Henri Ditutu Bukasa was born on 12.12.1947 in Elisabethville, the mining capital of the late Belgian Congo. His father worked for the national railway corporation whereas his mother was a teacher, which might later explain his love for literature, philosophy and human sciences. He spent his early childhood in Stanleyville, leaving a happy familial life until the terrible events that marked the independence of Congo. With his family and as hundreds of thousands of Congolese, he had to flee war and violence to Kasai, the province where his family came from. As many Congolese, he was a refugee in his home country and experienced all the pains of exodus. This background may explain his commitment decades later for migrants and more generally why he could understand people who were in distress. He left Elisabethville (current Lubumbashi) for the capital of Congo Kinshasa to follow secondary school at l’Athénée de la Gombe where he obtained his secondary diploma. With three friends, he then decided to leave Congo to continue his study abroad.