Free to Fly

I want all women to know they are free.

On August 12, 2015 I was all set to fly as Governor Cishambo’s guest on his chartered airplane to Minembwe. The Governor had just been sent back to the province by President Kabila to participate in Congo’s 1st Commemoration of the 2004 Gatumba Massacre, taking place in Minembwe of the Haut Plateau of our province. The governor asked me to accompany him to the Commemorative event, just as I accompanied him when the victims of the massacre were buried in 2004.

Before takeoff for Minembwe, still sitting on the tarmac in Bukavu, I had a thought. I sent my husband (Danny) a text message asking him how many vehicles were at the airport in Minembwe waiting for our arrival. Sitting at the airstrip in Minembwe, Danny said that besides a couple of UN military vehicles, ours/SAFECO’s vehicle was the only vehicle waiting – and the governor and I were already 1.5 hours late. I sent Danny another message saying that he needed to prepare our 13 passenger Land Cruiser for the Governor. When we landed on the airstrip in Minembwe, before many hundreds that had gathered, sure enough, our vehicle was still the only vehicle. I had our driver bring the Land Cruiser to the plane to load the Governor’s things and then go pick up the Governor who was off greeting the many dignitaries in the waiting crowd, including a former Vice President, a Senator, and the Minister of Transportation, among many others of my tribe. After delivering the Governor to his first appointment, our driver came back for us and I told him to go back and stick with the governor. I asked a military transport vehicle to take us to the university housing where we and the governor would be staying that night. Our driver and our vehicle stayed with the governor all afternoon until delivering the governor and his entourage of dignitaries to the university around 6pm, where my husband and I greeted them all with wine I had brought on the plane, along with some bread and crackers to snack on after a long day, until dinner was prepared a couple hours later.

The next morning after we all enjoyed breakfast together in the main room, since there were several hours until the Gatumba Commemoration event, I planned to continue with my agenda and go visit the first female parliamentary candidate from my tribe, Ange Kega Wa Kega. Wanting my governor to enjoy the same good SAFECO treatment this second day, and noticing that a much older and more abused Land Cruiser was parked next to SAFECO’s, I asked the driver of the other Land Cruiser if he would deliver me and my guests to Ange’s place in Minembwe center; about 10 minutes away. The Congolese military colonel attached to the governor answered for the driver with a firm, no, saying that that vehicle was needed for the governor’s entourage. Stunned at the colonel’s response I told him that if the governor’s entourage could not ride in the back of the same vehicle the governor was riding in, then they could walk. But I’m a woman with disabilities and need transport. The Colonel said, absolutely not. So I simply said, no problem, I’ll just take my vehicle. I called our driver over and my guests and we all got in our/SAFECO’s Land Cruiser. The Colonel became indignant, telling me that I was not going to take our vehicle but was going to leave it for the governor. I ignored him as my husband and guests climbed aboard. The Minister of Transportation came over to try and reason with me, and then the university founder and the Governor’s protocol. I told them all that they may not abuse my generosity. They were the ones that invited the governor to this event, not me. Their transportation issues were not my issue; I had made arrangements for myself. They tried overwhelming me, a half dozen of them including military, ministers, governor's protocol, and our lodging host, the university founder. I told them, no, and told the driver to push off. Then one of them very nicely began asking for forgiveness. He pleaded with me to go back to my original suggestion and allow their driver to deliver me and my guests to Candidate Ange Kega Wa Kega’s place. And with that simple apology and reasonable request, I agreed – not for their sakes, but for my governor’s sake.

The point of this little story is to relay the fact that I am free, and I know I am free. I am not bound by their patriarchal prejudices, nor am I bound by my cultural background, religious upbringing, by my disability, or any other societal stigma or marginalization. I am not less, and I am not more. I am simply, equal. The rights they enjoy I also enjoy, whether they want me to enjoy them or not. And that’s what I want for all my sisters. But I can tell you that the stand I took on that morning, very few of my Congolese sisters would take. And that is my mission. It is my number one goal in everything I do: To somehow impart the awareness that they are free, and watch them fly.

I was happy to have in my company on that morning of declaration, three former Girl Ambassadors. Those are the moments I live for; the moments I can get up for, get excited about – those real-life, rubber-meets-the-road kind of affecting moments. Because a change of mind is not easily had. What we think about who we are and why we are is so ingrained. We need deliverance. But each one must deliver themselves. Each one must come into it for themselves. Who we are must find its dawning in each one of us so that we are all free to fly together.