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Boy From Congo: It's Better To 'Die Trying To Get An Education' Than Live In Poverty Forever

Boy From Congo: It's Better To 'Die Trying To Get An Education' Than Live In Poverty Forever
By 

Associate Editor of Impact, The Huffington Post

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On Christmas Day 2013, Dieme's life changed forever.

The 8-year-old's hometown in Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked by a rebel group. Thousands in the area, including Dieme's family, were forced to leave their lives behind and flee to neighboring Uganda.

"My heart was beating so fast," Dieme recalled about that terrible day in a video produced by Save the Children and posted on Upworthy. "It was coming closer, and everyone started running."

Dieme's story was featured by the children's rights organization on World Refugee Day last Friday, to draw attention to people around the world who've been forced to leave their countries due to war, persecution or natural disaster. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are about 15.4 million of them worldwide.

Even at his young age, Dieme knows well the importance of an education and is determined to stay in school. Unfortunately, the only way he can do so is to cross back into his home country, which is still dangerously unstable due to rebel group infiltration. His class is outdoors, with several desks huddled under the shade of a few trees, one chalkboard resting in front of him and his classmates.

Dieme is just one of hundreds of child refugees from Congo willing to risk their lives in order to better their tomorrows.

"It's better to die trying to get an education than staying at home without a good future," Dieme said the video.

Dieme's profound words highlight how child refugees around the world value schooling -- especially once it's taken away from them.

Mohammad, a 12-year-old Syrian, was forced into working long days at a shop in Jordan to support his family after being forced from his home country due to civil conflict. Because his family depends on his income, he can no longer attend school.

"I used to be able to write. Here, I forgot everything," Mohammad said in a video produced by UNICEF. "I can't even hold my pencil."

Mohammad is just one of approximately 1.1 million Syrian children -- many under the age of 12 -- who've been ripped away from their homes. Many of them are working in dangerous, forced labor conditions.

"I like coming to school so that I can become intelligent," Dieme said in the video by Save the Children. "[An education] can help you. If you are poor, you can leave behind your poverty and become rich like the other rich ones. And when you become rich, you can educate your children to become intelligent."

To learn more about World Refugee Day and take action, visit Save the Children's website.

h/t Upworthy

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Before You Go

Congo Conflict
THE COUNTRY(01 of07)
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Congo is sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to two-thirds of the way across the continent. It is plagued by a lack of roads and railways. The feeble government in the capital Kinshasa is nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away from Goma, the strategic eastern town that was seized by M23 rebels on Nov. 20. A succession of rebel groups and warlords have for years taken advantage of the power vacuum to get a piece of the mining action in eastern Congo.Caption: An M23 rebel marches towards the town of Sake, 26km west of Goma, as thousands of residents flee fresh fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo town on November 22, 2012. (PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images)
MINERALS(02 of07)
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Eastern Congo is estimated to have mineral deposits worth trillions of dollars, according to mining experts. The area holds about 70 percent of the world's supply of tantalum, a metal used in cellphones, tablets, laptops and other computers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The eastern region also has massive amounts of gold, tin, tungsten, copper, coltan and cobalt. Much of the ore mined is smuggled out of Congo and passes through Rwanda, Uganda or Burundi, according to the Enough Project, a Washington-based organization campaigning against conflict minerals. Some 450,000 artisanal miners work in eastern Congo, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Caption: A displaced Congolese woman carries her belongings in the grounds of a religious organisation on the outskirts of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 25, 2012. (PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images)
M23 REBELS(03 of07)
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The M23 rebel group was formed almost eight months ago by former members of a now defunct insurgent group that had been incorporated into the Congolese army as part of a March 23, 2009, peace agreement. The new group was created by the former rebels who deserted from the army. Their name refers to the date of the peace agreement, which M23 accuses the government of not honoring. Since May, M23 has seized territory in North Kivu province, culminating last week with the capture of Goma, a lakeside city of 1 million and a key trading hub bordering Rwanda.Caption: Congolese policeman in riot gear keeps an eye on Goma residents including street children who gathered for an anti Kabila demonstration supported by the M23 rebel movement in Goma, eastern Congo, Wednesday Nov. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
THE TERMINATOR(04 of07)
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M23 is believed to have been created by warlord Bosco "The Terminator" Ntaganda, who had been a leader of the former rebel group, the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP. The CNDP was backed by Rwanda, which also allegedly arms and gives other support to M23. As part of the 2009 agreement, Ntaganda, Ntaganda was made was made a general in the army and deputy commander for an operation meant to go after a militia made of Hutus who took part in Rwanda's genocide. In early 2012, Congolese President Joseph Kabila came under international pressure to arrest Ntaganda and transfer him to the Hague to face war crimes charges in the International Criminal Court. Ntaganda avoided immediate arrest, launched a mutiny and was joined by some loyal men who are believed to have formed M23. Kabila, whose father had led a rebellion in 1997 that toppled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, had also vowed to dismantle a parallel chain of command that Ntaganda established in eastern Congo's North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. Ntaganda had operated lucrative businesses with other army officers in the east, including a smuggling racket taking minerals into neighboring Rwanda, according to a U.N. report released on Nov. 21.Caption: Displaced Congolese run through a rain storm at Mugunga 3 camp west of Goma , eastern Congo, Monday Nov. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay ) (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay )
RWANDA(05 of07)
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Rwanda has backed rebels groups in eastern Congo as a defense against other militias of Hutu extremists, many responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide, who operate in east Congo. But many analysts also think Rwanda is motivated to support sympathetic power networks in the east so that it can profit from the export of smuggled Congolese minerals. M23's success has been due to direct support from powerful figures in Rwanda and neighboring Uganda, according to U.N. investigators researching the conflict in eastern Congo. The report says that high-ranking Rwandan government and army figures, most notably Defense Minister James Kabarebe and Chief of Defense Staff Charles Kayonga, have supported the M23 by providing recruits, sophisticated arms, ammunition and finances. Rwanda also wants to use M23 as a Tutsi force to counter the Hutu rebels of the FDLR, also operating in eastern Congo, said the U.N. report. The Rwandan government of President Paul Kagame vehemently denies it supports M23.Caption: Congolese government soldiers (FARDC) patrol the streets of Minova under their control, Sunday Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
WHAT'S NEXT(06 of07)
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The Congolese army – underfed, poorly supplied and rarely paid – have repeatedly retreated in the face of M23 attacks. Even if the rebels withdraw from Goma now, military experts say the well-organized, well-supplied M23 will remain to seize the key city again. U.N. investigators claim that the ultimate goal of M23 and Rwanda is the annexation of the North and South Kivu provinces and the region's mineral wealth. They say the battle for Goma may be just the beginning of a long and bloody conflict for control of eastern Congo.Caption: A man takes part in a demonstration in front of the UN headquarters in Pretoria, on November 27, 2012, against UN peacekeeping troops in Goma not protecting women and children against the M23 rebels. (ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images)
UGANDA(07 of07)
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Congolese flees the eastern Congolese town of Sake , 27kms west of Goma, Friday Nov. 23 2012. Thousands fled the M23 controlled town as platoons of rebels were making their way across the hills from Sake to the next major town of Minova, where the Congolese army was believed to be regrouping. The militants seeking to overthrow the government vowed to push forward despite mounting international pressure.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay) (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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