nourriture des habit et d’autres ,après seulement é 2 mois plus tard ils nous ont laisse comme si il ne nous conne pas il m’avait dit il ne son pas capable d’ être responsable de nous.   DEPUIS les jours là je dédise de ne plus compte sur le membre de ma famille      je quitte la bas avec mes petit frère et retourne chez nous quand j’été chez nous je commence a vende de pétrole ; avec cette pétrole que gagne de la vie Sa fait 2 ans que je vend le pétrole, petit a petit je gagne la vie , depuis les jours las le membre Dema famille na déjà venue nous voir la ou nos habitons et mois aussi décide que je ne peux pas allé le voire

               Depuis les jours las je ne voulais plus de dispute parmi le reste de ma famille

"Philip G you are a hypocrite, No body forced you to write about the heroic moments of RPF, you had..."

Fri, 20 May 2011 16:41:02 -0400

“

Philip G you are a hypocrite, No body forced you to write about the heroic moments of RPF, you had your personal drive and self plans.

Who paid you to tell lies about Rwanda, do you think the world will trust your created and biased articles.

Any way people of your kind end their careers desperate, confused and manipulated.

You better live Rwandese alone , as we solved some problems which the west had ignored, Trust me we shall again and again solve ours.

Because You have no moral authority to teach our President what he should and not do to run our country. Try and be a president of your country and you shall lead according to WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT FOR YOUR COUNTRY.

Posted by Success on Thu 14 Apr 2011 at 10:23 AM

”

- An African hero comments on Philip Gourevitch’s writing about Rwanda. Note that his name is Success.

Pets: From Bushwick to Goma

Mon, 09 May 2011 23:51:00 -0400

Bonjour,
Comment va la lecture?
Moi, je suis tres triste. Mon chat est partie, je ne sais pas ou. Elle est tres cool, ma sole famille a New York. Voici un photo. J'espere qu'elle rentrait.
As tu des nouvelles de Goma?
Je vais envoyer de l'argent pour ton ecole ce semaine.
Ton amie,
Emily

***

salue EMILY

VRAIMENT votré chat est trés coule. je mes rappellé mon chien ici chez nous il ya déja qui manger de chien il sont manger mon chien donc il sont volé sa et manger. la lecture [of Dave Eggers’ “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”] vas tres bien je compris comment le jeune de vaigtaine anneé comment ils sont ecoute l'emision capitale de M T V et comment ils sont parvenur de crire leur propre histoire et leur vie dans une semaine je peut parvenir a termine a lir. se trés coule Goma vas trés bien le chinois commence a construire le route.merci se ton ami XXX

English:

Hello,

How is the reading going?
Me, I am very sad. My cat left, I don’t don’t where. She is very cool, my only family in New York. I attach a photo. I hope she comes back.
Do you have any news from Goma?
I’m going to send money for your school this week.
Your friend,

Emily

***

Hello EMILY

Truly your cat is really cool. I remember my dog which I had here there are people who eat dogs they ate my dog they stole him and ate him. My reading [of Dave Eggers’ “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”] goes very well I understand how the young people in their 20s listened to MTV and how they tried to write their own histories of their lives in one week I will be able to finish reading it. It’s cool in Goma the Chinese are starting to build roads. Thank you it’s your friend XX.

Congolese Teen begins "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:28:00 -0500

So thanks to several generous donors – Greg, Dan, and Mike – the kid’s school is paid for until the next semester, Whoohoo! He is very happy. He is also reading “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” in French, which is about an American guy taking care of his little brother when their parents die, exactly what the kid is doing in Congo (he is taking care of two little brothers.) Here’s his latest email, expressing both his gratitude at having his school fees paid and commenting on the memoir by Dave Eggers, it is titled “merci vrement”:

English:
what luck I have, my GOD
you can’t imagine the joy that you give me
may God bless your friends. i continue to read the novel, i find plenty of advice for example; if one is an orphan, one must not remain forever like a little kid
therefore one must work in order to really move on.
i am already an adult i already know what’s right and wrong
THANK YOU i wish you good work.

French:
quelle chance mon DIEU
tu ne peut pas imagine la joie que tu me donne
que Dieu benisse vos ami .je continue a lire le roman,je trouver autant de conseilcmme si;si one orphelin il ne faut pas reste comme un petit enfant
donc il faudras travail pour bien oublier que vous ete orphelin.
je suis deja adulte je deja connu le mal et le bien.
MERCI je vous souhaite bon travail.

School Fees: Please Help

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:32:00 -0500

Unfortunately, in many African countries, students are charged tuition for public school. Their families can scarcely afford the cost. Please help by donating a small amount to pay for one promising boy’s tuition. Click here, and read his own interpretation of the events of his life.

Below is a note from him. I have been chronicling his life in Congo in this blog (see almost all entries for the past year). He’s an orphan. He takes care of his little brothers. He can’t afford his own school fees of $40 per term and is being threatened with expulsion. I spent a year with him in his town of Goma. He loves reading, learning, music, fixing cars, and observing people. He is writing me with this explanation below because I keep breaking his balls when he asks me for school fees.

salue Emily
J'eté vraiment heureux de cet roman que vous m'avez envoye.
Vous savez Emily ,l'argent que je trouve son trés peu je gagne par semaine ou moin 5 dolard avec cet argent retire 3dolard pour la nourriture et 2 dolard le garde pour le frais de mes petit frére. parce que la bas primair coute 5dolard par mois ca meme je force pour trouve 5 par semain. vrement Emily je ne pas de l'argent pour mes peyer moàis meme je ne pas d'autre moiyen de trove de l'argent.si je vous demande donc je ne pas je ne suis pas egoiste donc je suis clair.
merci. bon journée

English:

Saluting Emily
I was really happy about the novels you sent me.
You know Emily, the money I find is very little
I earn more or less 5 dollars per week with that money I save 3 for food and 2 for the school tuition of my little brothers
because their school costs 5 dollars per month
truly Emily, I don’t have the money to pay my own school tuition
I have no other way to get money. Therefore if I ask you for it, I am not being greedy, I am being honest
Thank you. have a nice day

A kind soul in Congo used to pay his school fees, but now the person has left the country. School costs $40 per semester. The money you give will go towards his salary as an intern, which he will use to pay for school. I’m currently seeking an unpaid internship for him with a human rights organization. (If you have an organization in Goma, and will consider hiring a 17-year-old stagaire, email me at emilymeehan [at] gmail [dot] com.)

There is no chance this guy can get a paying job, as I explained in a series for Slate.com last year. If you donate, I will email you a receipt from the Western Union transfer to Congo, and also provide you with information about his progress. I must keep his identity private to protect him from predatory adults who may be browsing the internet, you know.

Thanks.

Dearest One Good afternoon to you, l deem it fit to contact you today based on your profile...

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:13:18 -0500

Dearest One
Good afternoon to you, l deem it fit to contact you today based on your profile which l saw today in my private search, when l was looking for some one who l will in-trust my future living under his/her care for a better living of mine, please bear with me i will really like to have a good relationship with you, and i have a special reason why i decided to contact you, I decided to contact you based on the urgency of my situation here today.
My name is Ms.peacedoma . l am a single lady, of 24 years old, the daughter of Late Mr.Jude doma my late father was a successful business man during his day’s, it is sad for me to inform you that l lost my father in a motor accident on the 14th of November, 2006. during the time he was returning from a business trip fromdoma, Michigan to Ohio (USA), dear, after four months l lost my beloved father, his second wife killed my mother so that she and his children will inherit all what my father left for
all of us.
Meanwhile after my fathers second wife poisoned my mother to death, I wanted to escape to any where l can be accepted since she’s also after my own life and no where is safe for me to stay with her and his children, but she went and hid away my international passport and other valuable traveling documents which I’m suppose to travel with.
luckily for me as God have his own plans for my life, she couldn’t discover where I kept my fathers file which contains important documents of his deposited money of US$9,700,000.00.which my father used my name to deposit with one of the leading financial bank.
So after then, since l have no where to run to, I decided to run to the refugee camp here, where l am today by the grace of God,presently seeking asylum under the United Nations High Commission for the Refugees and Now I am out seeking for your humble assistance for a long term business relationship between us in your Country which l would like you to invest my inherited money for me in any lucrative moving business in your country for my future living under your care and control.
However, l wish to stop here for now as l have no much time to explain all the details to you as l wish, but please dear, as soon as l hear from you soon showing your interest and acceptance to assist me as l really need your
help to me now and l am waiting so that l shall send you my pictures and forward all vital information’s to you for your confirmation to help me out.
Thanks,
Yours Sincerely
Ms.peacedoma

Mahfoud in Charenton

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:25:32 -0500

Mahfoud in Charenton

Letter to Congo: Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:16:00 -0500

Today I came home to a heartwarming surprise – a package from Paris containing a novel and a letter to the kid in Congo from my friend Mahfoud. Since the kid needs reading material, I thought it would be nice for some other people to send him books they love, with letters. Maf had recommended this book to me just as I was leaving his house for the airport last January and so I asked him if he’d pick it up in Paris and send it over for the kid. Bravo darling Maf! The kid asks me every week for a novel and a dictionary. Here’s the text of Maf’s letter:

Charenton, le 18 décembre 2010

Bonjour Emily, bonjour (the kid’s name here).

Tout d’abord, je me présente, surtout pour (the kid) car Emily me connait déjà. Je m’appelle Mahfoud. Je vis tout près de Paris dans une ville qui s’appelle Charenton le port. J’ai 35 ans et je suis comptable. Je porte un prénom arabe car mes parents sont des immigres algériens.

Je vous salue donc tous les deux et vous adresse un livre que j’ai beaucoup aime : « Mr Ibrahim et les fleurs du coran » de Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. Malgré son titre, il ne traite pas du tout de la religion.

J’ai beaucoup aime ce livre car il raconte l’histoire d’une rencontre entre deux personnages très différents, Momo un enfant mal dans sa peau et Mr Ibrahim, le vieil épicier de son quartier. Ces deux-la vont accomplir un fabuleux voyage qui permettra au jeune Momo de reprendre confiance en lui et de s’épanouir. Je trouve que c’est une très belle histoire car elle nous transmet un message de générosité, d’ouverture et d’espoir. C’est pourquoi je vous le recommande et j’espéré que vous aussi, vous prendrez plaisir a le lire.

Je profite également de l’occasion pour vous adresser mes meilleurs vœux pour ces fêtes de fin d’année. Je vous embrasse bien forte.

Mahfoud.

English:

First of all, let me introduce myself, especially to [the kid] because Emily knows me already. My name is Mahfoud. I live right near Paris in a city called Charenton the port. I am 35 and I’m an accountant. I have an Arab first name because my parents are Algerian immigrants.

I salute you both then and I send a book I really loved: “Mr. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran,” by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. Despite its title, the book doesn’t deal with religion at all. I really loved the book because it told a story of a meeting between two very different characters, Momo, a child feeling uneasy in his own skin and Mr. Ibrahim, the old grocer in his neighborhood. The two go on to accomplish a fabulous voyage that allows young Momo to find confidence in himself and flourish. I find it a beautiful story because it transmits a message of generosity, openness, and hope. That’s why I recommend it to you and I hope that you will also find pleasure in reading it.

I take this occasion to send you my best wishes for the holidays at the end of the year. I send a strong hug.

Mahfoud.

Letter from Congo: Formidable Noel

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 12:53:57 -0500

I just called over to Goma to check on the kid, and he answered the phone in high spirits. He has recovered now from his alleged poisoning last month and had his “colleagues from class” over for a Christmas party with his two little brothers. They danced to Werasson and – stop the presses – DRANK ALCOHOL!

“C'etait vraiment un noel formidable,” he said. They slept in the church last night so they could wake up there on Christmas morning, and took lots of pictures with the idols of baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas everyone.

"BONJOURS COMMENT ALLE VOUS MOIS JE SUIS MALADE DE POISON,PAR LA GRACE DE DIEU SAVA MARCHE"

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:19:55 -0500

“BONJOURS COMMENT ALLE VOUS MOIS JE SUIS MALADE DE POISON,PAR LA GRACE DE DIEU SAVA MARCHE”

- text message I recieved from the boy in Congo

Letter from Congo: The Life Before Us

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:44:00 -0400

A little while ago I sent my young friend in Congo a novel I thought he would like. We share a love of literature, and tend to have the same taste. This novel, “La vie devant soi,” is a seminal French work that influenced many, maybe even Ahmadou Kourouma when he wrote my favorite, “Allah n'est pas oblige.” (The latter has too much swearing to appeal to my friend in Congo, who used to lecture me about evils of “the bottle.”)

“La vie devant soi” is about an orphaned Arab boy living with a Jewish holocaust survivor who has adopted many orphans from Africa in her Paris apartment. The boy narrates, and (considerations of their moving adversities aside), he has a hilarious worldview. For example, he dreams of having a dog. One day he lands one and takes it home to the apartment. It is annoying for Madame Rosa but all the children adore the dog, the narrator most of all. “Je me suis fait un vrai malheur avec ce chien. Je me suis mis à l'aimer comme c'est pas permis. Les autres aussi, sauf peut-être Banania … Je tenais toujours le chien dans mes bras et je n'arrivais pas à lui trouver un nom.” And then he sells the dog, just like that. He buys candy or soda or something with the money. He’s devastated about his act. All the other children too. He doesn’t know why he sold it just to get something that will disappear after consumption. But it’s the kind of thing children do when left to their own devices, and so rarely do we get to read their account of this kind of puzzling, child-realm behavior, fictional or not.

Anyway today the Congolese boy, who might be an orphan himself these days, wrote me an email to say he’d received the book and started to read it. My day was a five star day after I read that. To children, and to the power of literature to transcend culture, age and history to bring joy, catharsis and unity.

subject: je suis heureux de vous

sbonjours comment alle vous je suis heureux d'avoir menvoiyer un roment ces tres formidable j'ador ces romant vraiment ;il fallait que mois aussi je puisse vous donne une surprise vraiment Emily tu ne peut pas imagine la joie que tu mes donne je t'ador Emily vous été trés excelente. malgre que la distance nous sépare mais l'amitier nous unisl'amitie ne s'apprend pas dans un livre cest l'instiinct qui nous la fait decouvrir. je frequante la section pedagogie generale

merci emily je vousouhaite bon travail.

English:
hello how are you
i am happy to have been sent a novel by you it’s really fantastic
i adore this novel really; i must be able to send you a surprise too
truly emily you can’t imagine the joy that you’ve given me
i adore you emily you are so excellent
despite the distance that separates us our friendship unites us friendship is not something you learn in a book its instinct that allows us to discover it
i frequent the reference section [of my school library]
thank you emily i wish you good work

Letter from Congo

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:47:00 -0400

This one goes on my cubicle wall.

French:

Emily

je l'honneur de vous écrire ce message
avant tous je vous saluer et je souhaite bon travail
me je voudrais vous informer que-pendant ce jours qui précède
la rentre scolaire je suis un peut triste parce que je suis en train de économise un peut d'argent pour acheté les objet de l'école
je ne ce pas si sa vas marche .
si vous étier très proche je pourier vous aider au petit travail de
la maison
mal
heureusement vous étez très loin mon amie
me je un peut de conseil peut être sa peut être très important
vous pouvez travail au moin 2 heure au travail de la maison il faut vous habituer. et de ne pas pense beaucoup je donner n'importe quelle conseil pour vue je puisse vous voir heureuse comme avant
ici a’ GOMA il ya un nouvelle monument au quelle il ya une personne qui conduit un chukudu vrement ce très formidable.
bon travail.
ton ami: X

English:

I have the honor of writing you this message. Before anything I want to salute you and wish you good progress in your work. But I would like to inform you that during these days that precede the beginning of the schoolyear I have been a little sad because I am economizing to buy school supplies. I don’t know if I will succeed.

If you were closer I could help you with your housework. Unfortunately you are very far my friend.

But I have a little advice maybe that could be very important. You should work no longer than 2 hours at a time on your house. Don’t think about it too much. I would give you any advice if I knew it could make you happy like before.

Here in GOMA there is a new monument of a person driving a chukudu and it’s truly incredible.

Work well.

Your friend: X