Beautiful poem by our client Justine Sibomana

My journey

By Justine Sibomana

---

My brain was polluted by war,

burnt to ashes,

while I ran to different countries

seeking greener pastures.

---

Now I am left to struggle with my sanity,

questioning: is this what a refugee ought to be?

---

I am planted in Rwanda, rooted in Kenya, fertilized in South Africa.

My roots entangled, tied in many knots.

---

In a moment of silence, after all the battles within,

the heavy breathing becomes lighter.

In that moment it hits me for the first time:

I am not trying to defend myself,

I am embracing who I am.

---

I have mentally abused myself,

got myself confused, fell into an identity crisis,

trying to find myself in all the countries I have passed through,

rather than within.

---

In that moment I realize I am an African woman,

I should not be ashamed of my journey, but proud.

It shaped me.

---

I am Rwandese, my skin beautifully toned by the Rwandan sun,

my accent beautifully tuned by Kenyan English

and my knowledge filled by South African education.

---

I am designed by all the experience

that was sown into my existence.

I embrace my past and present and I am ready to define my future.

---

I am not just a refugee, I am Africa:

planted in Rwanda, rooted in Kenya, fertilized in South Africa.

And despite the harshness of my journey and continent,

like Maya, ‘still I rise’.

Advertisements