Éternel Courageux

Emery is one of the few people that I know in Bukavu with a stable monthly salary. This is the story of how he managed that one; and trust me, it is not nothing.

This is the tale of courage and determination in the midst of hardship that you will probably not read on the newspapers today.

Looking towards Bukavu

Emery is originally from Idwji, an island located in the lake Kivu and only a few kilometres away from Bukavu's coast. Beyond being an agricultural paradise, Idwji enclaved position has allowed the island to be untouched directly by the armed conflict over the years. As such, Emery’s childhood was an ordinary one. After finishing his secondary studies, our protagonist spent some time working the land with his parents, which he combined shortly with a little job in his local parish. And although the self-sufficient life style of his family and the little extra from the parish provided a decent way of living, Emery wanted more from life so:

“I started to look towards Bukavu to see if I could find another job, and there was a girl that studied in the same school than me… she knew how well I did in school, and as it is costume here, after hearing I had obtained my diploma she got in touch. In her house they had the means, and it was his brother who was the director of dignity and shame, where I currently work. When the girl heard that I had my school certificate she took pity of me and told me that her brother was the director of a security company, and that if I could succeed to come to Bukavu, she could try to convince his brother to integrate me in the company. So, I quitted the job at the Parrish and I came to Bukavu”.

“Now, it is not automatically that I integrated into Dignity and Shame, because, her brother did not wanted to listen to what she had to say, and consequently I did not get the job in dignity and shame. But, since I did not have anything else to do, I had to integrate in dignity and shame by force. I know the girl had done everything on her power to get me the job, and although the brother had categorically refused, I already knew the area where the office was; so I took the initiative to stay every day at the door… for 3 months, I arrived in October and I succeeded to work in Dignity and Shame in January 2013”

“I quitted the job at the Parish without even getting paid, because I only worked there for three weeks and I came to Bukavu to look for D&S office. I knew the area but nor exactly where the office was, and me who I am a visitor and I did not know Bukavu- I looked for the place for a week, every day from 8 am until 12 am, i looked at every building. After a week , one good day, a Saturday, I remember perfectly! I was so tired, and I sited under a tree to rest because I was truly exhausted. And then, a man arrived in moto and made a phone call in which he mentioned something that slipped into my ears: ‘I am here outside D&S’, AaH! Now I knew that the office was among those four buildings that I could see from where I was. I don’t know if it was the presence of the holy spirit, but when I looked at one of them I saw it clearly… I was looking for the Initials D&S, but I had missed the building because what was written was its full name which I did not know at the time: Dignity and Shame, but when I looked this time , they were there- Dignity & Shame- I could clearly see the initials within the name. Finally, I knew where the office was”.

A very particular Internship

“Now that I knew where the office was I was determined… and I started to regularly spend my days outside the door talking to everybody who came into the building to know who was who, and slowly I got know everybody who worked there. And after a month when I knew everybody, I started to ask questions to know what was going on there. I contemplated and recollected information… I approached people and I had conversations while faking that I was entering and leaving the building and doing like I knew what was going on inside the office; and its like that I collected pieces of information for a while. And when I had all the information I needed, I looked at how to integrate by force. How did I do it?? When I discovered that the director was from Idjwi but the other bosses no, I made myself pass for an envoy of the director, as if he told to come here for job. I went to the door and I introduced myself to the security guard as an envoy of the chief, and since no one can contradict something that the boss says, he let me in… when I finally walked in… there was a formation, and so I entered directly into the training course”.

After a few months of learning security protocols, usage of technology, martial arts, and the other necessary skills for the job, Emery was ready to work as a security guard, but as it happens, the last day of the formation the director comes to meet all those who had completed the training before sending them to their respective posts. Emery told me that the chief ordered them to get all in line so he could introduce himself and also ask whom have recommended them for the job, one by one.

Emery continued:

“But me, nobody had recommended me, in theory I should had introduced myself as someone recommended by himself… but I knew he was from my village so when he came and asked me- I could not say it was him obviously! so I changed the version and I said that it was his mum who recommended me AaH!!! [To which both of us explode laughing]… we were from the same village but apparently his mum didn’t know exactly what did his son do, sure, she knew he was a director and all that, but she didn’t know exactly where.. So he suspected of me and asked me to quit the line; after asking everybody else they told me to leave the building and to not come back. Then everybody knew that I was an intruder”

“ But, I didn’t stress, there was nothing else that I could do, so I still went outside the building every day while hiding from the boss whenever I saw him. But because I was not recommended, I had tried to create a friendship with everybody, and I was lucky, because the office was changing to a bigger building somewhere else in the same street. The man in charge of the logistics for rehabilitating the new office wanted to profit from the fact that I spent all my days there without nothing to do and offered me to work building the new office- that way he could save some of the money destined to hire people. He did not pay me, but I could work and he said he will put a good word for me.

After another month, and once the building was ready, the man in charge of the project had to show the new office to the boss before officially changing its location. Now, when the boss came to see the renewed office, the man, as it is costume, introduced him to the ones that did the job, and as agreed he put a good word and made my case again; he said that: ‘we worked with this kid, he did a good job, he left the formation without problems when asked to.. and he already has completed the training’. There, the chef had a little pity for me and put me into the rotation system, a first step into the company by covering people and working only when needed; and it is like that how I started working as a security agent”.

Just pause for a second and think about Emery's story: Our protagonist quitted a job in his village to move to an unknown city in the hope of having a ‘maybe it pans out job’, looked for the hidden office for a week, found it (quite an achievement to do so in Bukavu; I should know), discovered that he was not wanted for the job, spent months collecting bits of information from different people until he knew exactly when to walk into the building to start a several months training that he successfully completed. He got discovered and kicked out, he persisted, and risked to work for free as a constructor for another month- trusting not only that a newly made acquaintance would put a good word for him, but also that it will work out.

In the end, Emery’s determination paid off, for today he has long exited the rotation system to work as a full time security agent in Dignity and Shame. In fact, he is one of the few people that I know in Bukavu that has a job that provides a monthly salary.

After Emery's story, seems only right to share with you: 'Éternel Courageux' (Eternal courageous) which is not only the tittle of the above attached powerful song by Kinshasa's very own Hiphop MPR collective (Musique Populaire de la Révolution), but also a very accurate way of describing the people I had the chance to interview in Congo.