#Workshop You Are The Future You Are The History

This workshop was created in June 2022 in Goma, North Kivu in DR Congo. I was invited by the film director Petna Ndaliko Katondolo and his community Yole!Africa,who among other activities, helps mamas and children who had been displaced from their home. Now it is 3. Feb 2025, the city is in a very disastrous and critical situation, because the militia M23 has rapidly expanded the territory and has been controlling Goma since a week ago. The description of the workshop below is originally written based on my learning at that time of 2022.

For more than 20 years, the city Goma in North Kivu, DR Congo has been the central in the armed conflicts for minerals and has become the center of international NGOs for this reason. M23 or MONUSCO are the names that people often associate with Goma. But how the locals want to highlight the city seemed different: Goma is located beneath the magnificent volcanic mountain Nyiragongo, which is still active. It has erupted every 15-20 times over the past 50 years. The city of Goma has been literally built with Nyiragongo’s lava; e.g. its walls, streets and foundations of houses.

Yole!Farm where I’ve facilitated the workshop is also built with lava. Through indigenous farming methods and arts, the communal space Yole!Farm serves women and children who have been affected by the volcanic eruption in 2021. I got inspired by this basis of the ground of the city and conducted a 2 day workshop, in which I asked the participants to reflect on the personal meanings of these lava stones. By using the stones as the foundation, they created clay objects that remind them of their home – e.g. the mountain, mother, baby, tables, chairs, sofas, fireplace and wood bike called Chukudus. Through the workshop, the mutual relationships between them and the volcano became more apparent.