Andre left his country after University when one of his film projects was banned by the government and they persecuted and threatened to jail him. He returned secretly to save his oldest brother from similar persecution and bring him to live with him in Washington DC. He could not bring his entire family. He feels guilty for breaking up his family as he was being paid by a faction in the government to stir political unrest from his film project. As part of his project he filmed government forces committing human rights abuses and has the son of a prominent political family on tape accepting a bribe. Andre was born and raised in Brazzaville. Andre is the second child in a family of 5. He grew up and got his highschool and university diploma in the Republic of Congo. After graduating university from Marien Ngouabi University. He has struggled with adjusting to life in the United States. Andre works as a waiter while he builds his English vocabulary, and doing photography on the side. He feels pressure from his family back home and feels that he does not belong anywhere. He struggles to integrate into his new home and only really trusts his older brother as no one else can really understand him. He is posting his photographs on some form of social media, and people are enjoying them — it is a way for him to express feelings and communicate despite language barriers.
Lately he has been getting more attention online, and he is worried that someone might find his brother via social media.