Asylum-seeking teenager came to Quebec looking for better life playing basketball
Posted October 27, 2021 4:24 pm.
For Montreal teen Jessy Ilunga, a basketball is a symbol of hope.
Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ilunga came to Canada on his own at age of 16 to seek asylum. A lover of all things basketball, he is looking to turn his dreams of a better future into reality.
“When I was in Roxham, the police asked me why did u come here, for what. I said I don’t know where I can go, it’s my only place I can go. I can’t go back to America because I don’t know where I can live or where I can sleep or eat. I didn’t speak English very well in 2019.
I was very scared for after the questions I’m thinking like, ‘what can I do? Am I going to prison or back to America or Africa,’ I’m thinking about myself.”
All alone, Ilunga came into the country through the Roxham border crossing between the U.S. and Quebec.
He says he got kicked out of his high school basketball team in the U.S. due to an injury and felt he had no choice but to seek asylum in Canada to follow his dreams.
The teen waited more than 10 hours at the border until someone came to pick him up and bring him to Montreal.
“They said, ‘it’s OK, you’re only 16, we will do everything for you, give you some family and you can come to school and everything.’”
Credit: Jessy Ilunga
Settling into his new life, Ilunga met Isabelle Chiasson, a social worker and the coach of the men’s basketball team at St. Laurent high school.
“The first time I saw Jessy was at St. Laurent high school at the tournament,” said Chiasson. “It was the first time I saw him. I was impressed by his size: he was six-foot-nine.”
Recounted Ilunga: “She came to me, she asked me what was my name, where I’m from, which school do I go to and what’s my situation and if I was interested in studying at St. Laurent high school. That’s when she suggested we meet up. I was like, ‘who is this person, what do they want from me?’”
Credit: Jessy Ilunga
Chiasson took Ilunga under her wing and he’s become like family to her.
“Often I say I don’t have children, so some of my basketball players became my children,” said Chiasson.
Ilunga is now 18 years old and looking to graduate high school. He hopes to head to college and make basketball his career.
“I hope next year someone will take him and let him practise with them to be ready to play in CEGEP in two years,” said Chiasson.
Credit: Jessy Ilunga
