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    A Compass of Faith: a Man’S Journey to America
    A Compass of Faith: a Man’S Journey to America
    A Compass of Faith: a Man’S Journey to America
    Ebook140 pages2 hours

    A Compass of Faith: a Man’S Journey to America

    By Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi

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    Death was sleeping all around us. I could feel her in the high cries of uncomfortable babies and the low moans of old men as they fight the pain and discomfort of dysentery. This would be a trip through hell, and perhaps some unfortunate souls on this boat would make not make it out alive as is often the case on the Congo River. Perhaps, we all knew that some of us wouldnt all arrive at our destination and that we would meet our Lord, our Maker, here on this black river of death and hope. Death and hope. Can it be one and the same? With this river, the answer is yes. People lived and died under the power of this powerful river every single day. It was now my turn to make this journey on its surface. Despite my deepest fears, I feel the warm breeze of Gods grace lingering around me in the air. Yes, hope is a powerful element in each of our hearts and that is what everyone here now clings onto tightly and with both fists, even if it means kissing death right on the lips.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateMay 17, 2012
    ISBN9781449752347
    A Compass of Faith: a Man’S Journey to America
    Author

    Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi

    A Compass of Faith: A Man’s Journey To America is a story of faith and hardship by a Christian and democracy advocate, Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi. The memoir details the year-long journey of fleeing his native land, The Democratic Republic of Congo. Joseph suffers through near death confrontations, illness, and hardship as he traveled through the Congo River further away from his homeland. However, the hardship didn’t end there. He was robbed and cheated and lived in extreme poverty while maintaining his faith that one day he would realize the dream God had for him. In the face of death, hunger, and disease, Joseph would not give up on his faith. Instead, he used his faith as his compass to guide him out of the darkness and into the arms of America. In this autobiographical account, Joseph describes his painful adventure.

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      Book preview

      A Compass of Faith - Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi

      A Compass of Faith: 

       A Man’s Journey To America

      By

      Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi

      logoBlackwTN.ai

      Copyright © 2012 Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-5235-4 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-5233-0 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-5234-7 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012908398

      WestBow Press rev. date: 05/08/2012

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Preface

      Introduction: The First Step

      Chapter 1:     First Night on the Boat

      Chapter 2:     Moving Forward

      Chapter 3:     Finding My Compass

      Chapter 4:     Making New Friends

      Chapter 5:     Life on the Boat

      Chapter 6:     Keeping My Faith

      Chapter 7:     Death of Bolenge

      Chapter 8:     Struggling on the Boat

      Chapter 9:     On the Way to Gwemena

      Chapter 10:   Zongo

      Chapter 11:   Living With Muslims

      Chapter 12:   Battling Frustration

      Chapter 13:   Keeping My Eyes on the Prize—Faith

      Please Note

      This is the true and factual story of Joseph Mbungu Nsiesi. Some names and places may have been changed to protect the privacy and identify of those involved.

      For my wife, Nenette.

      Acknowledgments

      First and foremost, I would like to thank the Lord God because through each struggle in my life, He has been with me every step of the way. I am saved by His grace, mercy, and love. Without His love and guidance, I know I would not be where I am today, and for this I am eternally grateful. With His love, I will continue to have what I need for myself, my family, and others. Thank You, Lord!

      I wish my parents were here so I could thank them for the love and support they gave me when I needed it most. God called them home a long time ago.

      I would like to thank the love of my life, Nenette M. Nsiesi. As my wife, she is everything for me. I have been blessed with a wonderful woman who is smart, beautiful, and compassionate.

      I would also like to thank my daughters, Palmir and Admir Nsiesi. Though they are children today, I know they will grow into intelligent, beautiful women like their mother. I love them so much! I know they will continue to bless my wife and me with their laughter and smiles.

      I would like to thank my uncle, Mosely Mbimbi Kusamba, who is one of the most inspirational priests I know. Over the years, he has given me direction and offered his advice generously. Thank you, Uncle Gerard Mbimbi Dimpangu. You are special to me. Thank you, Uncle Piere Mbimbi, Auntie Pelagie, Auntie Gaby, and others; I love you all too! Thank you to my sisters, Odette Mambulu, Lufuma Mayala, Nkakasa Nsiesi, and Kundumbi Nsiesi. Unfortunately, some years back I lost one of my sisters, who I miss every day. My cousins, Sophie Mankenda and Aimee Wumba Nsonso, you are awesome. Thank you also to the other many cousins in my life. Thank you to all my nieces and nephews. I love all of you!

      Other special people I would like to say thank you to include: my godfather and godmother, Pastor Adrien and Mother Ngalima; my father-in-law and mother-in-law, Thomas and Eugenie Nganzadi; and all my in-laws, since I have a lot of sisters. Last but not least, thanks to my friends and some of the close people around me: Leon Kisanga, Ndonglish Mafuta, Deedee Simankala, Guy Kunonga, Staphanie and Monique Tshitenge, Diana and Christian Lukombo, Betty Batey, Charles Kalambuta, Dodo Munoko, Nsaka Kaninda, Jules Boyele, Hughes Efole, Serge Kazadi, Eric Yombo, Pastor Kasereka, Ben Mandela, Mimina and Thomas Soki, Theophile Yoko, Fatu Koroma, Charles Uneka, Mudila Kangulungu, Kass Moges, Jeanne Joseph, Kiese Dianda, Price Aldi L’ Alliance, Lulu and Phillip Lowango, Esther and Hickson Emerueh, Pastor Mbo Essandjo, Emerson Featherstone, Judy Frances, all the Tulanda family, Antoine Dielubanza, and others.

      I love you all!

      —Joseph

      Preface

      To differentiate between the neighboring Congo (Congo Kinshasa and Congo Brazzaville) in Africa, Joseph’s native country is called Congo Kinshasa or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sometimes he also refers to it as DR Congo, DRC, or RDC (which is the French abbreviation).

      Joseph’s country has had many formal name changes. Chronologically, it used to be the Congo Free State (1877-1908), Belgian Congo (1908-1960), Congo-Leopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (1965-1971), and Zaire (1971-1997). Eventually it again became known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (1997-present).

      DR Congo was a colony of Belgium (who brought the French language to the Congolese). Belgian control ended in 1960 because the Congolese wanted freedom, but Joseph, who was born in 1969, never experienced freedom until he left the DRC in 1995. During Mr. Nsiesi’s entire twenty-six years in the Congo, he knew only one president and one official political party (MPR), which belonged to the president and his supporters. By all accounts, it was a very cruel dictatorship.

      The Democratic Republic of Congo is located in Central Africa. It is the second-largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh-largest in the word. With a population of nearly 71 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the eighteenth-most populous nation in the world and the fourth-most populous nation in Africa.

      When Kasa-Vubu took over from Belgian rule in 1960, he did not last long as a ruler because he died. His powerful minister, Lumumba, was killed, and Mobutu took over from 1965 to 1997. After Mobutu’s rule, Joseph Desire Kabila (the father) took over, but he also did not last long in office because he was killed. Following the first Kabila, Joseph Kabila was the next president.

      (Some of the above information came from Joseph’s historical knowledge, some from our parents, and some from Wikipedia.)

      Introduction: The First Step

      A man’s life is a journey, often through the unknown. A Compass of Faith is Joseph’s account of how he obtained freedom. It is the story of how he found himself in America after of a year of struggle traveling through Africa. After he gave up his family while under the fear of imprisonment or losing his life, Joseph had to battle dysentery, hunger, attempted murder, robbery, and betrayal from his friends. His only weapon was his unquestionable faith, which he harnessed as a compass. This isn’t a typical immigrant’s story. As Joseph struggled to create a good life for himself and his family, he was hunted down by his native country’s military. He had to flee for his life. His world changed forever when he was put on a hit list for being an activist.

      His crime was supporting the opposition party that rallied against government corruption and for greater opportunities for his people to feed and clothe themselves and have access to resources such as clean water, electricity, healthcare, education, and job opportunities. Joseph Nsiesi’s journey began in his native Congo (formerly the Republic of Zaire) when armed soldiers began searching for him because of his support for freedom and civil rights for himself, his family, and his fellow Congolese people. Joseph left Kinshasa in 1995 around June or July, and he arrived in America in March 1996.

      CongoandAfricaMap.jpg

      A map of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly named Zaire).

      1103pxLocationDRCongoAUAfricasvg.jpg

      The above green area from the African map is the Democratic Republic 

       of Congo, formerly known as Zaire.

      Chapter 1 

      First Night on the Boat

      Death was sleeping all around us. I could feel her in the high cries of uncomfortable babies and the low moans of old men as they fought the pain and discomfort of dysentery. This would be a trip through hell, and perhaps some unfortunate souls on this boat would not make it out alive, as is often the case on the Congo River. Perhaps we all knew that some of us wouldn’t arrive at our destination and would instead meet our Lord, our maker, here on this black river of death and hope.

      Death and hope. Are they one and the same? With this river, the answer is yes. People lived and died under the power of this mighty river every day. It was now my turn to make this journey on its surface. Despite my deepest fears, I can feel the warm breeze of God’s grace lingering around me in the air. Hope is a powerful element in each of our hearts, and that is what everyone here now clings onto tightly and with both fists, even if it means kissing death on the lips. There are very few options for people here in the Congo. There are usually no take backs or returns—no second chances here. People invest all their eggs in a single basket because many people only have one egg, if they are lucky.

      For me, I would have to turn this mighty river of death into my trickling stream of faith. I am certainly no fool. The cards were certainly stacked against me: a young African man with no money, no connections, no family with me, and no real plan to work from—except for the keen smell of freedom and opportunity, headed for an unknown and unseen destiny. Where my journey would end, I had no idea. But that is what faith is about: moving forward even when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. All I knew was that I was heading north, knowing that if I would stay in my home, death would come too quickly. If it wasn’t death, then torture or imprisonment would be my sentence.

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