January 2012
1 post
Little brother becomes dreaded "enfant de la rue"
It’s been too long since I updated on the kid’s life. He is not a kid anymore, for one thing. He’s 19. I can hardly believe the little urchin I once knew is a responsible young man — the head of a household and guardian of three younger children! There’s been a lot of news in the last few months. Congo had its elections. By reliable accounts, they were rigged. The kid...
September 2011
2 posts
Back to School: Please Help
“La rentree scholaire” or the return to school is happening, which means the kid in Congo and his little sister need $51 and $13 respectively to pay for their public school. If you are a fan of the amazing kid or want to help an 8 year old girl who has never been sent to school because she is a girl, please click here and donate to my Paypal page. I will send the money to Congo....
Congolese Teen Finishes "Heartbreaking Work,"...
As I said earlier, I sent the kid in Congo, now a man by his own account, David Eggers’ memoir, “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” since the two have a common experience. David’s parents died and he raised his little brother, and so goes the Congolese experience, only there are two brothers and now a sister who has been abused and needs help. The kid loves to read...
May 2011
2 posts
“Philip G you are a hypocrite, No body forced you to write about the heroic...”
– An African hero comments on Philip Gourevitch’s writing about Rwanda. Note that his name is Success.
Pets: From Bushwick to Goma
Bonjour, Comment va la lecture? Moi, je suis tres triste. Mon chat est partie, je ne sais pas ou. Elle est tres cool, ma sole famille a New York. Voici un photo. J’espere qu’elle rentrait. As tu des nouvelles de Goma? Je vais envoyer de l’argent pour ton ecole ce semaine. Ton amie, Emily
***
salue EMILY VRAIMENT votré chat est trés coule. je mes rappellé mon chien ici chez...
February 2011
2 posts
Congolese Teen begins "A Heartbreaking Work of...
So thanks to several generous donors — Greg, Dan, and Mike — the kid’s school is paid for until the next semester, Whoohoo! He is very happy. He is also reading “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” in French, which is about an American guy taking care of his little brother when their parents die, exactly what the kid is doing in Congo (he is taking care of two...
School Fees: Please Help
Unfortunately, in many African countries, students are charged tuition for public school. Their families can scarcely afford the cost. Please help by donating a small amount to pay for one promising boy’s tuition. Click here, and read his own interpretation of the events of his life.
Below is a note from him. I have been chronicling his life in Congo in this blog (see almost all entries...
January 2011
3 posts
Dearest One Good afternoon to you, l deem it fit to contact you today based on your profile which l saw today in my private search, when l was looking for some one who l will in-trust my future living under his/her care for a better living of mine, please bear with me i will really like to have a good relationship with you, and i have a special reason why i decided to contact you, I decided...
Letter to Congo: Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du...
Today I came home to a heartwarming surprise — a package from Paris containing a novel and a letter to the kid in Congo from my friend Mahfoud. Since the kid needs reading material, I thought it would be nice for some other people to send him books they love, with letters. Maf had recommended this book to me just as I was leaving his house for the airport last January and so I asked him if...
December 2010
2 posts
Letter from Congo: Formidable Noel
I just called over to Goma to check on the kid, and he answered the phone in high spirits. He has recovered now from his alleged poisoning last month and had his “colleagues from class” over for a Christmas party with his two little brothers. They danced to Werasson and — stop the presses — DRANK ALCOHOL!
“C’etait vraiment un noel formidable,” he said....
“BONJOURS COMMENT ALLE VOUS MOIS JE SUIS MALADE DE POISON,PAR LA GRACE DE DIEU...”
– text message I recieved from the boy in Congo
September 2010
1 post
Letter from Congo: The Life Before Us
A little while ago I sent my young friend in Congo a novel I thought he would like. We share a love of literature, and tend to have the same taste. This novel, “La vie devant soi,” is a seminal French work that influenced many, maybe even Ahmadou Kourouma when he wrote my favorite, “Allah n’est pas oblige.” (The latter has too much swearing to appeal to my friend in...
August 2010
4 posts
Letter from Congo
This one goes on my cubicle wall.
French:
Emily je l’honneur de vous écrire ce message avant tous je vous saluer et je souhaite bon travail me je voudrais vous informer que-pendant ce jours qui précède la rentre scolaire je suis un peut triste parce que je suis en train de économise un peut d’argent pour acheté les objet de l’école je ne ce pas si sa vas marche . si...
subject: ne vous enquite pas emily dieu existe
After ignoring my Congolese friend’s request for a new penpal in New York, he wrote to salute me, tell me he was doing well, and ask how I am. I said that I was deluged with moving tasks and annoyed by having to do it alone, because my friends didn’t help me, my family is not here and I have no husband. He responded sympathetically in an email with the subject line, “don’t...
subject: je besoin parce que je l'envie
Bonjours comment allé vous je besoin d’un correspondant au niveau de New york parce que je seulement vous je ne pas d’autre .que vous raison pour laquelle je dit ca
After I received an email from my boy in Congo asking for my advice on how he could eat, seeing as how he says he is an orphan and wants to spend all the money he earns selling gasoline on school fees, I told him to...
July 2010
5 posts
“Some Chinese commentators say the West still treats Africa like a colony,...”
– “AU says must replace Western partners with China,” Reuters
(This Congolese Boy's Life -- continued)
I am finding my young friend’s emails from Congo so amazing that I may continue to post them here. Here’s the latest:
French: saluer;les étude vas tres bien parceque j’avais reussir à l école avec 73porcent asemoment l école à dejà pris fin donc nou
sommes envancance pour commence en core .
le travail vas tres bien pacque je déjà achete un bidon de petrole et je déjà eut...
This Congolese Boy's Life
I wrote a series in Slate last month about a Congolese teenager I hung out with in Goma for a year. Since it came out I’ve been getting emails from him. He says his parents have since died from being poisoned, and wants to know how my music composition is going. (We used to talk about how we both wanted to be singers.) Here is the latest email, the graphic of the boy below was embedded in...
June 2010
2 posts
“I love studying more than any other thing, because God has told me to study so...”
– A child in Congo who can’t afford public school, profiled in this Slate.com series.
How to Help Congolese Kids?
Here is an excerpt from the series I have running in Slate.com this week:
According to UNICEF, 60 percent of the children in the Democratic Republic of Congo have access to primary school, and 29 percent of those who enroll complete fifth grade. The proportion of young people who have access to secondary schooling is much lower. Besides the cost, other reasons children may not be able to go to...
April 2010
3 posts
Oh, Congo
World Bank DRC Public Expenditure Review, 2008:
Even if adequate financing [for the DRC education sector] were available in the near future, the current system could ensure neither the appropriate allocation of resources nor proper implementation of same. There are many reasons for this. First of all, the limited resources available to the education sector are not allocated in line with the...
Moved to Brooklyn
Now that I have been living in Brooklyn again for the past four months, I have a new blog called “Brooklyn Cares.” It is not different from African Heroes in that it describes the atmosphere of a place, documents a society, focuses on the merit of that society — in Brooklyn’s case, social cohesion — and incorporates the daily life of its chronicler, me, while also...
January 2010
1 post
A radio report I produced with IRC education staff...
October 2009
1 post
Don’t Look Here for Heroes
There’s been little heroism to report in Goma, eastern DR Congo, over the last 10 months that I’ve lived here. There has been a lot of sexual violence.
I just took a walk, and the normal events that transpired may explain why and how it occurs. 17:00 - Leaving the office, am hissed at repeatedly by a man standing around doing nothing on the street, one of scores. 17:10 - Walking down a...
September 2009
2 posts
This is a song that plays every weekend at the bar...
I am so sick of living in Congo
I am taking two days off right now in Goma instead of going on vacation because four days is not enough time to leave the continent. I’m telling you, if you think African warzones are exciting, think again. Some missionary may be getting shot right now on a remote road in Rutshutu territory but it is boring as a Kansas corn field where I live. The stimulation consists of relentless,...
July 2009
1 post
What's the point of this blog?
“The game last night was amazing. It was like ballet. You know, they throw the ball all around the bases even when the player doesn’t make it to first base. It’s beautiful. So humble and relaxed, and when they score it’s not this big thing, you know, not like everyone was expecting it. They just improvise, and when they score they score, and when they don’t, they...
March 2009
2 posts
A public service announcement I produced to...
February 2009
1 post
January 2009
6 posts
Troupe Nyiragongo sketch about preventing les...
Interview with Issa (French)
ZuluRomeo10 to Logistics
Two weeks ago I was at a fabulous dance club here in Goma, DR Congo, with my 28-year-old coworker, Issa. I asked him to go dancing after a.) deciding he is a badass and b.) finding out he is an R&B singer. It was loud in the club but we still managed to talk by shouting. I asked the usual pleasantries and then went right to the heart of the matter. That matter was: What exactly gives Issa this...
Ukoo Flani Maumau, from Kenya, in Kiswahili
December 2008
7 posts
Très Dynamique
There are many wonderful things about speaking French, and among them are the terms we either have in English but don’t use, or simply don’t have. These words express cultural values that don’t exist in English speaking societies.
Take, for example, the word dynamique. Yes, we have it in English, along with cadre, austerity, and other sophisticated Latinate words that have...
Crazy People without Borders
I never finished telling the story of that night at the Paroisse St. Aloys. (I have since been to another Paroisse, it was cold, wet, full of mosquitoes, and had an uncomfortable feel of being below sea level, stuck as it was in a flat, dark, totally unspectacular jungle. It occurred to me as I toasted the priests at dinner each night that I was living a “Lord of the Rings” type adventure,...
Here's Your Movie Character
On a recent day I was in Rutshuru, a town in North Kivu, the wartorn state in eastern DR Congo. We stayed in the Paroisse St. Aloys, a Jesuit mission with a lovely guest house. It reminded me of the old days of Sacred Heart, my elementary school in Atherton, Calif., before the earthquake forced us out of the red brick building into gray one story classrooms and the administration was seized by...
Why street kids may not go to school, even if you...
AH : So I met this little boy the other day who fishes every morning in Lake Kivu [eastern Democratic Republic of Congo] with his little brother. I really admire them because they work very early and long, and the little brother strings little talapia and sardines they catch onto a reed of grass through the fish's gills. I think they give the fish to their family because their father is unemployed and extremely poor. Last weekend the oldest brother, who is probably 12, invited me to his house. It's a shack on the lot of a large house currently in construction, on a bed of hard lava rock. They are squatters. The boy is amazingly smart, and speaks French perfectly, some English, Kiswahili, and his tribal language probably. He asked me for money to pay for school, because he said it was too expensive at $10 per term. But then the father indicated to me that he pays for the boy to go to school, $6 a month. I don't know if I should give him tuition -- I mean I would be happy to help, but will it really go to the school or will the boy just take it and keep fishing to feed his family? He has five siblings.
Franc: If he speaks those languages it means he has probably spoken with a lot of tourists to get money. He knows what stories to tell to get people's sympathy and money. Those children are very difficult cases, because usually if you pay for them to go to school they will not even go, they don't want to. Because they want to spend the money on themselves and keep fishing.
AH: So is there any way to help them?
Franc: What we usually do with those cases is to help the children make more money. Maybe to change from fishing to some other business and better organize themselves.
AH: What!? So, like, you just accept that they are determined to be little business people and help them to become more successful at it?
Franc: Yes.
Heroism, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Military Attitude of the Soul
Towards all external evil, the man within the breast assumes a warlike attitude, and affirms his ability to cope single-handed with the infinite army of enemies. To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Heroism. Its rudest form is the contempt for safety and ease, which makes the attractiveness of war. It is a self-trust which slights the restraints...
November 2008
4 posts
3 tags
