Beyond Business: A Story of Survival and Resilience in DRC

We’ve all had difficult weeks in business, right? And it’s fair to say we at Griot Ltd have faced our challenges over the last seven days. Locking horns with contractual negotiations, HR considerations and planning next steps in East Africa; then domestically dealing with tree-surgeons clearing up after the winter’s storms and leaking plumbing. All these evaporate into risible inconsequence, when set against the week that has been faced by our partners in #DRCongo. The 24-hour boat-journey of Guillain Nabahya and his family of 11 – Mother, wife, sister, four children and nephews and nieces – brought them ashore at #Kalemie – fleeing the arrival of rebel M23 fighters, who’d torn through #NorthKivu and #SouthKivu‘s provincial capital #Bukavu and were anticipated in their home city #Uvira. Ever-optimistic they waited for news of a flight that would airlift them further out of reach of the confusing conflict. Guillain, a successful businessman just two weeks ago, spent his 34th birthday a #refugee (at least internally displaced), staring at an uncertain future.

He had bought tickets to the southern city of #Lubumbashi, using an agent. based in the capital #Kinshasa. Then, the agent told them no tickets were available, for the foreseeable future, because of the demands borne of the migration – Unless, of course, they upgraded to business-class! Twenty-four hours later the position softened – and they were offered passage on a local flight scheduled to leave on Saturday morning. The family boarded, feeling safety was finally in sight. It was not going to be that easy. #EthiopianAirlines flight ET0075 had a problem. The #Boeing737 had an engine fault. They were marched off the plane and left, with no news of a flight and worse no food or water since early in the morning, to wait once more. Finally, this morning, the same plane, without the fault being fixed took off and completed the 450 mile journey to the country’s second city. Guillain and his family will now rest in safety, before beginning the process of rebuilding the business and the lives of the family.