Sometimes in life one needs to stop and look back and appreciate what has happened in past life.
Lydia and I met end of 1990 in Burundi at a time I needed a friend and she needed someone to talk to. She has been struggling with stress due to a bitter separation with her husband with whom she had two lovely children. We quickly became addicted to each other’s company. But this lasted till in July 1992 when she was strongly advised to leave the country because her name was on a wanted list. The two major tribes of Burundi were in a cold war and people were disappearing kidnapped and/ or killed. From her place of work, she had to find a way to leave the country and I alone was able to see her boarding a ship that took her to unknown land. That was our last contact. She never said goodbye to her family, especially to her children who were 5 and 6 that time.
Nine years later, a miracle happened.
Despite her terrifying journey through 6 African countries and without any legal document, Lydia survived life in prison, in a refugee camp and in Cape Town where she learnt from the first time after 6 years that her family and children survived the untold massacre that took place Burundi between 1993 and 1996.
For me, from the time I saw her on that ship to the time I heard that she was still alive (9 years later), my life was at stake each time. I several times escaped death in Burundi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo where I am from and in the refugee camp in Uganda where I fled for my life running away from the war that claims more than 45,000,000 victims in the DRC since 1996.
Lydia met her children in a miraculous way in Malawi after 7 years of separation. After I was resettled to America in 2000, in a miraculous way I learned that Lydia and her two children were living in the United Kingdom, I joined them and now we are a family happy to have met again.
Yes, it is a story to tell and it could not be told well enough than in” Valley of the Shadow “by Margaret Gee from London, a friend who spent time to hear us reminisce. Buy a copy 
Our time in the United Kingdom is fruitful. God has provided for our needs. When we realised that a great number of people from our country were in need of some encouragement to integrate in the British Community together with other friends, we established a charity through which we would mentor, train and advocate for our brothers and sisters, thus to help them improve their lives. EMO-UK has got on its agenda a determination to help the local people from the Eastern part of the DRC to rebuild their lives extremely destroyed by the 10 years of a war that no one want to talk about.
EMO-UK works with GEADES a local organisation in the territory of Fizi in East of the DRC. There are two projects running in Fizi today: "Espoir Project" and "Les 121 Orphelins".
EMO-UK will be grateful for any help to assist these orphans. To know more about how to help please contact us or click here