MEMBERS STORIES

Mwamba was born in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

 He was fortunate. His father was an architect who worked in the mines. Other families were not so fortunate. Most of the available work was laborer jobs in the mines, and the pay was pitiful. George’s family were the only ones who owned a car in the neighborhood so many times – even in the dead of night, they were often called upon to help transport the sick to the hospital. Many of those who were transported were friends that Mwamba went to school with or the families of those friends. There were times, in severe cases, when those who were transported to the hospital never came back alive. This is because they could not afford the cost of health care and had to suffer from the pain of their medical condition and died. Mwamba’s mother ended up adopting two orphans who lived with them as siblings. 

Lyly was born in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Lyly is one of nine children. Her father was a schoolteacher. However, it was a struggle for her family when she was growing up. Her father’s salary was meager, and many times the salary went unpaid. It was difficult for him to pay the school fees for his own children and their medical bills. 

Banza was also born in Lubumbashi, but came to the United States when she was seven years old with the rest of her family to join her father who had already migrated before them.

Prior to coming to the United States, Georgette remembers when she and her friends walked to school and many of her friends did not have shoes or nice clothes.