About The Book
A long journey into the promised land
A Long Journey into the Promised Land is a story of a young man born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Francois’ parents had a big vision for him and his siblings, but after getting married, they decided not to have children until they could figure out how to pursue their dream for their children. When he was about five, Francois left his parents in their native village at Bakwa-Tshileu (BT) to study in a big city called Mbujimayi.
This is the second-largest city in the country and is around 85 kilometers from the village. Francois went there to join his older brother, Eric Kalonji, who had already gone there for the same reason – to get an education.
After he left his parents, they continued working hard in the field six days a week. They didn’t want to pursue careers in farming, but they used it to build a strong foundation that would allow them to support their children for school and save up for their careers in business.
From then on, Francois spent the rest of his life growing up without a parent. It was very challenging for him to become accustomed to living with different families at that age. However, it became easier to navigate with time. He didn’t realize at the time how much experience he had gained after moving from one house to another until he reached a certain age. Francois truly believed that this was God’s plan for him which he fulfilled when He commanded his parents to prepare the children at a very young age and advise them every evening on how to live longer in this crazy world.
Soon, Francois’ parents’ dedication to hard work paid off, and they left the village to move to the city of MJM and settled there. Eventually, his father pursued a business career. He became a very successful businessman for a few years. Unfortunately, he lost everything when his workers ran away with all the money.
Francois’ father had shown the light to many people he found living in the jungle who didn’t know that there was life outside the wilderness. He moved them away from the darkness and brought them to light. As their contract began, he brought at least two to three of his workers to show them the new world they never thought existed.
He didn’t just show them; he also started to bring their kids as their parents found it very interesting after their discovery. After building such a great relationship with them for over five years, he started to rely on them by believing they would never run away, and he helped them with multiple items for work, such as radios, axes, cutting saws, bikes, and clothing. Still, in the end, they ran off with all his money, and he remained stuck in the middle of nowhere.
In 2008, he returned to the village after the incident. He remained there until Francois’ mother made “a long journey” to find him after she had stayed with them by herself for over three and a half years. Many people thought he might have passed away during the journey, but no one knows exactly what happened.
Francois’ mother was a brave woman who still believed he was alive. However, they had no real contact. When she met him three years later, he told her what happened. He still had the ambition to chase his dream for himself and us. But after living in a city where many people didn’t have hope, it became harder to continue chasing the future he was looking for.
He sold a few properties he owned. This was the second idea – he was planning to start a real estate business on the side. However, he made a big mistake again after he sold all the property and tried to return to the village again to invest the money in farming. He was hoping to come back with all the strength again.
Francois’ mother tried to convince him not to return, but he didn’t listen. She told him, “Some people are not going to be happy with us, especially those we left behind. Let’s go somewhere else.” But he still didn’t listen. “It does not represent a good sign for us,” she said.
Less than a year after they arrived in the village for the second time, everything blew up. They lost all the money they’d brought to help facilitate their work. About a year later, once the conflict that approached them in the village was over, my mother passed away.
Francois remained with his father, who was now a single parent, after he got out of jail. Diagnosed with an illness, he could not continue chasing that dream anymore. He took his father to the area hospital, but there was no solution – the doctors didn’t know exactly what was wrong with him.
Then after he noticed that normal medical procedures were not helping him, he turned to Francois and urged him to approach a witch doctor. Francois’ father died in the hospital in 2014, and “the long journey of life towards the promised land began.”
