Heading home from the market with her children, Lulu Mitshabu
saw the police car and immediately knew that something was wrong.
She was then part of an organisation fighting for human rights in the Congo, which was under the Mobutu regime at the time. Remembering that she had been threatened by government against continuing her activities, she prayed that her husband was not home.
‘But he was there’, says Lulu. ‘He was kidnapped. I knew then that if I went home, I would also be killed or put to jail. We had to run.’ She was pregnant with her third child at the time.
Avoiding border check-points, she and her two young daughters walked through the bush under cover of darkness, with sporadic gunfire ringing around them. After more than a day on foot, they finally reached Zambia.
In the midst of poor conditions at the refugee camp, Lulu worried about her unborn baby, the future of her children, and the fate of her husband. ‘I hate you’, she said to God. ‘I don’t know where you are.’
Three days after they arrived at the camp, her husband appeared. He had escaped and was in terrible shape, but alive. Lulu reassessed their situation. ‘It could have been worse’, she says.
‘Some people lost their eye, a leg. You end up saying, "God, thank you".’
Because
the Zambian government was co-operating with the Congolese, the next challenge
was finding long-term refuge. ‘We were given 48 hours to leave the
country’, she recalls. ‘If you did not find a sponsor or a country
to take you, then you would face deportation.’ Fortunately, the Australian
government offered them visas on humanitarian grounds.
When they finally reached Australia in 1991, they felt lost and overwhelmed by the new culture and language.
‘The children were traumatised by what happened to us’, she says.
‘We had to take it easy, and learn with them that we were again in control of our lives. It was quite hard at the beginning.’ With support from volunteers, including nuns from the Society of the Sacred Heart, they began adjusting to their new country.
Lulu soon became involved with organisations that assist newly arrived refugees. ‘I could put myself in their place’, she says. ‘I know how difficult it is to come to another country.’
When a friend told her about Caritas Australia, she became interested in its mission of providing relief and aid to developing countries. One thing led to another, and Lulu now works for Caritas, drafting reports and conducting monitoring visits in Africa and the Pacific region. It was on one of these visits that she found herself back in Congo last year, more than a decade after she fled.
‘I had to change my name, everything, so that I could go back’, Lulu reveals. ‘It was scary.’
Lulu felt devastated as she travelled through the country. By then, four years of conflict had left 3.3 million people dead from starvation and disease.
‘I couldn’t believe what I saw’, she says. ‘I was crying. They had destroyed the schools, the hospitals. When I got there, most of the people I knew were already dead. I even stopped asking, because when I did, they would tell me, "He’s gone".’
She
finds it upsetting that the enormous number of deaths is not making the
headlines. ‘Nobody seems to notice’, she says. ‘It’s
unbelievable. I’m not sure why that is happening.’
Underneath the hardship she witnessed, however, Lulu also saw immense hope. ‘I found people praying’, she says. ‘I know that something powerful is happening there, because it’s impossible under those conditions still to be praying and singing for the Lord. People say it’s really the will of God, and that he won’t leave them suffering forever.’
Reflecting on the power of faith, Lulu says that’s what makes her wake up and go to work every day. Now a mother of six, she is grateful for the blessings her family has received.
‘I believe that if you do the right thing, God will always be with you, no matter what. I could have been dead twelve years ago, but God stood by me. God will always provide.’
Caritas Australia provides aid and undertakes community development projects in Australia and overseas. For more information see their website: www.caritas.org.au
CURRENT ISSUE | ABOUT | ADVERTISING | PREVIOUS ISSUES | LINKS
Reproduction of material from any Jesuit Publications pages
without written prior permission is strictly prohibited.
Copyright 2002 Jesuit Publications
PO Box 553 Richmond VIC 3121 Australia
Tel +61 3 9427 7311, Fax +61 3 9428 4450