AT 45, and more than 16 years after fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo, human rights lawyer Debora Kayembe is preparing to become the 1is next March rector of the prestigious University of Edinburgh. She was elected in early February for three years. This is the first time that a black personality, from an immigrant background (and the third time a woman) will occupy this position. A small revolution for this institution, founded in the XVIe century.
A journey full of pitfalls
It has been over 16 years since Debora Kayembe Buba fled her native Democratic Republic of the Congo in incredible conditions. After studying law at the Free University of Kinshasa, this forty-something very sensitive to the pangs of inequality that hit her country engages and becomes a human rights activist between her internships at the United Nations and her bar that she performs in Matadi, in the province of Bas-Congo. At the end of this first course, she turned to international law. But very quickly, she was noticed for her activism, while another plague raged in the DRC, corruption. This is how she delves into issues related to the fight against corruption. Wanted by an armed group, she fled her country in extremis for the United Kingdom in 2005 and even managed to help unmask her pursuers. Since that time, the now 45-year-old lawyer and linguist has applied for asylum in the UK, started a family and moved to Scotland (her legal qualification is not recognized in England, editor’s note), in Edinburgh, where the political activist specialized in human rights issues.
Fight against racism: Scotland is no exception
Despite her career, she believes that nothing had prepared her for being offered to take the head of the University of Edinburgh. Last November, she was approached to find out if she would consider accepting the post, never held by a black person. She agreed, though she thought her chances were slim. Her appointment left her speechless. “This is something that I had never imagined,” Debora Kayembe told AFP. “It’s something I’ve never looked for, it happened on a set. Several months before her appointment, she had found herself embroiled in a conflict that she had initially wanted to avoid. She had been a victim of racism before in Scotland. But the attacks reached their climax last June, in the midst of a global mobilization against racism after the death of George Floyd, a black American who died during his arrest by the police in the United States. Debra Kayembe was driving to a professional meeting when her car violently left the road. While inspecting the vehicle, she realized that spikes had been put on all four tires of her car. “The previous times, I could sleep easy,” she explains. “Sometimes you have to sit back and let it go, but what happened to me that day is unacceptable. ”
She recounted what had happened on social media. But rather than seeking confrontation, she chose to adopt a message of tolerance and dialogue with her attackers. “I told them, look, these things are a thing of the past,” she explains. “We’ve gone beyond that, if you still don’t understand, we’ll have to talk. That was my message. Nothing else. Shortly after, her daughter came home from school in tears, when a teacher asked her to do a slave dance in front of her classmates. After explanations with the school, she started a petition for the Scottish Parliament to urgently address racism in the education system. Parliament agreed, the issue will be debated in the coming months.
It is precisely the message of dialogue and tolerance that caught the attention of the University of Edinburgh, which counts among its former students Prime Ministers, Nobel Prize winners and Olympic athletes. “They told me that as the rector of the university, my message will go far and the whole world will listen,” she reports. “That’s why we would like you to take the job,” they added.
National pride
According to Debora Kayembe, born in Kinshasa and raised by her uncle, a doctor, her family in the DRC was overcome with emotion upon hearing the news. “There is a sense of national pride, they are waiting for the inaugural ceremony this summer to come to Scotland to see it with their own eyes,” she said. Its priority after its installation on 1is March will be to ensure the university attracts ‘the brightest minds in Scotland’ to help it recover from the coronavirus. The pandemic had the virtue of opening up possibilities for distance education, an opportunity for Africa, according to Debora Kayembe. Member of the Congolese bar since 2000, she has not returned to her country since she fled. There, his life is still in danger. She hopes that her post of rector will be able to promote better education for the continent. “Africa needs education, the best education”, she underlines, “my role will be to ensure that it is at the top of the agenda”.
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