Translator: Take A Mile Reviewer: Denise R Quivu
Hello. I will tell you a witch story.
Not the kind of witch you know with a hooked nose, a broom, and warts,
but a witch from Congo.
This witch is me,
and my story is a story of courage, strength, and faith.
I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a good family.
When I was young,
my father was an agent in a diamond mine company.
We lived in a big house in Mbuji-Mayi in East Kasai Province.
I was going to school, and I was happy.
My mother comes from a poor family
and because of this, the family of my father didn't like her.
Then one day, my father lost his job.
I was six.
My father told my mother to take us,
my sister, my four brothers and I to Kinshasa.
He said he would join us to find work.
In fact, his family asked him to get rid of us.
When my mother realized that, it was too late.
She was left alone away from his family.
She had to sell everything she had for us to eat.
She had changed.
She had lost so much weight.
My mother even brought our grandmother to help us,
but we were always hungry.
Then, my mother sent us to live in friends' houses.
We were walking for miles to fetch food.
That's how one evening I found myself
in the house of a lady who gave me food for the family.
But it was too late to go back.
She proposed me to sleep with her and not go home until the next morning.
During the night, I was talking in my sleep.
It doesn't seem to be very serious, isn't?
But this lady told my mother that I was talking to demons.
At the same time,
my mother and my grandmother went seek advice from prophets,
those who represent God.
They sought the cause of all the misfortune of our family.
The problem is that they brought me to a false prophet,
and he decided that I was the cause
and that I was a witch.
The charlatans spoke to me for over 1 hour to confess that I was a witch.
He yelled at me again and again.
They made me drink 5 liters of water with disgusting herbs.
They told me to throw the meat from people I would have eaten
in the world of darkness.
Do you imagine?
A seven-year who deals with several adults who are yelling at her incessantly.
They even hit me in the back to bring out this meat.
At one point,
I was afraid, and I was so tired that I finally said, "Yes, I am a witch."
I thought that by saying that evil would stop.
But I became a witch despite myself.
Once I was named "witch," it was impossible to go back.
My mother accepted the situation,
but it doesn't mean that she didn't like me,
at the same time,
as the situation didn't change at home,
without money and food,
my mother decided to go to Angola with her sister to look for work.
Their plan didn't work,
and my mother found herself alone and stuck in Angola
without money and food.
And finally, she didn't return home,
and against her will, she was forced to abandon us, too.
We lost all communication with her.
And we stayed with grandma.
For two years, I was treated like a witch.
Accusations, yelling, forced fasting,
hot pepper in the eyes.
She said that I was the cause for which my mother didn't call anymore.
She thought she was dead, and that I had sacrificed her.
She told everyone not to help me.
Not to talk to me.
Not to play with me.
In my neighborhood,
they didn't let me get close to the other children.
I was alone, I was poor,
I was hungry,
but I was especially lacking love.
And finally, my grandmother kicked me out of the house.
I became a "shégué,"
a street child.
In the street, we are like butterflies.
We sleep where sleep overtakes us.
In the street, we become soldiers to survive.
We forget how to read and write to learn how to fight.
In the street, I sold water, peanuts, I cleaned houses,
but whenever I saw the other kids going to school,
I remembered the days when I was happy.
I was crying.
I wondered if one day I could get out of the street.
Then one day, my luck has turned.
I participated in the documentary Kinshasa Kids.
I was paid, and I immediately wanted to give this money to my family.
Because even in the street, as soon as I had some money,
I went to see my family to give it to them.
My grandmother took the money, and she put me out again on the street.
Later, I heard about a Canadian film that was being shot in Kinshasa.
The person in charge of casting knew me, and he invited me to the audition.
I found myself face to the gaze of rich kids who were in the audition.
Even if I wanted to run away to be out of their sight,
I stayed, and I gave everything to get the role.
For me, it was a way to change my situation.
I got the lead role in the movie.
It was cool.
Production put me in a big house
where I could eat every day and have whatever I wanted.
But despite all, I was sad.
I spoke to Kim, the director.
My life was beautiful, but my siblings were still living in dire poverty.
I didn't feel good when I was eating knowing that they were hungry.
So, the team and Kim gave money to my family.
And when the team went back, they didn't leave me alone.
They found me a foster home.
They made sure that I can go back to school,
something I had long dreamt of.
This is where the witch story becomes a fairy tale.
The movie has been very successful,
and I went from the streets of Kinshasa to the red carpet of festivals.
I even received the Silver Bear in Berlin in 2012.
The film was even nominated for an Oscar.
And now, I'm 18, and I have already received 18 awards.
The Oscars were cool,
but for me, the best day of my life,
was that day where for the first time after years on the street,
I returned to school.
If there are children in the street all around the world,
it's often because their parents weren't given access to education.
Let me be clear, the problem is deep,
poverty is causing the lack of education.
In my country, sending children to school is a luxury,
but without education,
others may tell us what to do and what to think.
My mother wasn't stupid,
it was she who taught me how to forgive and how to trust myself.
But she was caught in a trap.
You all know that education is important,
but how is it that education remains here,
and didn't reach people in my mother's village before my birth?
It's not cool that today with technology and with so many ideas we cannot do it.
Ignorance begets witches.
Ignorance can kill.
Therefore, to get rid of witches,
we should build schools.
If I could emerge from this situation
it's because I had a lot of luck and courage.
This is not the case for many children who are still in the street.
They also expect their dreams to come true.
So that is why we should not forget them.
I also had the courage to leave Kinshasa when I was 17,
and now I live in Quebec with a host family.
I pursue my dreams, my studies, and I try to regain my stolen time.
I am speaking of hope, courage, and strength.
I do not want anyone to cry for me.
I do not.
Just remember this simple phrase:
"As long as the heart beats,
everything is possible."
Thank you.
(Applause)