Coming to America Look Book Project Issue 16 Home Page

War in My Country Leon Ilunga from the Democratic Republic of Congo Photo: Andreas Bauer What was going to happen to me? When the people who were sent by the government came, they asked me because I was the official. They pointed a gun at me. In August of 1998, when the civil war started in my country, I was working at Bralima (Coca-Cola and Heineken) being in charge of the public relations. One day the military came to check the company because they thought there were some rebels. Another reason was that Bralima International Company employed some foreigners, many of whom came from Rwanda. There was war between them and my country then. So at the same time, the people from Rwanda became refugees longing for the US embassy. What was going to happen to me? When the people who were sent by the government came, they asked me because I was the official. They pointed a gun at me. One of them told me to open the doors because they needed to find the people from Rwanda. Since that time living in my country was a risk for me because I saved the life of some Rwandese. The government could even try to kill me because I had helped their enemies. So I could not stay in my country and came to the US. Generally, I think the war in my country is not good because many people die for nothing. This story was selected from Julia Karet's ESL writing project at Chaffey Community College: The Look Book Project More stories about coming to America: Unforgettable Early Days | My Arrival in the U.S. | My First English Words Trying to Immigrate | My Most Difficult Experience | Coming to America (1) New Horizons | Coming to America (2) | Coming to Study in the U.S. Return to: Coming to America | Issue 16 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2007 - Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics .mag@gmail.com