Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Struelens ya girma a Congo ta Belgium, inda mahaifinsa ya kasance ma'aikacin gwamnati. A shekarar 1950, an dauke shi aiki a Ma'aikatar Harkokin Tattalin Arziki ta Kwango ta Belgian a matsayin mai dubawa, kuma daga karshe a matsayin darektan lardin na wucin gadi. An tura shi zuwa Brussels, Belgium, a 1957 don taimakawa wajen shirya Expo Expo 58 na Duniya
Ka yi haƙuri. A shekara ta 1958, ya zama shugaban ofishin yawon bude ido na Kongo ta Beljiyam da Ruanda-Urundi, ofishin da daga baya ya koma daga Brussels zuwa Bukavu a Kongo ta Beljiyam.