Kabuyaya Noël - Goma: stories of strength and sorrow from Eastern Congo

News from the DRC is often so bleak, outsiders wonder how ordinary folk survive. The answer lies in these testimonies. Trefon and Kabuyayas protagonists negotiate militiamen, lava flows and cholera outbreaks with humour, determination and remarkable grace.
Michela Wrong, author of In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink in Mobutus Congo

A masterpiece of urban sociology. Zed Books are to be congratulated for making this outstanding book by Theodore Trefon and Nol Kabuyaya available to English language readers.
Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, author of The Congo from Leopold to Kabila

One can only respect these life stories, which resonate like gunfire and silent screams with Congolese readers. They come closer to revealing the true state of the DRC than most theoretical accounts.
Patience Kabamba, author of From Charity to Parity

In this moving and inspiring book, Trefon and Kabuyaya finally give voice to the ordinary people of eastern Congo. Reading these stories transported me back to Goma.
Sverine Autesserre, author of Peaceland
and The Trouble with the Congo

A fascinating dissection of Goma as told through the lives of its citizens. It reminded me why I passionately fell in love with this town.
Kris Berwouts, author of Congos Violent Peace

Trefon and Kabuyayas superb research and clear-headed writing takes us into the everyday lives of Gomas residents. In addition to hardship and resilience, it is by revealing the normalcy of their lives, and our shared humanity, that the book helps us connect with its protagonists.
Pierre Englebert, Pomona College

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Theodore Trefon is a senior researcher at the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa and a lecturer in environmental governance at ERAIFT/Kinshasa. His previous books include Congos Environmental Paradox (Zed, 2016) and Congo Masquerade (Zed, 2011).

Nol Kabuyaya is an assistant professor of human geography at the University of Kinshasa. This is his first book.

GOMA

Stories of Strength
and Sorrow from
Eastern Congo

Theodore Trefon
and Nol Kabuyaya

Goma: Stories of Strength and Sorrow from Eastern Congo was first published in English in 2018 by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK.

Originally published in French under the title Prcarit et bien-tre Goma (RDC) in 2016 by LHarmattan, 57 rue de lcole Polytechnique, 75005 Paris, France.

www.zedbooks.net

Copyright Theodore Trefon and Nol Kabuyaya 2016, 2018

The rights of Theodore Trefon and Nol Kabuyaya to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Cover design by Emma J. Hardy

Cover photo Robin Hammond/Panos

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78699-141-6 hb

ISBN 978-1-78699-140-9 pb

ISBN 978-1-78699-142-3 pdf

ISBN 978-1-78699-143-0 epub

ISBN 978-1-78699-144-7 mobi

CONTENTS

The wherewithal to carry out research for this book was provided by the GeoRisCA project, which was funded by the Belgian Federal Scientific Agency (Belspo) and coordinated by my anchor institution the Royal Museum for Central Africa (MRAC) in Tervuren. GeoRisCA contributed to risk management strategies in the Great Lakes region of Africa by assessing and analysing natural risks (volcanic eruption, earthquakes, landslides and erosion) as well as socio-political problems related to the regions legacy of insecurity and violence, vulnerability and unpredictable governance dynamics.

My involvement in the design phase of GeoRisCA was instigated by Caroline Michellier and Franois Kervyn, who recognised the pertinence of probing peoples perceptions of risk before attempting to modify attitudes and behaviours about urban planning, civil alert and civil defence strategies and emergency management. Interdisciplinary in its design, this set of personal narratives helps put the natural science and policy findings of GeoRisCA into sociological perspective. This book builds upon previous research experience and can be considered as a sequel to my two other urban sociologies: one about Kinshasa (2004), the other about Lubumbashi (2006).

Goma: Stories of Strength and Sorrow from Eastern Congo is the culmination of a stimulating collaboration with my friend and colleague Nol Kabuyaya of the Human Geography Department at the University of Kinshasa. Nol and I have worked together on various projects over the years, so, when it became clear that GeoRisCA would be able to recruit a Congolese researcher, I did not hesitate in asking him to partner with me. Co-authoring these narratives remotely from two continents was not stress-free but our relationship of trust enabled us to bring the project to fruition. Nol, who speaks French, Swahili and Kinande, spent ten months in Goma from April 2013 to January 2014, first to get to know the cityscape and its inhabitants and then to carry out the in-depth interviews upon which these stories are based. I visited Goma six times between September 2012 and October 2015, also to familiarise myself with the city, decide which social universes to explore, and work with Nol on finding the right research balance between vulnerability and resilience. My subsequent visits to Kinshasa enabled us to work together on writing once Nol returned there from Goma.

We drafted a three-part research questionnaire with sections focusing on the identity and background of the people interviewed, the social, economic and administrative aspects of their work, and themes ranging from basic needs to existential preoccupations. Key examples of these latter topics include physical security, social and professional rivalries, the Nyiragongo volcano, access to food, water and energy, family relations, housing, recreation, belief in religion and witchcraft, money, sickness and death, healthcare, well-being and perceptions of the future.

Once Nol started accumulating information, we devoted a lot of time to Skype discussions on how best to decode and transcribe the meaning of peoples accounts; then we initiated a long phase of structuring and processing the information before starting to write it up section by section. Neither of us worked on this book project full-time, so the writing phase took over two years. When the stories were in nearly final draft form, Nol and I spent three months together in Tervuren in front of a computer screen finalising the manuscript which was in French.

Catherine Dom read and commented on an early draft of the manuscript and made useful suggestions for improvements to both style and content. Armle Jonniaux copyedited the revised draft, which was then shared with Pierre Englebert, Philippe Jacob, Bogumil Jewsiewicki and Patrick Welby, who also made insightful recommendations, particularly on my introduction. Charlotte Grard did the final copyedit and the manuscript was then handed over to the MRAC publication service, supervised by Isabelle Grard after further comments from two anonymous reviewers were addressed. Prcarit et bien-tre Goma (RDC): Rcits de vie dans une ville de tous les dangers was published in 2016.

As the production phase of the French-language version was drawing to a close, I contacted Ken Barlow at Zed Books to inquire about a possible publication in English. After Zed accepted our proposal, I started the rewriting and translation process, which took six months. This gave me the opportunity to correct some of the imperfections in the French version by eliminating information that did not seem necessary for readers in English and by adding contextual facts and background. Direct quotations were of course translated as closely as possible to respect the voice and style of the interviewees. Judith Forshaw meticulously copyedited the manuscript, taking particular care to flag whatever hints of French idiom remained in the translated version.