Refugees with Olympic potential dream of rewriting history in judo

This is a story of war, escape, sport and hope, which may see one of its main chapters written in August 2016. For the first time, the Olympic Games will have a refuges team take part in the competition. The names of the chosen athletes will be published in June by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Two judo athletes, who are in Rio de Janeiro, are fighting to be part of this group.

The possibility of being a member of the Olympic team gave a new meaning to the lives of Popole Misenga and Yolande Mabika, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They have been training at the Reação Institute for a year, a non-governmental organisation that promotes social inclusion through sport.
On Thursday (24.03), judo athletes signed a letter of intention at the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) headquarters, to take part in the IOC Olympic Solidarity Programme. They will start being paid a subsistence allowance until August 2016, so they may concentrate more on training.

Yolande Mabika. Picture: Miriam Jeske/ brasil2016.gov.br

The war

Yolande (28) and Popole (23) saw horror up close at the Democratic Republic of Congo, second biggest African nation in territorial extension. The country's recent history, previously called Zaire, has been written with blood. The last few decade stood out because of ethnic conflicts, genocide and a civil war that in practice, has never finished.

Yolande was born in the capital Kinshasa, but moved to the small town Bukavu when young, in the east, region most afflicted by the conflict. Popole also lived there. Both had to flee Bukavu to the capital because local dispute flared up.

"At the age of seven, I left (Bukavu) because of the war. I fled through the forest for eight days. It was a small province, I got on the boat that took me to the capital. There I made a friend and started living with him", recalled Popole, who left three brother behind, who he has never heard from again. His mother had already been killed.

Yolande's story is similar. Both of them started to practice judo in Kinshasa and were called up for the 2013 World Championship in Rio de Janeiro. The unhuman like conditions of the trip triggered their cry for freedom.

The escape

In Rio in August that year, the excitement in taking part in a world championship turned into despair. According to the judo athletes, the head of the delegation took the athletes' documents, money and even kimonos, and disappeared. Hunger and disrespect became unbearable.

"I didn't fight (in the World Championship). I thought: I've suffered too much, I'm not going to fight. I went out onto the streets, fled from the hotel because our coach had left us three days with no food. I couldn't take it, I was hungry. I said: this is actually my opportunity to stay in this country", said Yolande.

Popole Misenga (L) in fight at the 2013 World Championship in Rio de Janeiro. Picture: IJF

Popole competed in his first fight, with a borrowed kimono. He lost the fight, but did not want to lose his dignity. He followed Yolande's footsteps. "I fought while I was hungry, I suffered. Everything was left in my heart. I decided: I'm staying. I'll sort something out. Someone will help me", he said.

He walked the streets for some days looking for someone who could understand him and as he only spoke French, it was difficult to communicate. Until an Angolan national found him and took him to Cáritas, catholic entity that assists refugees. With the same friend, he started living in Brás de Pina, a neighbourhood in Rio's North Zone, where a lot of Africans live.

The traffic related conflicts nearby made Popole remember scenes he experienced in his home country. He almost gave up, but his new friends convinced him to stay.

Yolande says that it is very difficult to find work, because they do not speak Portuguese. Currently, she lives with the family of an Angolan friend as a favour in Cidade Alta, also a community in the North Zone. Popole got married and lives with his wife Fabiana and one-year old son Elias in Brás de Pina. In April 2015, his difficulties in life got a breath of fresh air when an unexpected invitation, which seemed like a joke, was made.

The return

"They called from Cáritas and said that Flávio Canto had called me. Brazil's champion is calling me? Why? I thought: they're kidding. I have forgotten judo. I'm a refugee, can refugees fight? We met with Flávio. On the day, when I saw the place, the children training, I was really happy, because I like judo", recalls Popole, in reference to former judo athlete Flávio Canto, Olympic medallist in Athens 2004 and chairman of the Reação Institute.

The doors of sport were reopening. Popole ad Yolande started being trained at the Reação Institute's Cidade de Deus branch, in Estácio university in Jacarepágua in Rio de Janeiro's West Zone.
"They were badly fed. For example, when we demanded the physical part, they couldn't take it because they hadn't eaten. Reação reacted giving them a kimono and basic food. They live far, so we helped with their fare and gave them some food. We had to supply for these needs to only then make demands", explained Sensei Geraldo Bernardes, Reação's High Performance Coordinator.

Geraldo Bernardes training Yolande in one of Reação Institute's branches in Rio de Janeiro. Picture: Miriam Jeske/ brasil2016.gov.br

Once ready for the activities, another great challenge emerged: it was difficult for Yolande and Popole to understand the difference between training and competition, and more than that, that defeat is part of sport. The awful doctrine to which they were submitted in the Congolese capital came out.

"We would travel to competitions. If you didn't win a medal, you'd end up in prison. They'd put us in a place like a small cell for 10 days, 15 days, with no food, just coffee, bread", revealed Yolande.

"They couldn't lose there. This had an impact on me, because when they got to the edge of the mat and it was time to stop the fight, my athlete would relax, they would throw my athlete on the ground and he/she would end up hurting themselves. No one wanted to train with them. This until when I stopped everyone, held a meeting to tell them their story and then, people relaxed a bit. And I also called Popole and Yolande, and said that this didn't happen here, that we had to treat each other like brothers, gently and the fight's own philosophy, fair play", recalls Geraldo.

The home-training commute lasts at least two hours for each of them. At Reação, Yolande and Popole have the opportunity of training with Brazilian judo national squad athletes, enhancing their technical quality and physical preparation.

Popole Misenga. Picture: Miriam Jeske/ brasil2016.gov.br

The opportunity

Training at Reação has intensified in the last few months because of the possibility of taking part in Rio 2016. "From the moment when we saw that this was possible, we have been training with them the same as we do with the athletes that are taking part in the Olympics, but of course that with differentiated situations, because Congo's school, is not as strong as Brazil's. But they have a big advantage because they arrived here in April (last year) and have been training with high level athletes, and with our highly qualified team, which gives them support", explained Geraldo.

IOC has asked national Olympic committees to recommend refugees with the potential to qualify for the Rio 2016 Games. Brazil's Olympic Committee (COB) has recommended Popole and Yolande, which increases their chance of taking part in the selective group of five to ten athletes of the refugees Olympic team, which will be publicised in June.

"It's a story in my life. I'm going to tell it, I'm going tell it to my son, I'm telling lots of people that I was a refugee, a refugee in Brazil and I fought at an Olympics. I'm really going to tell this story, to write a book and be able to talk to other refugees", said Popole.

According to Brazil's External Relations and Justice Ministries, in Brazil alone there are 8,500 people with refugee status. Another 25 thousand requests are being analysed.

"Judo is what makes me happy. Fighting at an Olympics would make me very happy, because everything will be written in my life story.

Both believe that being at the Olympics may also be a way of providing their families with news. If it were up to the Sensei, they would be there already. For him, the experience of training Popole and Yolande is very gratifying. "I've been to four Olympics as a coach, but never had the experience of training refugees. Although older, they need to be transformed in some way due to everything they went though and we're here to make changes. Judo is the tool", he said. "Having a refugees team at the Olympics in Brazil, in our sport, makes changes happen".

Carol Delmazo - brasil2016.gov.br