Lolie’s childhood in a village north of Kinshasa is filled with laughter and curiosity. She loves to Kende, Kende, Kende, or Go, Go, Go! But when fighting nears the village, Papá must load Lolie into a wheelbarrow and flee as fast as her pregnant Mamá can walk. Lolie distracts herself on the journey by observing how bicycles and trucks move and by helping baby Nico be born “right there on four wheels.” In their years in a refugee camp, Lolie’s responsibilities grow as does baby Nico’s ability to restore the family’s laughter. Resettled in the US, the family awakes to a blizzard and the realization that Mamá, again pregnant, must go to the hospital. The family makes another journey through the unknown, relying on new words and a community of Mamás to help them Kende, Kende, Kende.
Written in both French and English with action words in Lingala, the multi-language text is a literal embodiment of the way Central Africans move through many languages to build community and to navigate migration.
Tagged Africa , Democratic Republic of Congo and refugee experience