Welcome Alain from the Congo!

Sanctuary Australia FoundationBlog, Refugee Stories

I am a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I fled my country in February 2010.

During the war, my step-father was suspected of being a spy due to a misunderstanding among friends. My step-father refused to join the rebels and so these ‘so called’ friends colluded to kill him. Our step-father was aware of their plan to attack our house at night, so he managed to run away, however, he left no clue as to where he had fled to.

Two days later they continued coming to our house and started to terrorize our mother saying that she knows where her husband went. Finally, they told us that if we did not surrender our father they would kill us.

So the next day our mother planned how we can be safe, so she managed to talk to a Catholic priest to take me to a boarding school, so my mother promised me that she will go to leave that place. That was my last communication with her.

So when I went to school, after 2 or 3 moths, we were attacked by rebels, so-called ‘MAI MAI’.  Our school is located far from town, making it hard to hide anywhere when rebels started to shoot randomly and killed our teachers and school leaders and some of our school mates. I managed to run into a big forest with my friends. Unfortunately, one of them was hit by bullet and I continued the journey with a second friend whom I lost in the forest at night. I came to realized that I was completely alone.

Luckily I found a road but I did not know which road I was on, so I asked for help from a driver and he took me to Nairobi and then to the UNHCR where I received help on 19th of February 2010.

KENYA STORYAlain Matongo arrives in Coffs Harbour

In Nairobi, I received help from Congolese Samaritan who gave me a place to stay. In June 2011 I was injured in a bomb blast in Nairobi (Kenya is a terrorist country) and I was taken to a hospital for treatment. I was discharged after two weeks by force because I had no money for my medical expenses. The Kenyan government would only cover 2 weeks of my costs, unfortunately, I did not get any help from UNHCR. I thank God I am alive. It was hard to bare that Kenyan’s received compensation but foreigners like myself received no financial assistance whatsoever. Because of this bad treatment, I still have burn scars on my left hand and arm and a scar on my right hand. 

After a long period of suffering, I recovered well and I got an opportunity from an NGO called Tushirikiane Africa to study English class and information technology. In Australia, I would like to go back to school to study English and to continue my studies in Information Technology.

This is my story in summary.

I would like to thank Sanctuary’s donors for their help, because I lost my hope but Sanctuary brought it back and now I have the confidence that once I arrive in Australia I will get an opportunity to search for the rest of my family.

Thank you so much to Sanctuary for your kindness and assistance. I really appreciate and God bless you for the work you are doing, and do not stop here because there are many refugees and vulnerable people here who do not know where to seek help. Because to get assistance from UNHCR is not easy, that is why I decided to look for a private sponsor who can assist me and thank God I found the best organization.

We are so happy that Alain is now safely in Australia and working towards his goals.