Editor's note: This year 17 African countries celebrate 50 years of independence, eight of them in August. CNN.com is marking this major milestone with special coverage looking at the continent's past, present and future. We are asking you to share your memories of independence and your hopes for your country's future. Read one iReporter's compelling story below
London, England (CNN) -- Omekongo Dibinga is an American, living in Washington DC, and both his parents, who now live in Boston, are originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Dibinga decided to record his parents sharing their memories of Congo's independence, and their views on the country today after reading CNN's iReport request for videos about African independence.
His mother, Dr. Ngolela wa Kabongo, spoke about how her initial excitement at Congo's (then known as Zaire) independence on June 30 1960 quickly turned to disillusionment.
"I was very happy that we were free, that we were going to have our own leaders, the leaders we chose ourselves, the leaders who looked like us," she said.
"It was very exciting -- but the excitement didn't last long. A few months later people started killing each other".
Shortly after Congo announced its independence the province of Katanga, in southern Congo, attempted to secede.
Kabongo, who was living in Katanga at the time, said that because she was originally from another province, people in Katanga treated her as the enemy.
"People from Katanga area didn't want to see us there, so they started killing our people, telling them to go back where they came from.
"My father was a Methodist pastor. He was preaching one Sunday and he was taken from the church because the Katangese didn't like his sermon; they said they were going to kill him. CNN
