From the Congo to Shepparton

Jean-Marie Mupenda has never been one to sit on the sidelines.

Born in Kalegha in the north-east of the Democractic Republic of the Congo in 1965 — he witnessed the violations of human rights from a young age and was determined to speak out against them.

More than six million people have lost their lives and millions more displaced due to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the Congolese non-for-profit organisation Panzi, it is one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II.

Jean-Marie was less than a year old when his mother was struck by lightening and killed while carrying him on her back.

Although he wasn’t seriously injured, he was left with a scar on his foot — a mark he describes as the “symbol of my survival”.

Raised by his adoptive mother Kyakimwa Kavughulwa, Jean-Marie remembers her as “very courageous”.

Jean-Marie grew up very poor with little food and no shoes, but his life changed when he met California missionary Ivan Lewis and his wife, Jeanne.

At 12 years old, Jean-Marie got his first job working for the couple doing small tasks, including cutting wood for the stove they used to cook.

“Before I go to school, she (Jeanne) would give me hot water so I could wash my body, and she found that I didn’t have enough clothes, so she would make clothes for me,” he said.

“The first shoes I wear, it is them who gave me the shoes — at that time, if you see boys with shoes, they were the children of teachers or business people or of wealth.

“I was experiencing a true love from people who are not my parents.”

From his village, Jean-Marie would walk for more than hour to school every day, and seeing how far he travelled and how well he was doing in his studies, the couple offered to pay for him to attend a boarding school.

When the couple returned to California they continued to send money for his schooling until he graduated.

After school, Jean-Marie moved to Kinshasa to study a bachelor of demography, and it was there that he met his future wife, Maelie (Adolphine) and went on to have seven children.

While studying in Kinshasa, Jean-Marie became increasingly involved in advocating for human rights.

“If soldiers came to mistreat some people in the street, I would write a letter to ask the government to do an investigation,” he said.

“When I see injustice and I do nothing, then I don’t feel happy. So, for that, I have been arrested at least three times.”

However, it started to become too dangerous for Jean-Marie, and he was warned that his life was in danger and he should leave the country.

In 2003, at the age of 38, Jean-Marie and Maelie fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Benin, a neighbouring country, as refugees.

“At that time, people standing up for human rights were getting assassinated,” he said.

“It was because I was fighting openly when I was there, even newspapers would publish my writing.”

But life in Benin was difficult — Jean-Marie struggled to find consistent work and the couple continued to fear for their safety.

In 2006, an Australian missionary came to visit them, and by the following year, they had made another life-changing move — this time to Shepparton.

Jean-Marie said when he arrived in Shepparton he found something unexpectedly familiar.

“When I came to Shepperton I found an extension of my village,” he said.

“In our culture, every time you are walking, you have to say hello to everybody you meet in the village.

“When I came, everybody who met me in the street would say ‘hello’ or ‘G’day’ and we would say ‘good morning’.”

Jean-Marie initially worked as a computer teacher at a local TAFE before enrolling at the University of Ballarat, where he completed a masters in Information Technology.

Today, he works in information technology in the public service sector and has a passion for electronic programming — inventing and building all kinds of devices including an air-quality monitor.

He also runs a program for children, sharing his knowledge and encouraging the next generation to explore technology.

Jean-Marie said he still missed home and was in the process of building a medical centre in his home village called ‘Mama Vicky’, after his late mother.

“When I was kid, I had a toothache, and they used a pair of pliers to remove it without anaesthetic — and this is continuing today,” he said.

Jean-Marie is also the chairperson of Voice for Silent People, an organisation based in Shepparton that advocates for justice of war victims in the Congo.

“The main activity is that our organisation is financially supporting 10 orphans whose parents were killed by terrorists in the north-east of the Congo,” he said.

“I pay tribute to Australian residents who have been helping these orphans the last 10 years until today.”