“I think I have a good guardian angel. I’m just really happy to still be here,” Elie Karojo drops out at the end of the interview. These words, like the smile he displays while pronouncing them, have every reason to be when we know the story of the Montreal basketball player.
On the upper floor of the Verdun Auditorium, on the mezzanine leading to the entrances to the two rinks, there are a few tables. It is there, in soothing silence, that Elie Karojo tells us his life story in complete transparency.
This story begins 23 years ago, in a war-torn Congo. At the age of 4, Elie was then the youngest of a family of “many” children. So he was the one we put on a plane to Canada.
“I had no idea where I was going, they didn’t tell me. I landed here in the middle of January, it was -20 degrees. »
Distraught, Elie was welcomed by his older sister in her thirties, who had lived in the metropolis for several years. In addition to being a single mother of two children, the latter already had custody of three other kids; all extended family members. Financially, it was not easy.
When the boy came home from school one fine day, his sister was gone: she had left with her two biological children. “The guard who was watching us just stayed longer than expected,” he says. She called the police later because there was no adult to look after four elementary school children. »
Elie, whose memories are still clear to this day, explains that he felt like a relief.
“[My sister] was really stressed and when she was stressed she tended to yell at us, hit us. It was not pleasant. It’s not that I didn’t like him, but his absence felt good. »
“I really wonder why she did that,” he continues. She never explained it to me and, honestly, I don’t want to talk to her anymore. […] But at that point, I thought and thought, maybe she freaked out and just exploded. »
Overnight, little Elie and the three other children left behind found themselves in a reception centre. The one her age, Diane, quickly became like a real sister; she was his landmark as the group moved from foster homes to foster families and so on.
Elie first felt at home when he met up with Dominique Karera, whom he now calls “Mom.”
When Elie was 8 years old, his big sister resurfaced with the intention of retrieving the children she had abandoned a few years earlier. But the young boy was not fooled.
“I said, ‘I might be 8 years old, but I’m not dumb. You left once, I don’t want to go through that process again.” »
Of the four children, only Elie and Diane decided to stay with Dominique Karera. At home, they had finally found a family.
It was in high school that basketball entered Elie Karojo’s life. Being on a team quickly helped him “connect with people,” he says. Within the Chomedey-De Maisonneuve school club, the teenager dominated.
“The level was very low, so I thought I was good, but… Later I realized I wasn’t,” he exclaims with a sympathetic laugh.
Caressing the ambition of one day evolving among professionals, Elie decided to transfer to Jeanne-Mance, a program “which really supervises young people who have a lot of difficulty”, he summarizes. But his bubble quickly burst when he was cut from the Division 1 team.
“Demoralized and discouraged,” both on the field and in the classroom, Elie took to missing classes most of the time and hanging out with bad influences. He had problems with the police.
“I was looking around and people were doing worse than me. I was like, okay, I’m not that bad,” he recalls.
Like his coach at Jeanne-Mance, who started picking him up from his house every morning at 6 a.m. to go to practice.
“I started to like it, to play basketball better, to have a good routine. That’s really what I’m grateful for, for the people who mentored me in times when I needed mentorship. And there have been many. »
Elijah was not yet at the end of his trials, however. In fifth grade, the young man had the goal of going to play in the NCAA. He received offers to take part in training camps, but he was unable to obtain his Canadian citizenship in time. So he had to turn to his plan B: Montmorency College.
This disappointment was consistent with the year of his 18th birthday, where children in foster care must strike out on their own.
Forced to live with high school friends, Elie once again found himself under the influence of bad influences. And, once again, a kind soul came to her rescue: her trainer, Tarik Shebani, offered her a room in his new home.
“It’s the best thing that’s happened in my life. After that, everything was fine. The school was going well. We were a good team. »
Over the past few years, Elie Karojo has faced all kinds of hardships in basketball. So much so that even he laughs as he lists them for us.
In January 2020, after a short adventure at Carleton University, he joined the University of Ottawa; transfer rules prevented him from playing, then came COVID-19. For months, Elie trained by Zoom. “Is it really worth it?” he wondered a few times.
When he finally returned to Ottawa in September 2020, our protagonist fractured his right foot in his first game. “That sure is a joke,” he thought, discouraged. Eight weeks later, in December, he was ready to return to action when COVID-19 forced the U Sports league to pause the season.
Returning to practice with the Gee-Gees on January 31, 2021, Elie made a false move with his foot. Result: eight weeks of rehabilitation. Again.
Once these were completed, at the end of the 2020-2021 season, the basketball player tested positive for COVID-19. “I was laughing, because it was just ridiculous,” he says, amused by his own misfortunes.
Despite the few games he had played in previous campaigns, Elie got a tryout with the Montreal Alliance in 2022. This was successful, and the Montrealer was invited to training camp at the end of May. Over there, the height of misfortune; a teammate stomped on his foot causing him to make a wrong move. Verdict: fractured foot. Again !
Operated on June 14, 2022, Karojo therefore lived the first season of the Alliance on the side lines.
At the time of his meeting with La Presse, Elie was back with the Montreal team for the start of training camp. While he hasn’t cracked the lineup, it’s still far from the first challenge he faces.
And then, for once, he is in great shape.
But above all, he is happy.
Before we close our tape recorder, he adds, “I’m proud to have gone through all of this and to be here.” »
There is something to be proud of. And what to smile about.
