Jean Pierre BEYA |
Jean-Pierre Beya is a familiar face on Avenue Colonel Lukusa. I used to encounter him on the drive to school every morning as he regulated traffic. Beya has one of those faces that can’t go unnoticed. He exuberates a smile and happiness that extend to those in the cars that pass him by every day.
Beya has been working on the same avenue since 1997. Today, I introduced myself for the first time and asked if he would accept to be the first Congolese featured on this page. To my surprise, Beya tells me that he remembers me from my days as a student in middle school.
But I am not the only one to have noticed Beya’s energy and dedication to his work. He tells me that his most memorable experience so far is "when I received an invitation from the American ambassador in 2009 to attend an event at the American Embassy of Kinshasa. He told me that he [the ambassador] noticed my ethical way of working. And since then I have been attending that event.”
Right before I was about to leave he asked to share another story:
“I remember when MONUSCO (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) arrived here...They sent a team of journalists to put a piece together about me. I was quite shocked that I was the one they picked as the best traffic police. The package aired on a number of TV stations. I still have the tape at my place. This really really touched me.”
“I remember when MONUSCO (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) arrived here...They sent a team of journalists to put a piece together about me. I was quite shocked that I was the one they picked as the best traffic police. The package aired on a number of TV stations. I still have the tape at my place. This really really touched me.”
Jacqueline PENGE SANGANYOI