In the Heart of our Souls Dans Le Cœur De Nos Âmes

Victorine Ngangu

Summary

VERSION : ENGLISH/ FRANÇAIS
In the Heart of our Souls tells the story of the Kingdom of Congo through the eyes of its people. The story is based on previously untold true short stories of the Kingdom of Congo’s descendants. Victoria Ngangu narrates the life of her family and ancestors, starting from her great-grandparents up to her own life in Kinshasa. She explains how their life was, how they met and the kind of people they were. Family is the main subject, as each character is strongly linked to each other, passing on important moral values to each new generation.
Victoria’s family is strongly linked to the country of Congo, as one of her ancestors was the King of Congo. With the arrival of the colonists, life changed, and her family lost its royalty. However, values were still kept, especially the one that holds the family as more important than everything else, and that people should help each other in times of need.
They learn how each generation lived in their daily lives, and how relations between people worked in the family. Even after losing members of the family, each person is still very strongly linked to another, perhaps even more.
Life wasn’t easy, especially for Victoria herself, who lost both of her parents. Her mother died of breast cancer—the disease not being well known in the country at that time—and her father died soon after, inconsolable, having lost his wife. The children ended up alone, and had to take care of themselves without the help of adults, armed only with the values they had been taught.
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Dans le Cœur de Nos Ȃmes raconte l’histoire du peuple du Congo à travers les yeux de son peuple. Victoria Ngangu décrit la vie de sa famille et ancêtres en commençant pas ses arrière-grands-parents jusqu’à sa propre vie à Kinshasa. Elle explique commet leur vie se déroulait, comment ils se sont rencontrés et quelles sortes de personnes ils étaient. La famille est ici le sujet principal, chaque personnage étant fortement liés et transmet d’importantes valeurs morales aux nouvelles générations.
La famille de Victoria est fortement liée au pays du Congo, un de ces ancêtres étant le Roi du Congo. Avec l’arrivée des colons, la vie changea et sa famille perdit sa royauté. Cependant, les valeurs ont toujours été perpétrées, spécialement le fait que la famille est plus importante que tout et que les gens doivent s’aider en cas de besoin.
Ils apprennent comment chaque comment chaque génération vivait dans des situations quotidiennes et comment les relations entre chacun fonctionnaient dans la famille. Et même après avoir perdu des membres de la famille, chaque personne est toujours très liée, peut-être encore plus.
La vie n’était pas facile, en particulier pour Victoria qui perdit ses deux parents. Sa mère mourut d’un cancer du sein – la maladie était peu connue à l’époque dans le pays – et son père mourut plus tard de chagrin, ayant perdu sa femme. Les enfants se retrouvèrent seuls et durent s’occuper d’eux-mêmes sans l’aide des adultes, mais avec les valeurs qu’ils avaient apprises.

Available since: 12/08/2017.

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