Diaspora Stories: New Beginnings

• Author: Rukia Mohammed and Marie Abijuru
• Pages: 173-175

Diaspora Stories: New Beginnings 173

MARIE’S STORY

“When I was in Ivory Coast and hear that the Congolese don’t like the

Rwandese people I just didn’t even pay attention about that but when I have a

chance to participate in the ADDP program, is when I start now exploring and

understanding how the people are feeling about that. And it was a good expe-

rience for me to see how the people start the conversation. I remember when

we start there were no trust, the people didn’t want to talk to each other. Even

myself, I cannot say I didn’t want to talk to Congolese but it was hard to

approach them because if someone said these people are from Rwanda, the

enemy, I cannot go and stay in their house and do something and just be inter-

ested to be with them. If someone said you are my enemy I have just to walk

away. You don’t know what’s gonna happen if you force to go to that person. I

never try to approach them or to discuss anything related to that before the

ADDP. Because I was hearing that Congolese people say that Rwandese are

enemy they went in the Congo and kill the people.

When the ADDP project came, I was recruited to be one of the participants. But I

didn’t know even, what they gonna do. And then I remember the people from my

country even some from Congo they quit the first part of the program. They didn’t

want to hear what we were talking about. Because they still had that in their heart.

Having their family in refugee camp, having their family member died. Having lost

everything because of the Rwandese or Ugandese coming to fight in their country. We

were talking about reconciliation … sometimes we talk reconciliation between the

country. Even the government they can say we have reconciliation–we have opened

the embassy–that is what they call reconciliation between the governments. But the

population, they didn’t have a chance to talk to each other, they didn’t have a chance to

listen to each other. It doesn’t change anything that is between two countries but the

people themselves they have to have a chance to listen to each other.

At first, I think that the people were not ready to listen about that. I think was too

soon to hear about the reconciliation, and they still have that in their heart, sitting with

someone who make you leaving your country or stay in a refugee camp or losing the

member of your family. But I was surprised at the people who stayed. It was amazing

to see how the ADDP transformed the people. We spend a couple weeks asking how is

the confidentiality, we don’t trust each other, if we talk something big they gonna tell

back home, if we say something they gonna kill the member of our family who stay

back home, and we could not share even the food, because we were not trust at all. No

trust at all, and it takes time, it takes time to move from that state in and go now to the

state we start talking to each other. Now the people there who we had never talked

before–we are friends. We visit each other. We call each other. We share many things

right now. But I don’t know if that program didn’t exist myself, Idon’t know if I should

be able to step into the Congolese house and feel free or say what I am able to say right

now. I feel like we are the same family even though we are from the country we called