Two families flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a long journey to Utah

Friday, Jun. 24, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Yvette Buende and her three children and her niece fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007, forced out by the violence in many regions of the country despite the formal end to the Second Congo War in 2003.

The war separated Buende and her husband.

The war and its aftermath caused 5.4 million deaths, principally through disease and starvation, making it the deadliest conflict worldwide since World Ware II, according to worldwithoutgenocide.org.

“All refugees care about when they flee is finding a peaceful place to raise their families,” said Aden Batar, Catholic Community Services Immigration and Refugee Resettlement director, but to reach that place they face many dangers. “They might cross into boarders without their documents and experience horrible situations, go through jungles or cross rivers, have to escape wild animals with no way of protecting themselves, or get their organs cut out and have their bodies left to decay.”

Buende and her group fled with only the clothes on their back and walked for miles, eventually catching a bus to Uganda, where she first went to the police station and was sent to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCR). They were asked why they were there and what kind of help they needed, she said.

“I told them I only want safety,” Buende said. “I would go back about every two weeks for food, but I also had to help myself.”

She did so by working as a hairdresser; with her cell phone she would set up appointments and go to people’s homes.

During the four years that Buende and her family lived in Uganda, they had to learn the language and find a school for the children, who were 9, 5 and 3. The first year they lived in the street while she saved money for the three months’ rent required to get into an apartment and for school fees.

The UNCR “gave me a second chance to go to the U.S., where I could have a good life to raise my family,” she said. “They called me to come with my family for an interview, but they didn’t tell me what interview I was going to have. They figured out what kind of help I needed to send me to the U.S., Canada or Australia; I told them the U.S. and they said they would process the papers.” 

After three months, she learned that the U.S. had accepted her. 

“I was so excited and so happy!” she said. “‘This is a dream,’ I thought. ‘I’m going to change my life.’” 

Buende and her family arrived in Utah in 2011 through CCS. In addition to learning English, “we had to learn everything – the food is different, the country is different, everything is different,” Buende said. “But things were different in Utah – CCS helps you a lot. They find you an apartment, give you rent, food, Medicaid, find a school, help you find a job; in Uganda they just say ‘go.’ I had to do everything by myself. I thank them so much for helping me.”  

Buende’s oldest daughter graduated from high school this year and said to her mother, ‘Thank you, Lord,’ because high school would have been too expensive for her to attend in Uganda. 

“She said it was a dream come true,” said Buende, whose story is shared by others of her fellow Congolese.

Like Buende, Sarah Ndakola fled the DRC, eventually was resettled in Utah and became a CCS case worker.

She fled with her 3-year-old son and her younger sister. They went to Uganda and for two years lived in the city of Kampala, “where I sold jewelry to survive,” she said.

Ndakola came to the U.S. through CCS in 2011. As with other refugees, CCS found her a furnished apartment, paid her utilities, gave her a bus pass, food stamps, Medicaid, helped her find a job and a school for her son. She held a few jobs before working at CCS, she said.

“It was very hard when we first arrived, we had to learn English, a new culture, new weather, food; now I am used to it and have met amazing people, new friends, and now I’m happy,” Ndakola said.