?Hello. I?m Roman Catholic and my name is Phillip.?
That?s how Phillip Ruthinda, a 63-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo introduced himself to staff members from the Office of Migration and Refugee Services, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Cleveland, when he arrived in Cleveland on Feb. 23, 2016.
For Phillip, a survivor of torture, his arrival here to begin a new life was the end of a long journey filled with years of pain, uncertainty and wandering. He travelled much of the distance, about 2,000 miles, from his native Congo to South Africa -- where he spent almost four years in a refugee camp -- on foot.
?Many generations of my family lived in Congo. My ancestors came with cattle from North Africa. They were proud people,? he said. They lived on farms and moved the cattle occasionally to better grazing land.
?It was a beautiful, peaceful country,? said Phillip, who smiles easily and loves to talk about his country. He was raised Catholic and taught by missionaries. ?There were many Catholics,? he said.
In 1969, Phillip left his family to care for the cattle while he traveled to Uganda and Zambia, two nearby countries, to work. He said he had a variety of jobs, working in stores and shops, and he sent money to his family so they could buy more cows. He visited occasionally, and returned home in 1993. He married and had three children, two sons and a daughter.
But tribal and civil war was being waged in Rwanda, with members of the Hutu tribe killing members of the Tutsi tribe. In 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, more than 800,000 Tutsis were massacred. Phillip said Tutsis fled, many crossing into Uganda and Congo seeking safety.
It was a difficult time. Fighting was spilling into Congo, Phillip said. The Congolese were trying to help the people fleeing from Rwanda, but he said people were betraying them and the fighting escalated. One night, in 1998, he was coming back from the fields with the cows and saw the farms being set on fire. ?And they were cutting the legs off the cows,? he said. ?I was with about five other people and we got grabbed by some people who came out from the bush. They took us to the forest and started killing people.? Phillip said he played dead and later was able to escape. He wandered until 2002, when he heard it might be safe to return. He figured his family was dead after he saw the farm burned.
?I stayed with my uncles and their family and it was good again
