Having lived in four different countries, senior Leopold Mbuyi has lived a unique life. He’s lived in the Dominican Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Turkey and the United States, all within the 17 years of his life.

He has moved so much due to the fact that his dad is a businessman.  “He loves traveling from different places, carrying out business,” Mbuyi said. “So that’s the reason why we moved with him, like for a year, two years, even sometimes every month within a country.” 

His favorite place that he has lived in was the DRC. “I would say DRC is the most beautiful place because we do have physical features like the river Congo, which is the second largest river in the world. We do have mountains. We do have a lot of stuff in Congo. We do have wildlife. We do have the animal called the Okapi. So that’s the most beautiful country I have ever lived in.” Mbuyi said.

His sister, Keren Bimansha, agrees. ¨The people were very nice, the animals were cool, and the forest,” she said.

He has been forced out of places he’s lived. “ So another reason (for moving) is also that in the DRC, there is war,” he said. “They commit violence among people, among the citizens, only in the DRC. So that’s the reason why we decided to first come here in the United States for a while. Maybe when things get better in the future, we might go back.” 

He has taken many long travels, but there was one that stood out from the rest. “My longest travel was from Turkey to Europe, then from Europe to the United States,” he said. “It took me more than 12 hours on the airplane. So that was the longest trip I’ve ever done. I was tired in the air.”

He has also seen many amazing things. “ The coolest thing I have seen is here in the United States, the Martin Luther monument and also the Statue of Liberty,” he said. “But also, there is a unique animal found in DRC called the Okapi, so I also saw that. It was so interesting to see the only unique animal in the DRC.”

He believes people should see things around the world, before deciding what they want to do with their life.  “When I was still in Africa, I had a different mindset, like, when I grew up, I wanted to become a priest. But when I moved to America, everything changed,” he said. “I’m thinking about becoming a software engineer, software developer, and the mindset of becoming a priest has gone, so moving in different places has helped me a lot figure out who I am, and also shaped my life.”