Just came back from a meetup evening (I joined few meetup groups when I came to Copenhagen, so I could socialize… an example of how technology soothe the moving experience). I have had this time a humbling conversation with two African European women:

Kabibi is Swedish and originally from Congo. “If I get a call from Congo… and I am let’s say in a noisy environment [Like the place we were in], it breaks my heart… but I won’t pick up. Because I know how much it cost them… It would be such a waste.” To get news, she herself phones but again in times of war, this is not easy, and only the privileged few have Internet. So “when I learn that someone I know comes to Europe, or goes to Congo, I prepare a pack of 20 letters with a little bit of money in each, so s/he can distribute it to my relatives over there.”

Bernadette is a refugee from Rwanda. She lived in Zambia, Kenya, and Zaire before coming to Denmark. She has been living here for 5 years. She sends money through Western Union once every three months to one relative who is in charge of distributing the money. She gives by phone some instructions about who receives what amount and for what purpose (schooling for example). She has relatives, also refugees (very few are left in Rwanda) scattered all across Europe, in France, Denmark the UK. When I asked how she communicated with them she said that “at first I was on Hi5. Now I have migrated to Facebook. It is great. Some relatives I thought were dead found me through Facebook.” Also… she said “a friend designed a website meant to teach Rwanda. Because we are losing our language.”