Weiterwanderung nach Kanada
From life to death, from death to life!
On November 24th, 2013, I was forced to leave my country of origin and flee to unknown lands, or to be precise, to little known lands. In Congo, my country of origin, I had a life, I had friends and I had a family. But, having been arbitrary, unfairly and without any form of trial arrested, imprisoned and threatened with death, thanks to friends in high sphere of power in Congo at the time and also, thanks to corruption and the purchase of service, on November 24th, 2013 I had to flee, abandoned everything, lose my goods, my personality, my dignity and my family: I had to lose the life I had, with the hope of gaining a new life; to start all over again, far away in Belgium.
Yes, as a fugitive, I arrived in Belgium on November 24th, 2013 where I immediately applied for asylum and International protection as a refugee. But after spending 3 months in Belgium where I have to heal my wounds caused by all the physical and bodily torture; heal my injuries caused by all the inhuman and degrading treatment I suffered during the 34 days that I spent in different dungeons and prison in Kinshasa. Meanwhile, the Belgian Office for Foreigners and Stateless Persons (CGRA) was negotiating with the German Office for Immigrants and Refugees (BAMF) to see if Germany could agree to process my asylum application. Indeed, having traveled more than 13 times in Germany from 2003 to 2013, I was in possession of a one-year Schengen visa issued by the German Embassy in Kinshasa which allowed me to leave the Congo and flee.
So, I had to go to Germany! A country that I did not know, or almost did not know. Without any hesitation, I had agreed to be transferred to Germany. By the way, I could agree to be transferred to any other country except Congo where my life was seriously threatened and where I could not have a fair judgment and impartial treatment.
At the beginning of February 2014, I was sent by CGRA to Munich, Germany where I was installed in a refugee camp near Kieferngarten. While all the asylum seekers spent minimum three days or maximum a week in this camp, for some unknown reasons, I had spent 4 months there! 4 months without life, without friends, without projects, without a future ... but with problems of adaptation and integration. In short, after 4 months in Munich, I was finally transferred to Geisenfeld where I would have to live in a nice apartment with 7 other Congolese citizens.
Six months after arriving in Germany, I was granted permission to learn German. Oh yes! In 2014, you had to first spend 6 months in Germany so that BAMF could authorized and finance your intensive German language training. That’s how I learned the German language to an average level. This intensive training enriched me because I can now speak French, English, several African languages and German!
Knowing the German language was like the key which allows asylum seekers to be able to work. But, not automatically: you had to have spent at least 9 months in Germany so that the Ministry of Labor (Arbeitsamt) can accept that an asylum seeker could work.
So after learning the German language and having totalized 9 months in Germany, I got a work permit (Arbeitserlaubnis)! But, this does not mean that I could work straight away. No! If I obtain a work contract, I would have to bring it to Arbeitsamt and obtain permission from Arbeitsamt to work (Zustimmungsantrag). Oh yes! I had successively obtained 5 different jobs, one after another, but Arbeitsamt did not allow me to work! Why? you may ask. It’s because there are some jobless German citizens and / or European Union citizens who can perform those works, said Arbeitsamt. Thus, I was terminated from looking for a job that no German citizen or no European Union citizen wants to do!
With a lot of effort and dedication, with resilience and humility, I got an Ausbildung contract in a field that I did not like, that did not match my professional experience or my university education. But it was this Ausbildung or nothing. Thanks to this job, I left Geisenfeld to first live in Geisenhausen where I worked, then later to rent a small apartment in Pfaffenhofen.
But, in any case, thanks to this Ausbildung and the open-ended employment contract that I was able to obtain, I began, little by little, to reorganize my life and meet my basic needs.
After almost 7 years in Germany, I had to leave Germany to go even further, far to Canada! How is it possible? How did this happen? Remember, at the beginning of February 2014 I was transferred from Lanaken in Belgium to Munich in Germany. There, in the refugee camp, I had no life, no plan, no future because everything was unstable, transitory. But, it was there that I met a Canadian family who, from our first meeting, immediately adopted me: I was like a full member of that family. This Canadian family - my adopted family - had stayed in Germany for two years and five months. During all this time, we were most of the time together, as a family, spending every weekend together at their home. And when this family had to go on vacation, I was the one guarding their apartment!
When my adopted family left Germany and returned back to Canada, they immediately submitted a sponsorship petition to the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Canadian Citizenship (IRCC) which took 6 years and 4 months before I get a permanent residence visa and be allowed to travel to Canada where I arrived on October 07, 2021 at 11:30 am.
The Provincial Government of Quebec and the Federal Government of Canada have both accepted my permanent establishment in Canada. But, other institutions and organizations were indeed involved in the implementation of my trip. The Canadian authorities had informed the International Office for Migration (IOM) and the Zentrale Rückkehrberatung Südbayern (ZRB) to assist me both financially and administratively in traveling. It was OIM and ZRB who bought my train ticket, my plane ticket, paid for my excess baggage and assisted me with the formalities both at the airport of departure and at the airport of destination.
This is how I went from life to death and from death to life. A.T.