My Family's History






  


My Grand Father Georges Munda-Nkulu Kanyonga


What I Know about my Grand Father!

Georges Munda-Nkulu Kanyonga wa Muamba, son of Muamba wa Ilunga and Ngalula wa Bakuteka , both natives of  Ba kuabeya tribe and Ba kuabiayi’s tribe respectively,  in the rural zone of  Ndemba .

Georges M.N. Kanyonga was born in 1915 in Ndemba and was the youngest of two sons to their parents. His father passed away when he was 7 years old.

 

After his father passed away, his mother took him and his elder brother Louis Ntombolo Muamba to live and be raised by her family in the bakuayi tribe as instructed by her husband Muamba wa Ilunga before he died.

(Before their father died, he told them that they have a half brother that they must find  by the name of  Ndibu wa Muamba.

 

His study's path

Between the ages of  7 and 8, the missionaries from the Catholic church who came to visit the area (Ndemba) in order to establish a Church there, asked his (Georges’) mother if they can take him to school ,who answered that it was up to him if he was interested. When the missionaries asked him if he would start going to school and he happily accepted. The missionaries then took him to Mikalayi mission where the first chapel was established for the entire Kasai Province and started his primary school there.   

After primary school, he continued his studies in ‘Normal’ school which was regarded at the time as the highest level of school and finished with distinctions. After completing school, he decided to become a monk in the Catholic Church of the order of Saint Josephite.

His life

In 1939, when his elder brother Louis Ntombolo who had become a soldier was selected by Belgian government, then Congo’s colonialist, to fight on their side in the second world war against Germany, the war which was to start in 1940, Georges decided to leave the monastery and get married for fear that his elder brother would die in the war and the family would remain small.

 

Upon leaving the monastery, he got married in early 1940 to Meta Dibue Marianne wa Mulumba who was also a nun in the same Mikalayi mission of the order of Saint Josephite ,whose elder brother already a soldier, was also selected by the Belgian government to go and fight on their side in the 2nd world war against Germany, the war they won and came back victorious. She was also the youngest child of two, of her father Nicolas Mulumba Kakunza and mother Tshibola.

 

Before they got married, just after leaving the monastery and convent, George and Meta started teaching at the boys primary school and girls primary school in the Mikalayi mission respectively. They  then moved to Kananga, one of the sub-regions of the Great Kasai province where he become the principal, first of the Saint Clement primary school and later of Kambote small college until he retired in 1974. His wife became principal of the Lycee Saint Clement primary school at the same time when he was principal at the first school. She retired from teaching in 1976.Both, trained many people who later become the great personalities in the country namely: ministers, doctors, priests, professors of Universities, and many more.

When he retired, and because he wanted to serve God by becoming a monk, he accepted a calling from the Catholic Church through archbishop Bakole wa Ilunga his Mikalayi primary school mate, who asked him to serve in the church by becoming the secretary of   Notre Dame Parish, a cathedral in KANANGA.He was entitled to conducting mass service when there were no priests, producing and presenting the baptism certificates, in short, he was in charge of the parish‘s welfare,where he served until he passed away on 27 September 1986 at 1:00 PM in the general Hospital of KANANGA where his son in law ( husband of his 1st daughter and 2nd of 9 children was general medical doctor, and buried in Saint Clement’s cemetery next to the city center in KANANGA.



His Children with his only wife Marianne Meta

  1. Joseph Emmanuel L. B. Kanyonga, born on 25th December 1940
  2. Catherine Kadikele Diyi Kanyonga, born in 1943
  3. Pierre Mulumba Mobateli Kanyonga, born in 1945
  4. Roland Mabedi Kanyonga, born in 1948
  5. Christiane Bilonda Kanyonga, born in 1950
  6. Michel Buana Pinto Kanyonga, born in 1953
  7. Virginie Ngalula Fifi Kanyonga, born in 1956
  8. Philomene Tshibola Kanyonga, born in 1959
  9. Yaceinte Mbiya Kanyonga , born in 1963

Something very interesting about grand father and grand mother was the fact that both were in the monastery and convent, one a monk and the other a nun in Mikalayi Mission of the order of Saint Josephite. Both had an elder brother serving in the same army. Both decided to leave the mission to get married and extend their families for fear that their elder brothers would be killed in the world war. Grand father had a half brother from his father named Ndibu wa mwamba and grand mother had a half sister from her father named Nsangana wa Mulumba



 

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Copyright, Vincent Kanyonga Production 2004.