"I think I was going to Roudnice at the time and had to take the train back to Děčín. My girlfriend lived there. And when we were on the train and looking for a seat, there wasn't one available, so we sat down in a compartment where there were about three skinheads. So my girlfriend and I were sitting and talking. I found out that they were not happy that we were there. My girlfriend was Czech, and one of them started asking me why I was in the Czech Republic and what I was doing here and that I wasn't allowed to be with a Czech woman, etc. I just watched, and then I started talking about myself. And one of them was there, listening very well, but he kept his head down. Because he understood what I was saying, why I was here, what I was doing, what I was. Then we left when we had to get off in Děčín, and they continued. The next day, we had the same journey, and we met those guys on the train again and passed them by. But they themselves called out to us, 'There's room here, mate,' and we started talking. One of them is called Čenda, and we are good friends today. He even visited me at home."
"We focused more on sport. We played football, volleyball, tennis or ran because there was a lot of space. We also went on jobs in the neighbourhood to pick apples, pears, blueberries. That allowed us to stay there. But we had another initiative to involve other nationalities. We played football, and every nationality had a team." - "So you made a kind of league there?" - "Yes, it was a kind of little league. But we from Africa were good footballers. We usually beat everybody else." - "So you had an African team, an Asian team?"- "Yes, a Vietnamese team, a team from Armenia, etc."
"You have also witnessed police or army efforts against you?" - "Always. We had to run away immediately when they arrived because everyone had to run away. But the way they treated the students or the rest of the population, that was the worst. I don't think people here can experience that yet. It was worse and worse." - "And what was going on back then? Or if you can tell me how it went?" - "They were shooting. If they said, 'Stop!' but you carried on normally, they'd shoot you. Or they even started beating women [or people] on the ground, etc." - "And did you witness any shootings? Or did you see such an incident happen there?" - "Yes, we commonly saw that. When you come as a demonstrator, and there are a lot of you, you can see that the police are already in the front. They suddenly throw lacrymogène [tear gas] at you. Then the first one shoots and people start falling. The others have to run away quickly."
Frederick Mingiedi Sukama was born on 23 June 1963 in Kinshasa, the capital of what is now the Republic of the Congo (formerly Democratic Republic of the Congo). His father was a university lecturer in linguistics with a focus on the English language. His mother ran a small cloth shop in the capital. Frederick Sukama lived with his five other siblings in good social conditions, and his father placed great emphasis on education, which he wanted to give to all his children. Therefore, Frederick and his siblings attended primary and secondary school, supported directly by the local university. After finishing high school, he entered the University of Kinshasa, majoring in polytechnic engineering. After a year, however, he switched from this field to economics, which he enjoyed more. It was at university that he encountered the problems associated with the regime of the dictator Mobuto, who had seized power in the country in 1965, most significantly. Mobuto Sese Seko‘s unfreedom and authoritarian regime led him and other students to organize protests against the government and the regime to improve conditions not only in the university but also in society as a whole. As one of the main leaders of the demonstrations, he and his brother Joseph had to flee the country in 1992. A complicated journey through the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, Russia and Bulgaria eventually led him to the newly independent Czech Republic. Here, he and his brother spent approximately two years in refugee camps before he was finally granted refugee status and political asylum. Today (2024), Frederick Sukama lives with his brother in Ústí nad Labem, runs a business and teaches French to students. He and his brother are still banned from entering the Democratic Republic of Congo despite the fall of the Mobutu regime. The story of the witness could be recorded thanks to the financial support of the Statutory City of Ústí nad Labem and the Ústí Region.
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