Help one Congolese boy become a leader
Note: This is the appeal of a 17-year-old boy in the Democratic Republic of Congo who can't afford his public school tuition. Since he wrote this when he was 15, his parents both died.
Before 1994, my parents were in Rwanda, precisely in Kigali. They were happy. They lived together with other family members. They lived well. Life was agreeable. Then in 1994 there was small trouble in Rwanda, in the capital, where several political parties were created. The war started in Rwengeri and refugees took flight from the capital in the month of May when they killed President Habyarimana. The war started between the Hutus and the Tutsis. My parents were obliged to flee toward DRC. In those days, my mother was pregnant. Rwandan soldiers stopped her. She wanted to live to give birth to that child, and that child is me who is before you now. So the soldiers held her for a while, and then one soldier pitied my pregnant mother and let her go. She fled to Goma. The same day she brought me into the world. It was May 9, 1994.During the days my parents searched for work, but they didn't have luck finding any. In 1998, my mother brought her second child into the world, and that year I started school. I went to school up until third grade, when my parents were obliged to stop my studies as a result of lacking money for school fees. I then passed three years without going to school. By the grace of God, I found a girl on the street and she asked me if I went to school and I said no. She told me she loved me and then started to pay for my school. I started again and continued to go to school until my freshman year of high school when the girl died of an illness. Since then I started my sophomore year without paying tuition. Since then I have been worried about finding someone who can pay for my studies. I love school. I also want to find someone who can help my parents regardless of whether I study or not. Oh God, help me to get out of this dilemma. My parents are poorer than ever. In any case, I still go to school, but they chase me out. I won't be able to really be part of the world if I don't get an education. Is there someone who pities me who can pay for my school? I love studying more than any other thing, because God has told me to study so that I can be a man of value.
Before 1994, my parents were in Rwanda, precisely in Kigali. They were happy. They lived together with other family members. They lived well. Life was agreeable. Then in 1994 there was small trouble in Rwanda, in the capital, where several political parties were created. The war started in Rwengeri and refugees took flight from the capital in the month of May when they killed President Habyarimana. The war started between the Hutus and the Tutsis. My parents were obliged to flee toward DRC. In those days, my mother was pregnant. Rwandan soldiers stopped her. She wanted to live to give birth to that child, and that child is me who is before you now. So the soldiers held her for a while, and then one soldier pitied my pregnant mother and let her go. She fled to Goma. The same day she brought me into the world. It was May 9, 1994.During the days my parents searched for work, but they didn't have luck finding any. In 1998, my mother brought her second child into the world, and that year I started school. I went to school up until third grade, when my parents were obliged to stop my studies as a result of lacking money for school fees. I then passed three years without going to school. By the grace of God, I found a girl on the street and she asked me if I went to school and I said no. She told me she loved me and then started to pay for my school. I started again and continued to go to school until my freshman year of high school when the girl died of an illness. Since then I started my sophomore year without paying tuition. Since then I have been worried about finding someone who can pay for my studies. I love school. I also want to find someone who can help my parents regardless of whether I study or not. Oh God, help me to get out of this dilemma. My parents are poorer than ever. In any case, I still go to school, but they chase me out. I won't be able to really be part of the world if I don't get an education. Is there someone who pities me who can pay for my school? I love studying more than any other thing, because God has told me to study so that I can be a man of value.
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