GREECE, N.Y. — This Thanksgiving, many are celebrating with feasting and family, but for the Banyamulenge community in Greece, it’s also about advocating for loved ones thousands of miles away.
For the past eight years, the Banyamulenge community has faced a slow genocide in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“We’ve lost countless numbers of people over these wars, and in a way that I can’t even bear to describe because it’s so traumatizing,” Princesse Nabintu-Kabaya said.
Originally from Rwanda, the Banyamulenge are now persecuted for their ethnic identity. I met Nabintu-Kabaya at a rally she organized downtown.
“We are lucky to be in this land and we work hard,” Nabintu-Kabaya said. “We pay taxes and learn that, you know, our voices now can help serve our people back home. If we can bring a little bit of hope or just ease of these conflicts that are targeting them, it will be a blessing.”
Her sister, Adele Kibasumba, shared her perspective on the ongoing conflict in the DRC and the challenges of being far from home.
“Honestly speaking, this affects us as Americans because these are not just people and these are our family members,” Kibasumba said. “We have grandparents, we have uncles, we have cousins, we have aunties still living there. So there’s not one day that goes by without us talking to people who we left there.”
Kibasumba said the situation impacts her both emotionally and financially, as those in America send money to family trapped in the DRC and communicate with them as often as possible by text.
Both Nabintu-Kabaya and Kibasumba said they will never stop speaking about what’s happening in the DRC. As for Thanksgiving festivities, they planned to kick off celebrations later in the evening.
Princesse and Adele said there will be Banyamulenge protests across the nation starting this week through December to bring more awareness to the genocide in the DRC.
Banyamulenge refugees in Greece celebrate Thanksgiving amid heartbreak and loss WHEC.com.
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