Patrice Lumumba was born on 2 July 1925 to a farmer, François Tolenga Otetshima, and his wife, Julienne Wamato Lomendja, in Onalua in the Katakokombe region of the Kasai province of the Belgian Congo [REF].
He worked in Léopoldville and Stanleyville as a postal clerk and as a travelling beer salesman.