Salumu Hassan Braver
24 years old
Democratic Republic of Congo
Biography collected and written by Angela Abizera Photo by Luanda Bauma Primo

Braver Heritage is a young man from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is 24 years old. He arrived in Malawi in 2013 due to insecurity issues in home country. He is currently working as a teacher, teaching different subjects at one of the private schools here in the camp, sowing hope and life through school.

He got inspired by poetry through reading the poems of his friend Frank. The friend later taught him how to write them. In 2017 he wrote his first poem entitled “Firefly.” He presented it to his friend who encouraged him. He now has more than 50 poems. He likes poetry because he finds many ideas in them, and it empowers and encourages him as well. He sits and observes everything around him and writes about them. He likes romantic and life poems, not those about despair. Poems encourage him through their different ideas. He started performing at Ubuntu auditions and got even more inspired.

His poem “Firefly” is the one he likes the most. It is a poem about relationships. When relationships do not get well and when a girl feels lonely and cheated on, he’s there to encourage her. He wrote the poem to assure her that he will be there. His second poem “Wake Up” is for youths. They are thinking uselessly, thinking that life will find them. The poem tells them, the more days are going, there’s a need to work hard, wake up, and plan for the future.

Books are romantic and about life. Readers should be inspired and never give up. God is with them through everything like the poem wake up.

FIREFLY

I will be your firefly
When the world will dazzle you
When your eyes will be made blind
Yes, I will be your firefly

As the world will be silent
The sun will give no light
The storm will appear in furious
The wind will blow so strong
The moon and the stars will fade

The day that no one will rescue your lives
The day that all people act lives
You will change to be inconsistent enemies

Baby, don’t despair
Just close your eyes and say my name, yes
Say my name with that angelic voice of yours

I swear, I will be your reflection
And in rain, I will be your firefly