Becoming a Refugee
Time 1:51
(This audio is only available in French; the transcript has been translated from French.)
Yes. Actually, at first, I did? I was always, I was always in the—in my country, when I was a student I was in the? the? the pro-change student associations that were always against the regime, to denounce social and economic injustices, and all that. We were always the target of all kinds of treatments. We were always the victims of aggressions, arrests and everything. And I? I struggled to keep going with my studies because I had to—at one point they came to get students in the uni? university, in the home where we were staying. And then I had to flee, to leave the? the university apartments, so I went on to live in the neighbourhood, like everybody else. That's when my studies got interrupted. Not only that, but at one point I also had financial problems. Because economic realities made paying for my studies very expensive. And I was not always able to pay? pay, because I had no income, no resources and all that. I later incorporated politics into it. I started working when I grew up.
Oral History 12.06.06RT with Richard Tshimanga
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21