Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Belgian Congo became an independent country in 1960, named Republic of the Congo. By 1963, the country was organised into 21 provinces (informally called "provincettes") plus the capital city of Léopoldville, similar to the original 22 districts under colonial rule. In 1966, the 21 "provincettes" were grouped into eight provinces, and the capital city was renamed Kinshasa.
Alicios Theluji
The family, which included Theluji, two siblings and their mother, relocated to Kinshasa, the capital and largest city in DR Congo. In 1993, when she was six years old, the family visited Kenya, but the returned to DR Congo. In 1996, when the First Congo War that removed Mobutu Sese Seko from power broke out, the family took refugee in Nairobi.