Joy was born in a small village where life was tough, where the sun rose over dry hills and set behind a dusty road. Most families struggled to survive, and there were very few opportunities. Joy did not have the chance to finish school for lack of financial support. As a young man, he often watched older men from the village leave in search of work. Some returned with new clothes and money for their families, carrying hope for tomorrow’s success; others came back empty-handed, carrying only disappointment. This situation left Joy thinking for days.
Joy’s mother believed there was something special about him. She would place her hand on his shoulder and then say, “There is a great wall inside you.” Whenever he tried to provide for his family as the firstborn and life got difficult for him, his mother would smile and repeat her words about the Great Wall. As a young boy, Joy did not fully understand what she meant. When the other children stopped working after a long day of fetching water and cleaning the house, Joy continued helping his mother gather firewood, even when he was tired. Her words became the source of his strength whenever he encountered hardship.
One morning, Joy decided to leave his village, carrying a small bag over his shoulder as he waved to his mother. His mother did not oppose that decision. She blessed his journey by pouring some water after him, following the tradition of wishing someone a safe journey.
Joy walked long distances from town to town. He hoped for a better opportunity and a decent job that he could hardly find in the village.
When Joy was twenty years old, he worked on farms under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. The farm was far from where he lived. Every morning before sunrise, he made sure he finished housework and then walked a long path to the farm. After spending the whole day working under the hot sunlight, tilling the soil, he returned home with swollen hands, sore shoulders, and heavy legs. His stomach made sounds because he had not eaten enough.
He would say, looking up at the sky, “Oh God, you are my healer!”
Even after the harvest, the crops were never enough to provide a decent living.
When farming failed to improve his life, he chose to work for other people in the city, hoping to build a more stable future. Some would laugh at him and mock him because he was a newcomer looking for work. He ignored them and kept working. He worked hard, carrying heavy stones with his bare hands from sunrise until darkness, loading trucks until his arms trembled with fatigue. Whenever he felt like giving up, his mother’s words about the Great Wall came to his heart, which gave him the strength to keep going. In time, he decided to move to another city to look for a better job.
He found a job as a gardener in a big house. However, his employer kept postponing his payment. Eventually, Joy became upset and went to a quiet place near Lake Tanganyika to calm down. He never thought of fighting or shouting because he knew he had little power. To avoid a quarrel with his boss, he spent many nights beneath market stalls. The place smelled of old fish, rotten fruit, and dust. When everyone disappeared from the market at night, he sat at a hidden stall, using his folded arms as a pillow while his stomach was thundering due to hunger, and then slept. And sometimes, he could not sleep because of that environment. During those lonely nights, he wondered whether returning home would be easier. However, he was not ready to disappoint his parents.
He often reminded himself, “Life can wound me, but it cannot defeat me.”
As the years passed, Joy’s struggles began to show. Deep lines appeared around his eyes, and his hair began to turn grey. After one week of no success, early in the morning, Joy descended to the beach of Lake Tanganyika, where he sat beneath a large tree. He watched other people passing by carrying goods and baskets. He looked around and saw people buying and selling fish and fruits. Everyone seemed to have a direction, but he did not know where his own path would lead next. He reflected on his life, saying that he had spent years helping other people build their lives while his own dreams remained unfulfilled. As he was sitting, a fisherman called Shabani walked by him carrying a net over his shoulder. He noticed that Joy was in trouble, quietly approached him, and asked, “Why does your face look so worried?”
“I work extremely hard, but my life never gets better,” Joy said while nodding.
The fisherman sat beside him and pointed to Lake Tanganyika, telling him the secret to the lake’s beauty and fortune.
“Do you see those boats?” Shabani asked. He continued, saying, “The lake feeds many families. It isn’t easy, but if you’re willing to learn, it can change your life.”
After hearing that, Joy asked Shabani questions about the work, the risks associated with the lake, and the equipment required.
“First, you’ll need a skiff,” Shabani said. “Then you’ll need patience. Some days you return with plenty of fish, and other days with nothing at all.” The old fisherman smiled and said, “The lake teaches lessons to those willing to learn.” Then he walked away. The advice stayed with Joy.
Over the next few weeks, Joy kept thinking about his conversation with Shabani. He felt that fishing might be a great opportunity to change his life, as he was unemployed at the time. That night, Joy thought about Shabani’s words for a long time. He knew working for other people had not changed his life. He chose to try fishing instead. He often went to the lake hoping fishermen would spare a few fish for him to take home. The more he watched them, the more he was drawn to them and believed that fishing could offer him a fresh start. For the first five days, he watched experienced fishermen repair torn nets and boats. He also spent two days with them on the lake, learning how to spread the nets in the water and understand the movement of water. Every evening, he returned home thinking carefully about what he had learned.
After about a week of learning and practicing, he borrowed a small skiff and a fishing net and joined the fishermen to try his luck. His palms developed painful blisters from pulling heavy nets. Sometimes he threw the net the wrong way and caught nothing at all. The wind pushed his skiff away from the places where fish were found, and he returned home with only regret and without a single meaningful catch.
However, this time, every mistake taught him something new. During the second week, things seemed better to him since he got feedback and advice from other fishermen, although they had laughed at him before.
“You have to deal with different weather conditions so that you know exactly the location of fish,” Joy was advised.
He practiced every technique the experienced fishermen taught him. It was hard to understand the weather at first, but little by little, he learned where the fish would be.
After nearly a month, his skills began to improve. One morning, before going into the lake, he first observed the water and learned its direction. He headed toward the deeper part of the lake where experienced fishermen usually worked. No other fishermen were there. He cast his net and then waited for about one and a half hours. He observed his net move side to side.
Then he said, “If I don’t catch anything today, I will not come back again to the lake.”
After that, he pulled up the net and caught many fish. He was excited. For the first time in years, Joy believed his life could truly change. By the time he arrived at the beach, everyone was surprised because he had never caught so many fish before.
Some wondered and said, “Maybe he used witchcraft,” and others whispered, “He must have stolen them.”
Despite this success, some weeks were still disappointing. One day in the water, a strong wind and storm swept him back to the shore and damaged his nets and skiff. He used the little experience that he had to repair them. With each trip, his confidence and skills continued to grow.
Joy started experiencing the best time of year for fishing months later. One Saturday, early in the morning before sunrise, he rowed very far toward the deeper waters, different from where he used to. By midday, he started pulling the nets. But it was heavier than usual. He used all his force to pull it.
“Oh my God!” he exclaimed.
Seeing that he had caught many fish that could not fit in his skiff, he released some of them back into the lake to keep the boat from sinking. He exhaled deeply while smiling. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. He rowed back to the shore. People were surprised because fishermen in that area did not catch so many fish very often. Joy believed his effort and patience had finally paid off. He sold every fish and earned more money in his hands than he ever had before.
Joy did not stop there; he continued fishing throughout the following year. Many blessings followed him, and he earned money each day after fishing. Every coin meant something to him. Since there was no bank nearby, he kept his savings in a wooden box in the corner of his room, which was common in his community at the time. Day by day, the box filled with money. For the first time, he felt that his determination was paying off. He looked for Shabani to thank him for the wise advice and guidance he gave. He gave him one hundred thousand Congolese francs and asked him to buy the skiff and nets he was using. Shabani thanked him too, accepted his request, and left him.
Joy’s life slowly became better. He had enough food every day. He bought nice clothes and sent money to his parents. The people who once laughed at him now smiled when they saw him. Joy thanked God because his life was changing.
One evening, after a long period of saving, Joy took his box into the light and opened it. He could not believe what he saw. One-third of the money had been eaten by rats, and the insects had damaged the wooden box without anyone noticing. He stared at the torn money without saying a word. His hands shook. His heart felt heavy. He sat down on the floor and cried. He remembered the long days under the hot sun, the cold nights at the market, and the storms he had faced on the lake. As he held the torn banknotes in his trembling hands, he realized it was another lesson in life. The following week, after all his pain faded, he went to the city to open a bank account.
Early in the morning, he resumed his activity with renewed determination. As he rowed across the lake, he remembered his mother’s words about the great wall inside him. Instead of breaking him, the loss made him wiser. The great wall inside him was not strength alone; it was the courage to rise every time life knocked him down.
