Zed Books Goma: Stories of Strength and Sorrow from Eastern Congo

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. GomaStories of Strength and Sorrow from Eastern CongoBy Theodore Trefon, Noël KabuyayaZed Books LtdCopyright © 2018 Theodore Trefon and Noël KabuyayaAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-78699-141-6ContentsPreface and acknowledgements, vii, Glossary, xii, Chronology of events in and around Goma, xx, Introduction: A city in search of its future, 1, 1. The ups and downs of a businesswoman, 21, 2. The amazing wooden scooter, 38, 3. Charcoal is life, 54, 4. A stonecutter's paradise, 73, 5. Goma's public health challenges, 88, 6. A pragmatic humanitarian, 106, 7. Everybody loves beans, 123, 8. The motorbike taxi solution, 143, 9. Private security for hire, 160, 10. Gembloux-Goma return, 177, 11. Village boy makes good, 195, 12. Gilded youth in search of their future, 211, Afterword, 225, Notes, 228, CHAPTER 1THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A BUSINESSWOMANA SCHOOL GIRL ESCAPES FORCED MARRIAGEMathilde Musole is an independent-minded businesswoman with pluck. Clever, hard-working and tenacious – like the city of Goma – her life has been a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. Her indefatigable drive to take charge of her destiny, her resiliency in the face of adversity and her near-permanent smile are her dominant personality traits. Most people call her Aunty Mathy, Da Mathy (da is short for dada, which is the Swahili word for sister) or Mama Teacher. With multiple irons in the fire, she is not easily intimidated by hard work or the need to think creatively.Mathilde was born into a Bashi family on 28 December 1963 in a small village near Bukavu in South Kivu, the second to last child of eight. Her parents did not send her older sisters to school because they considered their future to be that of wife and mother. 'Girls learn to take care of a household in our family – not waste their time in class. In my case, however, my father changed his mind.' When she was four years old, her father (a cook for priests in a Catholic mission) and her mother (a market woman) decided to send her to live with an older sister in Bukavu so she could go to school. The quality of teaching in the city was significantly better than in her native village. 'I studied hard and finished primary school without any difficulty and then followed a teacher-training curriculum in boarding school at the Lycée des Soeurs Noires in Katana near Bukavu.'Over the years, Mathilde would return to her village to visit her parents. 'One summer – I was fifteen and pretty – my father accepted to marry me off. The suitor paid the traditional dowry of two cows for my hand but agreed to wait until I finished school to finalise the marriage.' Upon graduation in 1981, Da Mathy made it clear to her father that she did not want anything to do with her fiancé: 'Schoolgirls shouldn't be forced to marry,' she argued. She had in fact made her own plans with another young man, François, also a Shi and a trained nurse. Her father reluctantly came to accept her choice and offered to return the two cows to the jilted fiancé. 'He withdrew his claim on me but for reasons that I never understood, he refused to take back the dowry.'Mathilde learned to like studying as a high school student and dreamed of going to university in Kinshasa. 'I had the talent to succeed but my dream was put on hold for want of money.' In the meantime, and with the intention of putting money aside for further studies, she worked as a statistics analyst in the provincial administration of primary, secondary and professional education (EPSP) in Bukavu. François was anxious to get married but Mathilde's older brothers did not agree, preferring to see their little sister continue her education. Despite their veto, the young couple went ahead with their marriage and rented a house in Bukavu where Mathilde continued to work. Her first setback took the form of sexual harassment by her boss at work: she quit and took a job as a primary school teacher in the Bukavu district of Ibanda.