I have spent many days going for walks with my friend, a friend who had fled the Congo in the hope of creating a new life here in Houston. But there was one particular conversation that grabbed my heart.
We were walking along Gulfton Avenue on our way to the closest grocery store, when out of the blue he started...
“It was somewhere in July (2011), I can’t remember exactly, I just remember it was very hot. I was waiting for my mom to return from a visit she made to Walungu village, it was about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) by foot. She never came home that day. 2017. I am still waiting.”
Silence.
“Friend, don’t you think you will find peace if you accept that you might not see your mom again?”
“NO!”
Silence.
“Carley, there is hope in waiting. I hope for change, so I wait. I hope for peace, so I wait. I hope to see my mother again, and so I wait. I am not always content when waiting but my hope is what drives me to wait. If that is all I have, then I will wait.”
Carley, an immigrant herself born and raised in South Africa, made her way to the States at the beginning of 2017 to pursue her Master in Counseling. She has a deep passion for working with and amongst immigrants and refugees. Over the last 6 years she has participated and coordinated community outreaches as well as fundraisers, both in SA and USA. Currently living in Houston, she is enjoying the array of cultures and diversity that this city holds.