“Believe
in God. The future will be better than today.”
「相信天父，將來會越來越好的」
During my stay in Rwanda, I stayed with
a local lady who worked in the office of the American Refugee Committee. Through
her connection I managed to pay a visit to one of the five refugee camps in the
country. All refugee camps in Rwanda accommodate refugees from Congo, and the
one I visited was called Gihembe Refugee Camp which started in 1997 and is now accommodating
15,000 refugees in 3,000 houses. I had a tour in the morning and a chance to
interview Innocent, one of the refugee in the afternoon. However, Innocent
could only speak French and Kinyarwanda, so Emmanuel, the head nurse helped to
facilitate the interview.
Goodbye,
Home
Innocent is 65 years old this year, but
has been living in the camp for 16
years. The war in Congo first started in
1992 but it was far from where he lived. In 1997, however, the war got nearer
to his home and many people died. People started running towards Gisenyi, the
nearest town in Rwanda at the border.
To recall the scene, many people didn’t know
where they were going, everyone just ran for their lives as there were
shootings behind. Fortunately, the Rwandese custom allowed the people to enter their
country. However, many people didn’t know where their family members were. Innocent
lost 3 sons in the escape, one was shot dead, and two were missing. At the end,
the rest of his family left Congo and entered Rwanda.
There are totally 5 people in his
family, his wife and 3 daughters which are now living together. There was an UN
vehicle which sent them here, and UNHCR has been supporting their livings and
providing their basic needs all these years. One of his sons came to Rwanda but
was registered separately, he used to live outside the camp with the locals. Because
of his single status, he successfully got a citizenship in the USA and moved
there recently with the help of UNHCR.
Difficult
Life for Refugees
When Innocent arrived the camp in the
first 6 months, he was living in critical conditions. Life was hard with just
food and shelter, with no extra money for other items like soaps or clothes. In
the past he was living a good life as he used to be working as a nurse to treat
people in Congo. He wish to have a job at the camp to improve his life too.
Unlike the locals who have national ID
cards, with the refugee registrations people could only do small private jobs,
like selling food, clothes, phone cards on the street or small shops. At the
end Innocent got the job as a refugee camp nurse, to do dressings for injured
people. There are totally 9 refugee nurses in the whole camp. However, they are
all earning the basic UN pay only, US$1/ day, which remained the same in the
past 16 years
In the refugee camp, there are different
classes of people. Some are like the middle class as they can earn good money
by doing small private business and these people are happy. Some, however, are
very poor and are unhappy. Because of his refugee status, Innocent is happy to
have his job and little bit of income every month. However, he would not be
happy with his life if he is not a refugee. There are really no other work
choices for him, and at least his job occupies his time now. He shared it would
be dangerous if he stops working because he would spend all the time thinking
his miserable life.
On a happiness scale of 1-10, he rated
1. In the past he was in good health, he could walk, run, and bike. As time
goes by, his health deteriorated and started having problems with legs. He felt
he is getting old and getting diseases not used to have. He also concerned a
lot with so little money. His wife is 62 and remains a housewife all these
years. His 3 girls are in their early twenties now, they just finished
secondary school at the refugee camp but are still trying to secure a job.
Uncontrollable
Dream
Innocent really hopes one day he can get
an overseas citizenship to go abroad, just like the other refugees, but he doesn’t
know when will be his turn. He wish to leave the camp because of his poor
health and little earnings. If he had a citizenship, he could earn more and
change his life. Many areas in Congo has stopped shootings now, but there are
still some killings in some areas. If Congo is in peace, he would rather going
home than any other countries.
“Believe in God. The future will be
better than today”, Innocent shared with me his favorite quote. He drew me a
picture with words as the present for exchange. The dove brought message from
heaven to the people on earth. People will be strong after receiving the message
from Holy Spirit, and believe in God all the time.
Spreading
the Seeds of Happiness
I gave Innocent the present from my last
interviewee Kambogo, a wooden statue of a woman in traditional clothes.
Innocent showed a bright smile when he received it, and double checked with me if it was really a
gift he could keep.
I felt sorry for his life as a refugee, but
I really wish his happiness scale could increase everyday. If today is 1, tomorrow
will be 2, until it reaches 10 and it should remain there. I blessed him with
the quote shared by Kambogo, “Yes I can”, and gave him a personal gift, a bookmark
I designed with English and Chinese words “Believe” on it.
There were
really not much I could do as a passerby. I could never understand the
difficulties he went through, all I could do was to give him my blessings. I
wish the day we encountered created a slight rhythm of happiness in his life,
as he asked for my name so that he could pray for me as appreciation.
11 Jan 2015
Written in Mbarara, Uganda
我在盧旺達的沙發主人是在美國難民委員會(American Refugee Committee)的辦公室工作，透過她的連繫，我有機會到訪其中一個難民營。全盧旺達有五個難民營，均是收容剛果難民的，而我到訪的是於1997年啟用的Gihembe難民營，共有三千間房子並收容了一萬五千名難民。早上我在營區參觀，下午則有機會跟一名難民做專訪，了解他在這裏的生活，由於他只會說法文和盧旺達語，於是護士長Emmanuel給我們做翻譯。
迫於無奈的離鄉別井
Innocent今年65歲，已經在這個難民營生活了十六個年頭了。1992年剛果戰事剛開始時還離他家很遠，直至1997年戰事卻越來越迫近他的住處，導致很多人身亡，人們也開始向著盧旺達的邊境小鎮Gisenyi逃亡。
回憶那個場景，很多人都不知道自己要跑到那裏去，只知道要往前跑，因為後面彈雨槍林。幸好，盧旺達的海關官員讓他們入境，但很多人都和家人失散了， Innocent在逃亡中失去了三位兒子，一位被殺了，兩位失踪了，最後，他和其餘家人離開了剛果來到盧旺達。
一輛聯合國汽車把他和太太和三個女兒一共五個人載到這個難民營，聯合國這些年來一直在支持他們的日常生活所需。後來，他發現自己其中一個兒子也來了盧旺達，但卻分開了登記，兒子之前在營外和本地人一起生活，也許因為只有兒子一個名字登記的原因，最近聯合國成功幫他拿到美國居留權並搬到那裏居住。
舉步艱難的難民生活
還記得剛到埗的六個月，生活迫人、景況悲涼，只有食物和住所，沒有餘錢購置肥皂和衣服等日常生活所需。從前Innocent的生活狀況很好，他在剛果是當護士的，於是他希望在這裏也可以工作以改善全家的生活。
本地人持有的是身份證，他們的卻是難民登記證，所以他們只能做兼職工作，像在街上或小店裏做小生意買賣。後來他成功找到難民營護士的工作，幫人們處理傷口，全營共有九位難民護士，不過，他們只能賺取聯合國難民的基本工資，每天一美元，過去十六年也一樣。
生活在難民營的人原來也有不同階級的，有些像中產，可以透過做小買賣賺取收入，他們的生活都過得很愉快；相反，有些人則窮困潦倒和活得不快樂。由於自己的難民身份，他會因為自己有這份工作和少許收入而高興，但若果他不是難民的話自己是絕對不會覺得快樂的，他也沒有別的工作可選擇。現在工作佔據自己大部分時間，若果停止工作的話則會很危險了，因為他會把時間都花在思考自己可悲的生活上。
若果快樂指數滿分有十分，他只會給一分。從前自己身體健康，可以步行跑步騎單車，現在年紀越來越大，各種各樣的老人病出現，自己也沒有儲蓄。太太今年62歲了，一直都是當家庭主婦，三個女兒廿多歲，剛在難民營完成中學學歷但仍在努力尋找工作中。
聽天尤命的夢想
可以的話，Innocent希望有一天可以像其他難民一樣拿到外國居留權，但他不知道要等到甚麼時候。因為自己的健康狀況和微薄收入，他很想離開這裏，若果獲得外國居留權，起碼可以賺多點錢和改善生活。現在剛果很多地區均停戰了，但有些地方仍然間中有殺人案，若果剛果可以和平，他寧願回國也不要到其他國家了。
「相信天父，將來會越來越好的」，這是他最愛的座佑銘。然後他給我畫了一幅圖畫作交換禮物：一隻信鴿把天堂的訊息帶來人間，人們只要時常相信天父，接收聖靈的訊息便可以變得堅強。
傳播快樂的種子
我把上一位追夢者Kambogo送出的木雕人像送出，Innocent立即展露了燦爛的笑容，他向我再次確認自己是否可以真的保存這份禮物。
有關他的難民生活，我表示抱歉，但我衷心希望他的快樂指數會每天增加，今天是一分，明天是兩分，直至十分為止並停留在那裏。「我可以的」，我用Kambogo的座佑銘祝福他，也給他多送了一份禮物，一張我設計的書籤，上面寫有「相信」的中英文文字。
作為一個過客，其實我真的沒有太多東西可以做，我永遠也不會明白一位難民所經歷的困境，我能做的就是給他送上祝福。我希望我們的相遇能給他的生命帶來快樂和希望，最後，他也問了我的名字打算能幫我祈禱作為感謝。
13/01/2015
寫於烏干達Mbarara小鎮
