Congo's teens brave bombs, rebels, and abduction to play hoops

Boston Globe

6 days ago

But all three had the same objective: to get back on the basketball court.
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Generations of children from Congo's east have grown up amid near-constant conflict — conflict that is ongoing in rural areas, despite a peace deal recently brokered by the United States. But in Goma, over the past two decades, thousands of those children have had a lifeline: a youth basketball academy, Promo Jeune Basket in French, or PJB.
Every day until the most recent phase of war erupted in January, around 1,500 young people — from children barely out of toddlerhood to gangly 22-year-olds — had flocked to PJB's 11 cracked concrete courts to dribble and pass, the simultaneous thwack of many balls echoing across tin-roofed houses and low walls made of lava lumps from the volcano that looms, and occasionally explodes, over the city.
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Founded by Dario Merlo, a Congolese Italian farmer, conservationist, and social entrepreneur, the academy and its coaches offer an island of discipline amid the chaos, a network of trusted friends in a city rife with suspicion.
And for the most talented players, it offers a way out: PJB's alumni include an NBA star, Jonathan Kuminga of the Golden State Warriors.
But knowing that very few of his players will ever make it to the pros, Merlo's main aim is to keep them in school, only allowing those who attend class to play in competitions, and awarding scholarships to the best students.
All that vanished when Goma was plunged back into war this year.
Streets became cratered battlegrounds as M23, an armed group backed by Rwanda, invaded, and Congolese soldiers and allied vigilantes retreated, some looting and killing as they went. Estimates of the death toll ranged between 900 and 2,900 people.
Many of the players fled with their families, seeking safety in neighboring Uganda or Rwanda. Some were driven out of the displaced people's camps they had been living in. One player lost his father to a stray bullet. At least two joined the Congolese army and were killed.
Those hiding at home in Goma did chores, read, or — when there was electricity — watched TV. Some did calisthenics to stay fit.
'When I got scared, I hid under the bed,' said Moise, who mostly answers questions with one syllable or a shrug.
At Levi's house, a small patch of concrete let him practice dribbling with his weak hand. He was one of the lucky ones — he had a ball. It kept him sane.
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One day, when Levi's mother was out trying to find potatoes, a bomb fell on a neighbor's home. Levi screamed at his little brother to get out of their house, which was engulfed in smoke.
'We were shook,' he said. 'We were scared to stay at home after that.'
But it wasn't just the fear of bombs that dogged him and the other older male teens as they crept back to the courts. It was the terrifying prospect of abduction by rebels.
Thousands of people have been forced to join M23, according to the UN Group of Experts' latest report — and the risk of being picked up by rebels seemed high when out alone on the street, or in a group on the basketball court.
'Where you have young men coming together, the rebel forces can come and take you all,' Levi said. 'Nobody knows where they take you, but later you might see your buddy somewhere in a soldier's uniform.'
Still, drawn to the academy that had nurtured them, those who were left in Goma found ways to get back to PJB's main court, despite the risks.
Merlo ventured out, too, driving to the courts he had poured his energy into for almost 20 years. He was born in Goma, but when he was 11, the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi threw the region into chaos, and his parents took him to Belgium. There was one thing that kept him out of trouble in those years, Merlo said — basketball.
So after he moved back to Goma in 2006, he started PJB, trying to throw the city's children the same lifeline he had. Ben Affleck, the movie star, saw a video clip featuring PJB and sponsored the academy. The academy is free, but those who can afford it are asked to pay a voluntary $10 annual fee.
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Of all the turbulence the academy has weathered over the years — three armed conflicts, four election cycles, and a volcanic eruption — Merlo thought the events of 2025 had been the worst. But as he reached the academy, he saw something that lifted his heart.
He texted a friend. 'Guess what? The kids are playing again!'
And as M23 tightened its hold on Goma over the past few months, 900 of them have kept playing.
Naturally, Moise, the 14-year-old, wants to grow up to be like Michael Jordan. But he also wants to be like his father, an import-export trader. In the bleachers, he caught his breath, studying some older players' footwork as they swooped and pump-faked.
After months of terrifying uncertainty in Goma, his take on being back on the courts, tempered by a teenager's studied cool, came across as high praise.
'It's normal,' he said.