“Be good,” I say, and rub the back of my hand across my nose.
For a second, Kiki’s smile makes her look just like Mama in the old photograph of her and Cathi. “You be good too.”
Then she turns and walks toward the gate with the lady, past a roped-off area where I can’t follow. As the woman gives Kiki’s ticket to the gate agent, Kiki looks back at me and says something.
“What?” I ask, and come as close as I can.
She points at my arm and shouts, “Your new tattoo! It’s not for triumph. It means peace!”
I look down at the palm branch. When I look back up, Kiki is walking with the woman through the door that will take them out to the tarmac and the plane. She looks over her shoulder and waves at me one last time.
I wave until long after she can’t see me anymore.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
A few notes on liberties the author has taken with the truth:
Much of this story is based on real events affecting real people in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights violations, especially against women, are common. While Anju’s story is fictionalized, it draws from persecution histories I heard firsthand while working with refugees in Kenya, as well as documentation from groups like Human Rights Watch and the UN Security Council. Mining companies bring much-needed employment, but undoubtedly take advantage of chaos and corruption in the region. Refugees flee to neighboring countries every day, looking for peace and security. The conflict is ongoing, complex, and overlooked by much of the rest of the world.
At the same time, eastern Congo is a place of incredible beauty. Its inhabitants are regular and extraordinary people of profound dignity who, like others around the world, are simply trying to go about the business of living their lives. Putting themselves at great risk, brave women and men work every day to help end the conflict and care for survivors of violence. Under-resourced clinics like the mission hospital in this story operate against incredible odds. If you’ve been moved to learn more about such places, here are a few to get you started: Solidarité Féminine pour la Paix et le Développement Intégral (sofepadi.org), located in DRC’s North Kivu; Sister Angélique Namaika’s Centre for Reintegration and Development in Orientale Province; Panzi Hospital in Bukavu; and HEAL Africa in Goma.
That is the real story.
Things that are not real: the characters, plot, Sangui City, and Kasisi are all from my imagination. Of course, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that, like many authors, I am a magpie. I steal things from real life all the time and use them to fancy up my nest. For those who know Kenya, you can imagine Sangui City as a mix of Mombasa’s coastal beauty and Nairobi’s hustle. And while Kasisi is not a real town, Walikale Territory and Walikale Town in North Kivu are.
Saint Catherine’s prayer was adapted from two different prayers: 1) John James Burke, Bonaventure Hammer, Mary, Help of Christians, and the Fourteen Saints Invoked as Holy Helpers (London: Forgotten Books, 2013), pp. 234–5 (original work published 1909), and 2) Réalta [an] chruinne Caitir Fhíona: St. Catherine of Alexandria [McKenna, L.: Aithdioghluim Dána (Irish Texts Society, vols. 37, 40, 1939/40), poem 99].
All other mistakes, omissions, and inaccuracies are mine, all mine, with sincere thanks and apologies.
GLOSSARY
Swahili, including Sheng*: askari: guard; warrior; Cathi’s dog’s name buibui: modest black garment worn predominantly by Muslim women on the Swahili coast bwana: mister
dengu: soupy bean dish (usually mung beans) habari ya jioni: good evening habibi: (Arabic) term of endearment hatari: danger
hodi: word used to announce yourself, usually at someone’s home jua kali: literally “hot sun,” referring to the informal market in Kenya. As a verb, equivalent to “improvised” or “jerry-rigged”
kanga: colorful, popular style of fabric worn as a wrap in East Africa; design usually includes a saying or proverb kanzu: long white garment (tunic) worn predominantly by Muslim men karibu: welcome
kauzi: thief
kijana: young (boy); youth
kitenge/vitenge: colorful, graphic fabric popular in East Africa and eastern Congo Kwani?: What? (Say what?)
mandazi: fried dough street snack matoke: starchy banana (plantain) mavi: a rude word for excrement you should not use in front of your grandmother mdosi: mister; boss
mokele-mbembe: (Lingala) legendary monster said to inhabit the Congo River basin mwizi: thief
mzee: mister (usually for an older man) mzingo: perimeter
mzungu: (Swahili) white person ngai: God
nyanya: (Swahili) grandmother panga: machete
piki-piki: small motorcycle pili-pili: spicy chili sauce polepole: slowly slowly
polisi: police
shoga: (Sheng) extremely rude word for a gay person. Don’t use this word at all, ever.
shonde: (Sheng) another rude word for excrement you should not use in front of your grandmother sonko: (Sheng) rich