Born Under Mobutu

To understand my beginning, you have to understand something about the country into which I was born.

In 1989, the country was called Zaire. The man at the center of political life was Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu had been in power since 1965. By 1989, he had completed twenty-four years as president. Zaire was governed under a highly centralized political system in which Mobutu's Popular Movement of the Revolution was the sole legal political party. The constitution gave the president substantial power, including the authority to promulgate laws by decree. (ecoi.net)

This was the political environment into which I was born. I did not understand any of that. A newborn does not understand presidents. A newborn does not understand political systems. A newborn does not know whether the country around him is rich or poor, democratic or authoritarian, stable or uncertain. A newborn knows only that the world is cold, that there are voices, that there is light, that someone is holding him, and that somehow he has survived the journey into life. I entered that world prematurely.

Perhaps that is why the story feels so significant to me now. The country had its limitations. The political system had its limitations. My body had its limitations. And yet I arrived.