Angelique, Denisa, Marie, and Sephora

“My personal mantra is ‘If you do good, good things will happen to you in the future’ (‘Ukifanya mazuri, mazuri yatakutendekea mbeleni.’)  that is why I take care of the girls,” Angelique told us.

In 2014, Angelique arrived to Kenya alone, after fleeing from her home country of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Upon her arrival to Nairobi, Angelique was assisted by HIAS and RefugeSHE, which provided her with refuge in a safe house, as well as training in tailoring.

Immediately after Angelique left the safe house, she met Denisa, Marie, and Sephora, three unaccompanied girls who were homeless and without a caretaker. The girls, having fled from Congo after their village was attacked, initially found a woman to care for them when they arrived to Nairobi, but she had recently abandoned them.

“We were staying in an abandoned house and one day the lady who was taking care of us just left us and went. She told us that life was hard and that she couldn’t stay with us anymore.”

That is when Angelique stepped in to care for the girls.

“Angelique is like our mother. She would do anything to provide for us. She used to sell slices of watermelon, she washed clothes and would even beg on the streets some days just so that we would not go to sleep hungry.”

Supporting the needs of three young girls was extremely difficult for Angelique. “Life was really hard. The girls were young and ill. I decided to move them to another house where we could live a little better. I used to do odd jobs to support them, but our life was really bad. We all used to sleep in one bed, and we would miss meals on some days.”

Angelique and the girls were referred to RefugePoint by Heshima Kenya (now RefuSHE) for assessments, and it was during the assessment process that the acute vulnerabilities of the household were noted.

“RefugePoint gave us clothes, food, paid our rent. Sephora, the youngest girl, is at school right now because of RefugePoint. Even the clothes we are wearing, we received them from RefugePoint.” Angelique, having completed RefugePoint’s business skills training, received a small business grant and now sells vitenge fabric as a source of income for the family.

Denisa, 16, told us that she wants to be a doctor or a businesswoman in the future, and her sister Marie, 13, dreams of being a lawyer or social worker so that she can advocate for people’s rights.

“Everything for us has changed since RefugePoint started assisting us,” the girls told us, “and our social worker has always gone out of her way to make sure that we are okay. We would like RefugePoint to continue to help other children the way that they have helped us.”