Monday November 03, 2008

"I just want to be free..."

Freedom is highly underrated. The majority of us have it, in the form of schooling, parents and a community. We live, because we are allowed to live. In the DRC, one of the biggest stunts on this dream is HIV - a virus that can exile any Congolese man, woman or child into the shadows of society, and as it stands the UN estimated (in 2007) that 1.3m Congolese people are battling against this fate (including 110,000 under-14's and 143,000 pregnant women). The organisations I encountered today stated that bullshit has got to stop.

Co-ordinator Jean Lukela of RENOAC said: "We will work hard. We will change for the better." His project depicted just that objective - evolving with and for those HIV+ (such as Jean himself). Since 2002, RENOAC has liberated 2500 people living with the disease through various activities, giving computer training and jobs to those turfed for having the virus, as well as running a flour mill to produce food to the most poorly of the HIV infected - as Jean said: "Money is not given for nothing. We educate our people with HIV awareness and activities to state their value in society."

Back on the road, and I stole some time from our interpreter Solange to get her take on the HIV camps we were visiting today. Despite having lost two uncles and two aunties to the disease, she so nonchalantly proclaimed: "HIV is something you learn to deal with. It can be a standard part of life. People do not need to fear it." Her unbreakable spirit and respect for the virus gathered further substance as our day continued.

We came to OVJS to envisage the dreams of organiser Maguy Mfumu, who has developed a youth programme for those struggling with HIV. Regardless of her own HIV status, she now has 56 adolescents under her wing, (many of whom are HIV orphans living with the disease) trained in sewing and making clothes. Before we left, six of the female workers let us know how their lives had been 'normalised' with the help of Maguy and OVJS: Nadaj Balinga, 23,  Soulange Ngama, 20, Benedict Mansanga, 19, Falan Mayayila, 18, Lovette Mbumbo, 18 and 17-year-old Rutt Wombo - my Congofied aspiring versions of Beyonce, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Rhianna, Christina Milian and Cassie. All the village girls loved to dance, sing and they were mad about clothes including the extravagant self-made ones they showed us. The difference was that Maguy's crew lived in an orphanage, fed on rations and as Nadaj stated: "If we had even £20 to spend, we would put it towards more materials, equipment and stalls to work with."  Bear in mind Mariah Carey probably pays someone that much to hold her chewing gum.

Our final stop was at a photography club in central Kinshasa, where I met local co-ordinator Nana Bosambo. The 30-year-old was proud to be part of the small project for HIV patients, which trained and supplied jobs for them in the field of photo-journalism. Being HIV+ herself, she said: "I'm glad just to be part of a place that has a positive response to my condition."

Pessimism and fear surrounds Nana as even after being married for two years, she expects a painful intervention from her family which she has yet to tell of her HIV status. "I just want to be free, without the stigma. I love my husband, I wish to have a child with him. Why should HIV stop that from happening?" she asked.

Pioneers such as Jean Lukela, Maguy Mfumu, and Nana Bosambo are paving a tough and rocky road towards a more accepting, tolerant and unified nation - the ground is laid, and whilst their teams will have obstacles galore, at the very least, the privilege of freedom is becoming ever tangible. Pity now rests upon the shoulders of the ignorant slowing down the potential of a better Congo.

"Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labours in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality."
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1908 - 1972), 'Black Power: A Form of Godly Power,' 1967
 
Words: Dwain Lucktung. Assistant Editor, Ctrl.Alt.Shift website.
Photos: Djomba