I did my eighth grade at Gabriella Primary and Junior Secondary School. My best friend and I sat at the same desk in class. We lived in different neighborhoods. But we practiced civics, history, office practice, and geography together. Solving problems like Pythagoras’ theorem in mathematics was a small thing for us. My home was in the commune Hewa Bora, and Judith’s was in the commune Kamalondo. Our neighborhoods were located in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Judith would always brag to my classmates and me about how rich her family was and how much her father earned as a government civil servant. No one knew the reality of her life at home because of the distances between our neighborhoods. We all believed in whatever Judith told us. She made a show of a rich life as well. She could buy expensive snacks during break time, and she wore expensive clothes as well. Judith even managed to board a bus when coming to school and going back home every school day.
In ninth grade in the year 2009, we were about to write our final junior secondary examinations before moving to grade ten once we passed the examinations. We wrote the final examinations and waited for results to be released by the Congolese examination board within two months. Finally, results were out, and both Judith and I passed the examinations with flying colors. Both Judith and I were awarded a scholarship by a non-governmental organization. The organization’s mandate was to sponsor girls and women to further their education in Katanga province.
Judith and I were placed in the same high school. The school was in my neighborhood. I would walk a shorter distance when heading to school than Judith. Judith would obviously not have a problem traveling to and from school because of her wealth, as she always told us. I thought she would continue taking the bus to and from school, as she had done the previous year when we were in the ninth grade, so I never bothered to ask her about the distance. One Monday Judith and I attended the first day of high school. I started walking home on foot. I did not ask Judith to go home with me. I knew she would board a bus home. But was I wrong this time around? She screamed my name and flashed a faint smile.
“Wait for me. Today we will walk together on foot,” said Judith.
Being the good friend I was, I never bothered to ask why she decided to walk on foot instead of boarding a bus or booking a taxi as rich people do. We walked together for two weeks as new high school kids and enjoying high school life. One day Judith approached me during a twenty-minute class break after we’d finished writing the biology class assessment.
“We want to shift from our current house and neighborhood. My father sold our house,” she said to me.
She said her whole family, including her father, mother, and two brothers, was moving abroad within six months.
“You know how government work is, the civil servant thing. The president wants to send my dad and his whole family abroad to be our country’s ambassador.” Judith seemed to be showing off.
She wanted me to help find a nice-looking house in our neighborhood while waiting for her father’s deployment to enjoy the fruits of his labor abroad. On hearing this good news, I asked her to congratulate her father on my behalf. I was going to miss her. I also told her that I would do my best to find a nice-looking house for them in the neighborhood. By God’s grace, within five days, I found a six-bedroom house for rent, just behind our house. I called Judith with my Nokia 3310 phone and shared the news. She was so excited.
“Thank you for being a good friend,” she said.
On the following day, early in the morning, Judith came with her mother and father to check the house. They were happy to move in the next day, on Sunday, in the evening, which they did. They paid the landlord for two months’ rent in advance. Looking at Judith’s father, the way he dressed, the black jacket with a red necktie, a brown belt, and the nicely polished brown leather shoes, I could tell for sure that Judith was coming from a rich family. Judith and her father managed to fool people with their kind of lifestyle. They moved into the new house and neighborhood. Every morning, Judith’s father would shower them with money and buy them biscuits and yogurt before leaving for work
He liked wearing blue, black, or grey jackets with neckties. His shoes were expensive. He always had a briefcase in his hands. He looked as if he were carrying some important government documents. I don’t know how he managed to do all of this or where his money came from. At least he and the family managed to convince us they were rich and waiting to be deployed abroad by the government, which was a total lie. After four months of living in the same neighborhood, I discovered that Judith’s father was not working as a civil servant as Judith had told me. In fact, he was working as a wheelbarrow pusher in town carrying goods for supermarket shoppers. He would hide from all of us or pretend to be someone else who resembled him.
So there was this day when Judith’s mother told a fellow neighbor to escort her to her husband’s office in town. She wanted to collect some money to buy some home necessities and basic needs. Once in town, they reached the shopping center in downtown Lubumbashi. Judith’s mother told her friend to wait for her as she went to the husband’s office by herself. The husband disliked the idea of bringing people to his workplace, she said. The friend agreed to stay, but she decided to follow her in secret. Judith’s mother met her husband behind one of the buildings in town.
In his hands was a wheelbarrow. His clothes were different from the fancy ones. He had no briefcase. The friend could not believe it. The man she thought was a civil servant was an imposter. She ran home before Judith’s mother knew she saw them. She announced to all the neighbors that Judith’s father was not working in government but as a wheelbarrow pusher. On that same day, when Judith’s mother came back from town, she found that her family secret was exposed to the neighborhood. After the secret was exposed, Judith’s family stayed indoors for days. The family was ashamed. Speaking the truth shall set you free. Always be content with what you have.
