Chen Jie was a former auto mechanic at the Daping Environmental Protection Equipment Factory in Chongqing and was laid off in 2002.
Kinshasa
For Chen Jie, the situation was very difficult at that time, the son had just turned one year old, his wife was unemployed at home, and the family was cut off from the financial resources in an instant. Chen Jie began to look around for work, and a friend told him that working in a foreign country could make a lot of money, especially for people with some skills, and was more popular.
Chen Jie had no choice at this time, so he went to the Chongqing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office to sign up for a migrant worker. In March of that year, chongqing overseas construction companies contracted a large drainage project in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which required workers. When many people heard the news, they all retreated.
Like Chen Jie, many people do not know the country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), only that it is on the hot African continent. Speaking of Africa, in addition to the hot weather, it is all kinds of infectious diseases and wars. The project started with a salary of only four or five hundred dollars a month, which was not tempting for many people. However, Chen Jie did not know when the next opportunity would come, and in order to support his family, he resolutely signed up.
When the plane landed at Kinshasa International Airport, as soon as he opened the cabin door, Chen Jie felt a damp and hot breath. In Chen Jie's imagination, Africa must be very poor, full of thatched houses. However, Kinshasa is, after all, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and it is still very prosperous.
Chen Jie briefly checked before coming, there are more than 200 tribes in the country, all of which have their own original beliefs and indigenous languages. The official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is French, so in order to facilitate communication with the locals, he bought a quick translation that can translate French into Chinese and carried it with him.
As soon as I arrived at the construction site, the locals told Chen Jie not to run around.
Chinese in Africa
The site is located on the shores of Lake Malebo, north of Kinshasa City, and although it is the capital, the nearby security is not good. Clashes between different ethnic groups, coupled with the large gap between rich and poor, are also frequently looted and kidnapped. Therefore, migrant workers usually only move around the construction site, and they dare not go to a slightly farther place.
However, the average annual temperature here is above 30 degrees Celsius, and the dormitory is very hot, and Chen Jie is still accustomed to taking a walk by The Marebeau Lake after dinner. The lakeside road is actually very lively, there are many locals peddling local specialties and food, and Chen Jie occasionally uses the fast translation to chat with them.
One evening, Chen Jie met a black man who drove an open-top truck selling baked cassava. This man was very tall and strong, and when he saw Chen Jie wandering alone by the lake, he took the initiative to come forward to talk and sell his cassava. Chen Jie knew that this thing was not very tasty, but he was idle and bored anyway, so he took out a quick translation and chatted.
With the help of Kuaiyi Tong, Chen Jie learned that this black boy was named Dawa, a Hema man from the mountains of the northeast. Dawa has been wandering around Kinshasa all these years, doing small business and doing odd jobs, much better than the days in his hometown. Chen Jie saw that Dawa was so enthusiastic, so he took out two Pieces of Congolese Franc, bought some cassava and left.
When Chen Jie turned around and came back, he found that Dawa was still at the gate of the construction site, and his tattered truck seemed to have a problem. By this time, Dawa had opened the hood and was buried trying to fix the car. Chen Jie worked as an auto mechanic for many years, and the general small problems were not paid attention to at all, so he went to see the liveliness.
Under the dim street lamp at the entrance of the construction site, Dawa was covered in oil, tired and sweaty, but seemed to have no clue. Chen Jie walked over and looked at it, saying that he would repair the car, Dawa was excited and broke, and quickly asked Chen Jie to help him see. Chen Jie inspected it and found that the oil circuit was blocked due to the aging of the oil pipeline, so he removed the oil pipe, released the gasoline in the tank to rinse it, and then reinstalled it.
Just like that, three times five divided by two, easily repaired the car, Dawa was very happy, and immediately sent a few cassava to Chen Jie. Since then, the two have often met and chatted.
March 25, 2008, a day that Chen Jie will never forget.
The streets of Kinshasa
In the blink of an eye, Chen Jie has been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for more than five years, and although it is not so difficult to communicate with the locals, he still dares not wander away from the construction site. On this evening, As usual, Chen Jie finished eating and went for a walk by Lake Malebo, and as he walked, the black Dawa suddenly came out of an alley and warmly embraced Chen Jie.
Chen Jie had not seen Dawa for many days, and asked him why he had not bought cassava recently. Dawa said that his broken car had entered the repair shop, and it had not been repaired well for so many days, and he was very anxious, so he wanted to ask Chen Jie to help him see it.
Chen Jie already regarded him as a friend in his heart, and when he heard such a request, he did not hesitate to agree. After that, Chen Jie followed Dawa to a small courtyard in a remote area nearby. On the gate of this courtyard hangs a huge skull of a lion, which is the tribal totem of the Hema tribe.
Chen Jie entered the courtyard and sure enough, he saw Dawa's truck. At this time, several black people next to the truck looked over with very strange eyes, which made Chen Jie immediately feel that the atmosphere was not right. He was hesitating whether to pass, and a black strong man appeared behind him, and at once pushed Chen Jie to the side of the truck. Dawa wanted to go up and stop the strong man from moving, and the two quarreled.
Chen Jie has understood that from the attitude of these black people, he may not go back so smoothly on this trip, and now he can only take one step at a time. So he went to the side of the truck and opened the hood. At the same time, Chen Jie quickly pulled out the quick translation and expressed his meaning to the Dawa Xi next to him: Can you repair the car and leave?
Dawa nodded, and Chen Jie relaxed slightly and began to check the vehicle. Unexpectedly, he took two steps forward and suddenly caught a glimpse of a black girl lying in the cab, her hands and feet bound, and her mouth blocked by a towel. The black girl also saw Chen Jie and began to struggle hard, making a whimpering sound in her mouth.
Chen Jie understood that this group of people was most likely kidnappers. In order to save his life, Chen Jie quickly looked down to repair the car, and after discovering the problem, he quickly repaired the car. When Dawa saw that the car was repaired, he immediately ran to a strong black man with gritty teeth and muttered a bunch of words. It seemed that this "strong man with strong teeth" was a leader, and he listened to Dawa's words and shook his head repeatedly.
Chen Jie regretted it very much, he really shouldn't have left the construction site too far, and now he was in trouble. The black leader stared at Chen Jie viciously, directly summoned a few of his subordinates, tied Chen Jie up and threw him into the back of the truck. Chen Jie struggled as he shouted, "I am a Chinese citizen, I have no grievances against you, please let me go..." After shouting two sentences, a strong man ran over and blocked his mouth, and covered his eyes with a cloth bag.
Chen Jie curled up in the car, knowing he had been kidnapped.
Congolese Government Forces
Using the car he had repaired and kidnapping himself, Chen Jie even felt a little funny. But there is no way, he is now a lamb to be slaughtered, and can only be at the mercy of others. The truck started, I don't know where it was going, I don't know how long it took, Chen Jie felt something fall on him, and smelled what seemed to be cassava. At this moment, he heard Dawa's voice again, telling Chen Jie not to be afraid, he would definitely save him out.
Immediately after, the truck started again and continued on the bumpy road. Chen Jie was buried under a pile of cassava, and the car jolted up and down violently, seemingly turning people's whole body upside down. Not long after leaving, Dawa suddenly took down the cloth bag on Chen Jie's head, first made a "shh" gesture, and then used his palm to wipe it across his neck - Chen Jie understood that this was to make himself not make a sound, otherwise his life would not be guaranteed, and he quickly nodded. After that, Chen Jie was buried tightly by cassava.
The car continued to drive forward, and not long after it stopped again, Chen Jie heard a voice talking outside, and it seemed that someone had lifted the tarpaulin on the truck car to check the cassava in the car. Chen Jie knew that this must be a checkpoint, and he was very nervous in his heart, and he wanted the inspectors to find him, but he did not dare to imagine what would happen after being discovered. However, inspectors did not find him in the end.
The truck continued to drive, getting farther and farther away from the capital Kinshasa, and Chen Jie was almost overwhelmed, so he poked his head out of the cassava pile. The black man in the truck took the towel from Chen Jie's mouth and seemed to be far away from the checkpoint. In the middle of a wilderness, it was already completely dark, and Dawa asked Chen Jie and the black girl to get out of the car, untie them, and bring some water and scones over.
Chen Jie only then saw that there was a worn-out Nissan Mazda SUV in front of the truck, and the black leader was sitting on it. He saw the car stop and angrily walked over and asked what was going on. Dawa said bitterly that the broken truck was broken again. When the black leader saw it, he could only ask Chen Jie to find a way to repair it.
At this time, Chen Jie had the confidence that if he did not repair the car, no one would want to leave. So he boldly asked what had happened and why he had kidnapped himself.
The leader was helpless, so he asked Dawa to come over and explain the whole thing.
Congolese people in armed conflict
It turned out that the girl in the car was the daughter of the Leadu chieftain in the northeast, studying at university in Kinshasa. The Hema and Lendu had a vendetta for generations, and there were often bloody clashes, and this time, the black leader heard that the Lendu were ready to attack again, so he kidnapped their chieftain's daughter in advance. As for why Chen Jie was kidnapped, one was to avoid leaking wind, and the other was that it was thousands of kilometers from Kinshasa to the northeast border, and their broken car absolutely needed an auto mechanic.
After listening to Dawa's words, Chen Jie cried and laughed, and it turned out that he was not the main target. However, this means that Chen Jie's situation is not so dangerous, at least on the road at any time to repair the car, he will definitely have no worries about his life. This ability to repair cars really saved his own life.
Indeed, the road was stop-and-go, and the two cars often had problems, and Chen Jie had to keep repairing them until April 4, when they arrived in Ituri County, which is located on the border. Clashes had broken out in the vicinity the day before, with attacks on Hemas from more than a dozen villages, with thousands of casualties. Chen Jie later learned that he was involved in a very serious tribal conflict.
The car drove into a village, and Chen Jie and the black girl were closely guarded, unable to find a chance to escape. However, Dawa secretly came over and said that the kidnapping of the black girl was originally intended to be taken hostage to avoid war between the two tribes. But it was too late, so the leader was ready to use this young girl to worship the ancestors. Dawa particularly stressed that he did not want to participate in such a conflict, so he would find an opportunity to take Chen Jie away and quickly find the local police to rescue the girl.
After that, Dawa took Chen Jie out and pretended to let him repair the car. Chen Jie saw that no one was paying attention to him, so he grabbed a large handful of sand and quietly put it into the Mazda fuel tank of the black leader. After that, he and Dawa rushed into the truck and rushed out of the village with a foot on the gas.
The black leader discovered the situation and drove several people in pursuit. As a result, shortly after chasing it out, the Mazda suddenly turned off and could not walk. Chen Jie and Dawa Xi went all the way to the local police station and explained the situation. Soon, a large number of police rushed into the village, freed the black girl, and Chen Jie returned safely to the construction site.
This is Chen Jie's thrilling encounter in Africa, and his experience can prove how important it is to master a technology...