“You have to have strong nerves”: Yollande, a refugee, talks about her migratory journey from the DRC

March 2018. Yollande Bena remembers her arrival in France as if it were yesterday. It must be said that your departure from the DRC was eventful: responsible for communications for a political party opposed to the government, you were the subject of increasing pressure and threats.

Arrested several times, she ended up fleeing, disguised, and crossed the river that separates her from Congo-Brazzaville. She stayed there for a month; just enough time to find a borrowed passport and get on the first flight to Paris. She is therefore far from imagining the obstacles that will arise for her. Five years later and refugee status to boot, to miss meet her.

“ When you sleep outside, you don’t know what will happen to you »

As soon as you arrive, the question of accommodation arises. Where to sleep when landing in a country without a base? First of all, welcomed by a family of “Congolese compatriots”, Yollande experiences 115 very early: every morning she calls the switchboard to find her emergency accommodation. She sometimes succeeded, often in vain… She recounts her nights wandering around the capital after spending long hours online without finding a bed for the evening. She is alone and without children, we explain to her that it is not a priority.

“ When you sleep outside, you don’t know what will happen to you (…). You will meet all kinds of people, people who have been drinking, who have psychological problems. Men will take advantage of you “. If Yollande was not a victim of sexual violence, she recounts the ordeal of many women she met who confided in her that they had been raped or assaulted.

Laborious administrative procedures

Yollande also talks about the long and laborious procedures until he obtained his refugee status, in 2021. Of his repeated visits to the OFII (French Office for Immigration and Integration), where he almost asked for a voluntary return and where he had to get up at dawn to get in line early enough, without even the certainty of being received, to follow his file at the OFPRA (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons)… institutions which, like the National Asylum Court (CNDA), are located in the Paris region and would benefit, according to Yollande, from decentralization to simplify the management of requests and alleviate congestion of services.

“To make a migratory journey you need to have strong nerves, strong nerves. You have to be strong mentally, physically, because it takes energy.”. Today, Yollande’s life has changed: new friends, new house, new job… But she is still waiting to be reunited with her loved ones. To do this, she has initiated family reunification proceedings to bring back her children, whom she has not seen since she left five years ago.

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