Cargo Flight to Somewhere
5:28
Crossing the BLVD
A Congo refugee trapped at JFK airport.
Broadcast: Mar 15 2004 on NPR Day to DaySeries: Crossing the BLVD Subjects: International, Travel, Public Affairs, Justice
Profile: Bovic Antosi's flight from the Congo to a new life in America
March 15, 2004 from Day to Day
MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is DAY TO DAY. I'm Madeleine Brand.
In a few moments, a disturbing trend in automotive-based entertainment, watching X-rated movies on the highway.
But first, here's a story about a man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, previously known as Zaire. His name is Bovic Antosi, and he was desperate to escape from his country after his wife and children were killed in tribal violence during the late 1990s. Here's his story in his own words, accompanied by a song from African musician Kingsley Ogunde.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. BOVIC ANTOSI: I'm sitting on a wooden crate on a cargo flight to somewhere. The plane lands. Where, I honestly do not know.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: There was a box that--I was sitting on top of it without knowing what was inside. My friend is a Russian pilot named Milanov(ph). I paid him money. It was not free.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: When we landed, I was waiting for him in the cargo until the time he came and picked me up and we went to get the other plane to Istanbul.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: Milanov hands me a passport and visa with my picture and a made-up name. `From this point on, you are Peter Krystofer(ph) and you are from Zambia.' Then he hands me an envelope with a ticket inside. `Go to the destination of the flight and you'll be a free man.' I give my boarding pass to the steward and he sees that I am going to JFK International Airport.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: When the plane landed, one of the customs officers came, and when he searched my bag, he did find now my document from Zaire, my citizen card, my birth certificate, the birth certificate of my daughter and my marriage certificate. `You have to tell us you are from where, because you do have two identification documents.' And I said, `I'm looking for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees because I'm in trouble. I'm looking for a place where I can claim my freedom.' And they told me that I could seek asylum in the airport, and I sought asylum in JFK Airport.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: From 3 PM to the following morning, 8:00 the following morning, handcuffed, hands and feet, crying and crying the whole night. I slept there in JFK Airport, don't know what's going on for me. I don't really know.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: And then finally I was in an orange uniform and they told me it's a detention center and it's not a jail. I was supposed to be in a building without windows and no access to outside life. And there's nothing else to do except reading, painting, and I was writing a book about my life. That's what I did all these two years in detention.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: When I came out, facing the light of the sun, I fell down because I'm used to the dark, I'm used to the industrial light. Coming out to see the sunshine, I was like dizzy. And I fell down.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
Mr. ANTOSI: And now even if I don't have anything, I'm enjoying the life because I know that I'm free. There's nothing better than freedom. But I'm still discovering it.
(Soundbite of song with lyrics in foreign language)
BRAND: Bovic Antosi's story was produced by Judith Sloan and Warren Leher for the documentary series "Crossing the Boulevard," which chronicles the lives of immigrants and refugees living in Queens, New York.
