Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau

[KaNisa]

Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau

My name is Fu Kiau Bunseki, from Congo, Kinshasa. Truly I came from a society in which they believe one cannot glorify oneself, but I can say a little bit about my personal life. I was born the fourth male from my mother, part of a polygamic union of 20 children.

After a few years of school in the village, I moved to a new school and met my first white person - a missionary. After four years, we took a national exam for a Protestant school preparing students to be teachers. I was among the first twenty in our whole area selected to become a teacher. After that, in 1956-58 there was fighting in the Congo, so Belgians had to get out. I finished in 1958 and I taught school for two years. Then I moved to the capital city, Kinshasa, and took classes at the university while teaching.

I decided I had to do research myself. I left my teaching position, and decided to open a small school in 1963. I built a center and then an elder came one Sunday and said, Fu Kiau, you cannot succeed unless you are initiated. I began new training and it led to my discovery of Kongo cosmology.