“At the age of 28, it wasn’t easy for me to accept that I was the head of a household of 11 and that I had to be the breadwinner. It was hard for me to accept that the whole family was looking up to me. I have now accepted that role and I do my best to provide, but I still need all the help I can get.”
In 2014, Francis, his wife, and their three children fled to Kenya from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) because of the conflict there. One Sunday, two years later, the pastor at Francis’s church announced that there were six unaccompanied children who were stranded and had nowhere to go. “My wife recognized the children as her cousins and we decided to take them in,” Francis told us.
“RefugePoint began to assist us one week after we took in the children. RefugePoint provided us with food assistance and rent support and they also trained my wife and me in business skills and gave us business grants,” Francis told us.
Edna, 15, is one of the six children that Francis and his wife took in. “Back in Congo we were in school, and we were happy, but then we were attacked and we had to flee,” Edna told us. “We ran away with our parents but when arrived to another village the rebels found us and killed our parents. All six of us siblings survived and made our way with other refugees to Kenya. When we got to Kenya we went to an area called Kasarani. We went to a church and the pastor announced that we were alone and that we needed someone to host us. That is when our cousin and her husband recognized us and took us in. We were very happy to see our cousin, finally someone we knew, because when we were running we didn’t know anyone.”
For children living with their parents or caregivers, RefugePoint focuses on supporting the family through food, rent, and medical assistance as the frontline of protection. We also support school enrollment and focus on education as an important intervention for combating poverty and providing children with opportunities to integrate into their new communities.
“At the age of 28, it wasn’t easy for me to accept that I was the head of a household of 11 and that I had to be the breadwinner. It was hard for me to accept that the whole family was looking up to me. I have now accepted that role and I do my best to provide, but I still need all the help I can get.”
In 2014, Francis, his wife, and their three children fled to Kenya from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) because of the conflict there. One Sunday, two years later, the pastor at Francis’s church announced that there were six unaccompanied children who were stranded and had nowhere to go. “My wife recognized the children as her cousins and we decided to take them in,” Francis told us.
“RefugePoint began to assist us one week after we took in the children. RefugePoint provided us with food assistance and rent support and they also trained my wife and me in business skills and gave us business grants,” Francis told us.
Edna, 15, is one of the six children that Francis and his wife took in. “Back in Congo we were in school, and we were happy, but then we were attacked and we had to flee,” Edna told us. “We ran away with our parents but when arrived to another village the rebels found us and killed our parents. All six of us siblings survived and made our way with other refugees to Kenya. When we got to Kenya we went to an area called Kasarani. We went to a church and the pastor announced that we were alone and that we needed someone to host us. That is when our cousin and her husband recognized us and took us in. We were very happy to see our cousin, finally someone we knew, because when we were running we didn’t know anyone.”
For children living with their parents or caregivers, RefugePoint focuses on supporting the family through food, rent, and medical assistance as the frontline of protection. We also support school enrollment and focus on education as an important intervention for combating poverty and providing children with opportunities to integrate into their new communities.
What is it like to be a child refugee? Edith, a former child refugee shares her story.
In 1994, at the age of three, I was forced to flee my home in Rwanda to escape the Rwandan genocide. I still remember running in the forest as a little girl – running over dead bodies, hearing gunshots, and seeing people killed with machetes. I remember arriving in the first foreign country where we were told that we were not welcome and that we needed to go back to where we came from. There was no way we could go back home and survive. So we went into hiding, hoping that we would not be found and sent back home. With a war going on in my country, it was not safe to stay. We had to leave as soon as we could to try and find shelter in another country. I remember seeing people running all over the forest and I was running alongside them. We were instructed not to go to particular parts of the forest because people were being killed there. I was so scared; remaining positive was not easy. I don’t think we ever slept while we were hiding in the forest because everyone was scared about being killed in their sleep. For the people who stayed behind in Rwanda, almost a million of them were killed in just one month.
One thing about war is that it is not hidden from children, no matter how little they are. Kids were included in conversations about hiding, survival and running as fast as you could, even if you got separated from your parents.
Edith and her husband, Adam, at her graduation from nursing school.
I became separated from my parents and I never saw them again. A woman in her 70’s found me on the forest floor, and she became my caretaker. We fled to Uganda, and then to Tanzania, before finally settling in Nairobi. I lived with her in Nairobi and called her grandmother, until I was 16, when she died. I remember meeting the RefugePoint team a year before my grandma died. When she died, I had nobody else, and RefugePoint helped me. RefugePoint was more than just an organization to me. For the first time, I met people who really cared about helping me.
I remember when a woman from RefugePoint went with me to pick out a coffin for my grandma, and helped me to plan the funeral and buy a burial plot. It felt to me like RefugePoint took over the responsibilities of a parent. Now, living in the U.S., and thinking back to what they did, I realize that is something that a parent would do. In what I was going through, those were things that parents would have been handling, and RefugePoint did all of that to support me. So to me, RefugePoint felt like more than just an organization. I felt that they were more like a family.
Edith and her sisters on her wedding day.
After my grandmother died, I was approaching high school graduation, and I knew I only had one choice – to get married, stay home, and raise a family. Although I was positive that was not what I wanted, the reality was that I had no choice. So I continued to pray to God every day and never lost hope that God works in mysterious ways.
At this point, RefugePoint became involved in prioritizing my resettlement case. They really advocate for refugees, and they are the voice of refugees and those who are not usually heard. After graduating high school, I was offered a once in a lifetime opportunity – I was told there was a chance I could be resettled to the U.S. as a minor, but I was running out of time because I was almost 18. It is much more difficult to qualify for resettlement once you are considered an adult. The odds of me being resettled were slim because I only had a few months before my 18th birthday. Resettlement cases can take five years or more. Fast forward to a few weeks before my 18th birthday, a family in Michigan received a call about a refugee girl who desperately needed a home. The family (now my parents) prayed about it and they agreed to take me into their family. When I was told that I was going the U.S., at first I thought it was a joke. I couldn’t believe the news I was hearing.
Edith and her parents on her wedding day.
I remember someone from the RefugePoint office showing me a map of the world and pointing to Michigan and saying, “This is where you are going,” and I remember being like, “Oh, I remember learning in U.S. geography about Lake Michigan; I wonder if I will live near that big lake?” Three days before I turned 18, I stepped onto U.S. soil and settled into my new home in Grand Haven, Michigan! And guess what’s so popular about Grand Haven? The beach right on Lake Michigan! Fast forward to almost ten years since I arrived in the U.S., I now hold two college degrees, I am happily married to my wonderful husband Adam, and I have the privilege of working as a registered nurse at one of the busiest level one trauma emergency rooms in the country. After 22 years as a refugee, I finally became a citizen of the United States. I finally belong to a country.
It was about a year after my grandmother died that I was resettled, so I was by myself for a year, but I never felt like I was alone, because I had RefugePoint. I would go to the office and visit often, and no one said, “Hey, we are working, and you need to leave.” They took the time to talk to me and ask me how school was going. I remember when I graduated, two RefugePoint staff members came to my graduation party and they took pictures and made me a graduation cake. I think that was the first time that I had ever had a cake!
RefugePoint not only helped me in the financial sense, but also uplifted me. I remember going to counseling sessions with Clotilda, and that was the first time I had ever met a counselor. And me, being from Africa, where people don’t talk about their feelings, that was something new. Clotilda inspired me to really work hard and never give up. She is a major reason why I didn’t struggle with depression. I took her words literally, so when she talked about always being positive, and remembering that your past doesn’t define you, I took that literally – that my past did not define who I was.
In November of 2018, many years after being resettled to the U.S., I returned to the RefugePoint office in Nairobi, Kenya to see how they are continuing to serve at-risk refugees, many of whom are children like I was. RefugePoint was like a home for me, and when I went back, I was trying to just stay composed and not cry. But there were so many memories. When I was younger I did not have a complete understanding of everything that RefugePoint did. This trip gave me the opportunity to get to know about the work in detail, see how much they have grown, and hear that they are in so many countries all over the globe. It was absolutely amazing.
It is one thing to be like, “Oh, RefugePoint helps people” – but me, being a product of what they have done – I know that what they are doing works! It means so much more than you will ever understand. Having people like those at RefugePoint that advocate for refugees, and especially refugee minors, and that is who I was, is really important because they give young people and teenagers an opportunity to be able to go to school and it definitely gives minors an opportunity to have a bright future.
What is it like to be a child refugee? Edith, a former child refugee shares her story.
In 1994, at the age of three, I was forced to flee my home in Rwanda to escape the Rwandan genocide. I still remember running in the forest as a little girl – running over dead bodies, hearing gunshots, and seeing people killed with machetes. I remember arriving in the first foreign country where we were told that we were not welcome and that we needed to go back to where we came from. There was no way we could go back home and survive. So we went into hiding, hoping that we would not be found and sent back home. With a war going on in my country, it was not safe to stay. We had to leave as soon as we could to try and find shelter in another country. I remember seeing people running all over the forest and I was running alongside them. We were instructed not to go to particular parts of the forest because people were being killed there. I was so scared; remaining positive was not easy. I don’t think we ever slept while we were hiding in the forest because everyone was scared about being killed in their sleep. For the people who stayed behind in Rwanda, almost a million of them were killed in just one month.
One thing about war is that it is not hidden from children, no matter how little they are. Kids were included in conversations about hiding, survival and running as fast as you could, even if you got separated from your parents.
Edith and her husband, Adam, at her graduation from nursing school.
I became separated from my parents and I never saw them again. A woman in her 70’s found me on the forest floor, and she became my caretaker. We fled to Uganda, and then to Tanzania, before finally settling in Nairobi. I lived with her in Nairobi and called her grandmother, until I was 16, when she died. I remember meeting the RefugePoint team a year before my grandma died. When she died, I had nobody else, and RefugePoint helped me. RefugePoint was more than just an organization to me. For the first time, I met people who really cared about helping me.
I remember when a woman from RefugePoint went with me to pick out a coffin for my grandma, and helped me to plan the funeral and buy a burial plot. It felt to me like RefugePoint took over the responsibilities of a parent. Now, living in the U.S., and thinking back to what they did, I realize that is something that a parent would do. In what I was going through, those were things that parents would have been handling, and RefugePoint did all of that to support me. So to me, RefugePoint felt like more than just an organization. I felt that they were more like a family.
Edith and her sisters on her wedding day.
After my grandmother died, I was approaching high school graduation, and I knew I only had one choice – to get married, stay home, and raise a family. Although I was positive that was not what I wanted, the reality was that I had no choice. So I continued to pray to God every day and never lost hope that God works in mysterious ways.
At this point, RefugePoint became involved in prioritizing my resettlement case. They really advocate for refugees, and they are the voice of refugees and those who are not usually heard. After graduating high school, I was offered a once in a lifetime opportunity – I was told there was a chance I could be resettled to the U.S. as a minor, but I was running out of time because I was almost 18. It is much more difficult to qualify for resettlement once you are considered an adult. The odds of me being resettled were slim because I only had a few months before my 18th birthday. Resettlement cases can take five years or more. Fast forward to a few weeks before my 18th birthday, a family in Michigan received a call about a refugee girl who desperately needed a home. The family (now my parents) prayed about it and they agreed to take me into their family. When I was told that I was going the U.S., at first I thought it was a joke. I couldn’t believe the news I was hearing.
Edith and her parents on her wedding day.
I remember someone from the RefugePoint office showing me a map of the world and pointing to Michigan and saying, “This is where you are going,” and I remember being like, “Oh, I remember learning in U.S. geography about Lake Michigan; I wonder if I will live near that big lake?” Three days before I turned 18, I stepped onto U.S. soil and settled into my new home in Grand Haven, Michigan! And guess what’s so popular about Grand Haven? The beach right on Lake Michigan! Fast forward to almost ten years since I arrived in the U.S., I now hold two college degrees, I am happily married to my wonderful husband Adam, and I have the privilege of working as a registered nurse at one of the busiest level one trauma emergency rooms in the country. After 22 years as a refugee, I finally became a citizen of the United States. I finally belong to a country.
It was about a year after my grandmother died that I was resettled, so I was by myself for a year, but I never felt like I was alone, because I had RefugePoint. I would go to the office and visit often, and no one said, “Hey, we are working, and you need to leave.” They took the time to talk to me and ask me how school was going. I remember when I graduated, two RefugePoint staff members came to my graduation party and they took pictures and made me a graduation cake. I think that was the first time that I had ever had a cake!
RefugePoint not only helped me in the financial sense, but also uplifted me. I remember going to counseling sessions with Clotilda, and that was the first time I had ever met a counselor. And me, being from Africa, where people don’t talk about their feelings, that was something new. Clotilda inspired me to really work hard and never give up. She is a major reason why I didn’t struggle with depression. I took her words literally, so when she talked about always being positive, and remembering that your past doesn’t define you, I took that literally – that my past did not define who I was.
In November of 2018, many years after being resettled to the U.S., I returned to the RefugePoint office in Nairobi, Kenya to see how they are continuing to serve at-risk refugees, many of whom are children like I was. RefugePoint was like a home for me, and when I went back, I was trying to just stay composed and not cry. But there were so many memories. When I was younger I did not have a complete understanding of everything that RefugePoint did. This trip gave me the opportunity to get to know about the work in detail, see how much they have grown, and hear that they are in so many countries all over the globe. It was absolutely amazing.
It is one thing to be like, “Oh, RefugePoint helps people” – but me, being a product of what they have done – I know that what they are doing works! It means so much more than you will ever understand. Having people like those at RefugePoint that advocate for refugees, and especially refugee minors, and that is who I was, is really important because they give young people and teenagers an opportunity to be able to go to school and it definitely gives minors an opportunity to have a bright future.
A RefugePoint Child Protection Expert’s Thoughts from the Emergency Evacuation Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niamey, Niger.
“What if it were your nephew?” As a proud auntie, this is the question I ask myself when writing child protection assessments for refugee children evacuated from Libya to Niger. The children, mainly teenagers from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, have faced unimaginable horrors – being held captive and repeatedly sold and kidnapped by smugglers in the Sahara as they attempt to reach the Mediterranean.
Forcing the children’s families to pay ransoms, the smugglers use starvation, beating, burning and sexual violence as forms of torture. They often place family members on the phone while torturing the children, in an attempt to speed up ransom payments. Once the ransom is paid, the children typically fall into the hands of another smuggler, and the process repeats itself for months or years until they reach the Mediterranean, where they attempt to cross to Europe in an overcrowded rubber boat.
Many of the children I have interviewed have described boats breaking apart, and how, sinking into the water, they believed they were taking their last breaths, before being picked up by the Libyan coastguard and brought back to detention centers in Libya. From here, the children who are lucky enough to be identified by UNHCR are evacuated on flights to Niamey, Niger. When they arrive, they are overjoyed to be out of Libya. With this safety, however, they begin to reflect on what has happened. They begin to recognize the traumatic nature of the past few years and this reality continues to affect them. Many endure vivid nightmares of being tortured by the smugglers. These are children who, in the most sensitive years of their adolescence, have grown up in captivity and have been treated as a commodity, having been tortured for financial gain.
Despite the magnitude of the horror that they have seen, the children resist allowing what has happened to them to define them in the most powerful of ways: they are compassionate, understanding, creative, life-loving, caring, hilarious, and intelligent.
One of the best parts of my job as a Child Protection Expert is visiting the houses where the kids are living, and observing these strengths in action. One boy made his own krar, an Eritrean lyre, out of wood, bicycle wire and screws, and performs for the other boys; another is a singer who writes his own songs; others make beautiful handmade crucifixes out of scraps of wood.
Another boy is a priest’s assistant and provides pastoral support to his peers; some of them are athletes and have made their own gym equipment out of recycled materials; some are chess whizzes; some are painters; some are soccer players; some are dancers; some are actors. In one house, a kitten named Winta, the Tigrinya word for wish, is being collectively raised by 85 boys.
I’m certain that wherever these incredible children may be resettled, they will flourish. However, after surviving the very worst that humanity has to offer, they deserve to have the chance to get back the love, care, familiarity and solidarity that sometimes only one’s family can provide.
A RefugePoint Child Protection Expert’s Thoughts from the Emergency Evacuation Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Niamey, Niger.
“What if it were your nephew?” As a proud auntie, this is the question I ask myself when writing child protection assessments for refugee children evacuated from Libya to Niger. The children, mainly teenagers from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, have faced unimaginable horrors – being held captive and repeatedly sold and kidnapped by smugglers in the Sahara as they attempt to reach the Mediterranean.
Forcing the children’s families to pay ransoms, the smugglers use starvation, beating, burning and sexual violence as forms of torture. They often place family members on the phone while torturing the children, in an attempt to speed up ransom payments. Once the ransom is paid, the children typically fall into the hands of another smuggler, and the process repeats itself for months or years until they reach the Mediterranean, where they attempt to cross to Europe in an overcrowded rubber boat.
Many of the children I have interviewed have described boats breaking apart, and how, sinking into the water, they believed they were taking their last breaths, before being picked up by the Libyan coastguard and brought back to detention centers in Libya. From here, the children who are lucky enough to be identified by UNHCR are evacuated on flights to Niamey, Niger. When they arrive, they are overjoyed to be out of Libya. With this safety, however, they begin to reflect on what has happened. They begin to recognize the traumatic nature of the past few years and this reality continues to affect them. Many endure vivid nightmares of being tortured by the smugglers. These are children who, in the most sensitive years of their adolescence, have grown up in captivity and have been treated as a commodity, having been tortured for financial gain.
Despite the magnitude of the horror that they have seen, the children resist allowing what has happened to them to define them in the most powerful of ways: they are compassionate, understanding, creative, life-loving, caring, hilarious, and intelligent.
One of the best parts of my job as a Child Protection Expert is visiting the houses where the kids are living, and observing these strengths in action. One boy made his own krar, an Eritrean lyre, out of wood, bicycle wire and screws, and performs for the other boys; another is a singer who writes his own songs; others make beautiful handmade crucifixes out of scraps of wood.
Another boy is a priest’s assistant and provides pastoral support to his peers; some of them are athletes and have made their own gym equipment out of recycled materials; some are chess whizzes; some are painters; some are soccer players; some are dancers; some are actors. In one house, a kitten named Winta, the Tigrinya word for wish, is being collectively raised by 85 boys.
I’m certain that wherever these incredible children may be resettled, they will flourish. However, after surviving the very worst that humanity has to offer, they deserve to have the chance to get back the love, care, familiarity and solidarity that sometimes only one’s family can provide.
When working with refugee children, RefugePoint Child Protection Experts aim to make essential processes, that may otherwise seem mundane, engaging and fun. (Learn more about the work of Child Protection Experts here).
One such activity, a Participatory Assessment, is conducted to assess living conditions, consider how services are being delivered, and to identify dangers and risks that a child may be facing. It is particularly important to involve children directly, acknowledging their rights and giving voice to those who are “less visible” to ensure that their reality is incorporated into plans for lasting change.
Our Child Protection Expert in Huye, Rwanda recently invited 30 children between the ages of 13 to 17 to join a Participatory Assessment activity, using photography, painting, and drawing. Participants responded to prompts such as, “How do I get support from the community (refugee/host)?” Children from two refugee camps (Kigeme and Mugombwa) were joined by urban children from Huye to engage in the activities.
The exercise included a two-day preparation workshop where the children learned how to use cameras and how to work with colors and paints, inspiring them to create their own artwork. At the end of the exercise, the children presented their photographs, paintings, and drawings to the group. The Expert facilitated a discussion, allowing for reflection and a deeper understanding of each other’s life stories.
Describing the activity, the Child Protection Expert said: “During one of the activities, which was called ‘Walking in the shoes of…’ we engaged in activities that refugee children do on a daily basis – like walking to and from school, which can be quite a distance in some locations. The children also told us about specific problems that they face. For children who live alone, some told us that they struggle to manage housework and school at the same time, especially the girls who are expected to tend to all household chores.”
(See below examples of the children’s artwork)
This drawing, created by a child in Mugombwa camp, portrays what he hopes to be one day – a journalist. The boy said that he is working hard in school to ensure that he can attend a journalism school.
This photo, taken by a child in Mugombwa camp, shows the state of one of the Child-Friendly-Spaces (CFS) in the quarters. The child wants the CFS to be rehabilitated. This is the state of many CFS’s in both Kigeme and Mugombwa camps, which negatively affects the quality of services that the children are able to receive in the centers.
In this drawing, created by a child in Mugombwa camp, he has drawn things that he likes, including his school, his neighborhood within the camp, the flag of Rwanda, and a UNHCR building. He said that he felt happy about his integration into the Rwandan host community, both at home and at school.
This photo, taken by a child in Mugombwa camp, portrays what she does not like – washing clothes. She said that before and after school, most girls are expected to do all of the household work, which negatively affects school performance.
When working with refugee children, RefugePoint Child Protection Experts aim to make essential processes, that may otherwise seem mundane, engaging and fun. (Learn more about the work of Child Protection Experts here).
One such activity, a Participatory Assessment, is conducted to assess living conditions, consider how services are being delivered, and to identify dangers and risks that a child may be facing. It is particularly important to involve children directly, acknowledging their rights and giving voice to those who are “less visible” to ensure that their reality is incorporated into plans for lasting change.
Our Child Protection Expert in Huye, Rwanda recently invited 30 children between the ages of 13 to 17 to join a Participatory Assessment activity, using photography, painting, and drawing. Participants responded to prompts such as, “How do I get support from the community (refugee/host)?” Children from two refugee camps (Kigeme and Mugombwa) were joined by urban children from Huye to engage in the activities.
The exercise included a two-day preparation workshop where the children learned how to use cameras and how to work with colors and paints, inspiring them to create their own artwork. At the end of the exercise, the children presented their photographs, paintings, and drawings to the group. The Expert facilitated a discussion, allowing for reflection and a deeper understanding of each other’s life stories.
Describing the activity, the Child Protection Expert said: “During one of the activities, which was called ‘Walking in the shoes of…’ we engaged in activities that refugee children do on a daily basis – like walking to and from school, which can be quite a distance in some locations. The children also told us about specific problems that they face. For children who live alone, some told us that they struggle to manage housework and school at the same time, especially the girls who are expected to tend to all household chores.”
(See below examples of the children’s artwork)
This drawing, created by a child in Mugombwa camp, portrays what he hopes to be one day – a journalist. The boy said that he is working hard in school to ensure that he can attend a journalism school.
This photo, taken by a child in Mugombwa camp, shows the state of one of the Child-Friendly-Spaces (CFS) in the quarters. The child wants the CFS to be rehabilitated. This is the state of many CFS’s in both Kigeme and Mugombwa camps, which negatively affects the quality of services that the children are able to receive in the centers.
In this drawing, created by a child in Mugombwa camp, he has drawn things that he likes, including his school, his neighborhood within the camp, the flag of Rwanda, and a UNHCR building. He said that he felt happy about his integration into the Rwandan host community, both at home and at school.
This photo, taken by a child in Mugombwa camp, portrays what she does not like – washing clothes. She said that before and after school, most girls are expected to do all of the household work, which negatively affects school performance.
Today, UN member states voted overwhelmingly to affirm the new Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The goal of the GCR is to forge a stronger, fairer, more predictable response to global refugee movements.
RefugePoint is particularly gratified that the GCR aligns so closely with the mission that we have pursued since our founding, and will continue to pursue. This includes expanding opportunities for refugee self-reliance and expanding access to third countries through resettlement and other pathways of admission. RefugePoint also shares the goal of supporting host communities and easing pressure on countries hosting large numbers of refugees.
Congratulations to UNHCR for leading the challenging two-year process of negotiating this historic text. This is the most significant international agreement on refugees of our generation — arguably the most significant since the 1951 Refugee Convention, which is the foundation of international refugee law. The GCR reaffirms the ongoing relevance of the 1951 Convention, and comes at a time when the number of refugees globally is the highest ever recorded (over 25.4 million refugees globally).
While the governments of the world affirmed this Compact, it belongs to all of us and it is incumbent on us to find ways to support its aims. RefugePoint will redouble its efforts to create and expand solutions for refugees and to support the humanitarian community to do the same.
To learn more about the GCR and its importance, check out this video created by UNHCR.
Today, UN member states voted overwhelmingly to affirm the new Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The goal of the GCR is to forge a stronger, fairer, more predictable response to global refugee movements.
RefugePoint is particularly gratified that the GCR aligns so closely with the mission that we have pursued since our founding, and will continue to pursue. This includes expanding opportunities for refugee self-reliance and expanding access to third countries through resettlement and other pathways of admission. RefugePoint also shares the goal of supporting host communities and easing pressure on countries hosting large numbers of refugees.
Congratulations to UNHCR for leading the challenging two-year process of negotiating this historic text. This is the most significant international agreement on refugees of our generation — arguably the most significant since the 1951 Refugee Convention, which is the foundation of international refugee law. The GCR reaffirms the ongoing relevance of the 1951 Convention, and comes at a time when the number of refugees globally is the highest ever recorded (over 25.4 million refugees globally).
While the governments of the world affirmed this Compact, it belongs to all of us and it is incumbent on us to find ways to support its aims. RefugePoint will redouble its efforts to create and expand solutions for refugees and to support the humanitarian community to do the same.
To learn more about the GCR and its importance, check out this video created by UNHCR.
Barrie Landry and the Landry Family, longtime generous supporters and champions of RefugePoint, will sell a private collection of Hudson River School paintings to benefit philanthropies that support the global refugee crisis, including UNICEF, RefugePoint, and The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The paintings, from the Collection of Kevin and Barrie Landry, will be offered by Christie’s in the American Art sale on November 20 in New York.
Artists include Frederic Edwin Church, Asher Brown Durand, George Henry Durrie, Sanford Robinson Gifford, David Johnson, and John Kensett, among others. Comprised of 13 lots, the collection is expected to realize in excess of $2,000,000.
Speaking about the decision to donate auction proceeds to support the global refugee crisis, Barrie remarks, “Our country was founded on the principle of E pluribus Unum, out of many one. Our country’s diversity and welcoming of others has made us strong and will continue to make America strong.”
RefugePoint is extremely grateful for Barrie Landry’s longtime support of RefugePoint and the global refugee crisis and we commend her for her innovative philanthropic efforts.
FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (1826-1900)
On Otter Creek
Oil on canvas
Painted in 1850
Estimate: $400,000-600,000
ASHER BROWN DURAND (1796-1886)
Haymaking
Oil on canvas
Painted in 1854
Estimate: $250,000-350,000
SANFORD ROBINSON GIFFORD (1823-1880)
Lake Winnipesaukee
Oil on canvas
Estimate: $200,000-300,000
LOUIS RÉMY MIGNOT (1831-1870)
Tropical Landscape
Oil on canvas
Painted in 1858
Estimate: $150,000-250,000
JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT (1816-1872)
Duck Hunter, First Beach, Newport, Rhode Island
Oil on canvas
Painted circa 1859
Estimate: $200,000-300,000
Barrie Landry and the Landry Family, longtime generous supporters and champions of RefugePoint, will sell a private collection of Hudson River School paintings to benefit philanthropies that support the global refugee crisis, including UNICEF, RefugePoint, and The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The paintings, from the Collection of Kevin and Barrie Landry, will be offered by Christie’s in the American Art sale on November 20 in New York.
Artists include Frederic Edwin Church, Asher Brown Durand, George Henry Durrie, Sanford Robinson Gifford, David Johnson, and John Kensett, among others. Comprised of 13 lots, the collection is expected to realize in excess of $2,000,000.
Speaking about the decision to donate auction proceeds to support the global refugee crisis, Barrie remarks, “Our country was founded on the principle of E pluribus Unum, out of many one. Our country’s diversity and welcoming of others has made us strong and will continue to make America strong.”
RefugePoint is extremely grateful for Barrie Landry’s longtime support of RefugePoint and the global refugee crisis and we commend her for her innovative philanthropic efforts.
On November 6, RefugePoint succeeded in securing $1 million to support an emergency campaign with Focusing Philanthropy. We closed the campaign with a gift of $25,000 from a long-time RefugePoint supporter, Lekha Singh. These campaign funds support the evacuation of unaccompanied refugee children and others at great risk from Libya and the region and their resettlement to European Union and other countries.
RefugePoint is working hand in hand with the UN Refugee Agency on these efforts to protect refugees seeking dignity and safety whose lives hang in the balance.
Focusing Philanthropy, a charitable organization that supports effective nonprofits on the front lines of the world’s greatest challenges, matched all donations to reach the $1,000,000 goal.
A fundamental step in completing the campaign occurred when RefugePoint received the 2018 Espíritu Award from the Isabel Allende Foundation, which was accompanied by a $100,000 gift. The award is in recognition of RefugePoint’s unique work to find lasting solutions for the world’s most at-risk refugees.
RefugePoint thanks all of the donors who supported this campaign and saw the urgency of this crisis, as well as Focusing Philanthropy, a devoted partner in working to support and protect refugees in life-threatening situations.
On November 6, RefugePoint succeeded in securing $1 million to support an emergency campaign with Focusing Philanthropy. We closed the campaign with a gift of $25,000 from a long-time RefugePoint supporter, Lekha Singh. These campaign funds support the evacuation of unaccompanied refugee children and others at great risk from Libya and the region and their resettlement to European Union and other countries.
RefugePoint is working hand in hand with the UN Refugee Agency on these efforts to protect refugees seeking dignity and safety whose lives hang in the balance.
Focusing Philanthropy, a charitable organization that supports effective nonprofits on the front lines of the world’s greatest challenges, matched all donations to reach the $1,000,000 goal.
A fundamental step in completing the campaign occurred when RefugePoint received the 2018 Espíritu Award from the Isabel Allende Foundation, which was accompanied by a $100,000 gift. The award is in recognition of RefugePoint’s unique work to find lasting solutions for the world’s most at-risk refugees.
RefugePoint thanks all of the donors who supported this campaign and saw the urgency of this crisis, as well as Focusing Philanthropy, a devoted partner in working to support and protect refugees in life-threatening situations.
In 2013, Esther* and her ten children were forced to flee their home country of Congo after her husband, a human rights activist, was abducted, and the rest of the family was brutally attacked. In Nairobi, Esther and her children lived with a friend in a one-room home and were barely able to afford one meal per day. Although Esther was earning a small income through selling cassava leaves, a traditional vegetable, and contributing her income towards rent and food, the living situation for the family was unsafe.
A year after her arrival to Nairobi, a RefugePoint Community Navigator introduced Esther to RefugePoint, where Esther and her family were assessed to be at significant risk, and received a wide range of services, including food assistance, group counseling sessions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), assistance in finding a new and improved housing situation, and assistance with non-food items like mattresses, blankets and bed sheets. Additionally, Esther completed RefugePoint’s business skills training and received a grant of Ksh. 13,000 ($130 USD), which enabled her to grow her small business of preparing and selling traditional vegetables and fish.
Esther used some of the grant money to purchase a freezer to store her prepared food products for next-day deliveries. This saved Esther half a day’s work, as she no longer had to wake up early, travel to the farm to collect vegetables, and process the vegetables before Delivery. Esther continued her engagement with RefugePoint, attending business mentorship sessions, which allowed her to brainstorm ways to build her business with other RefugePoint clients. In September 2017, Esther received an additional grant of Ksh. 20,000 ($200 USD), which she used to buy oil, dried fish, and kitenge cloth, to expand her business. Esther’s business is currently doing well.
She says that the greatest skills she learned from the RefugePoint business training were networking and identifying her competition. She has now established a wide customer base, and relies greatly on referrals.
*Name changed for anonymity
In 2013, Esther* and her ten children were forced to flee their home country of Congo after her husband, a human rights activist, was abducted, and the rest of the family was brutally attacked. In Nairobi, Esther and her children lived with a friend in a one-room home and were barely able to afford one meal per day. Although Esther was earning a small income through selling cassava leaves, a traditional vegetable, and contributing her income towards rent and food, the living situation for the family was unsafe.
A year after her arrival to Nairobi, a RefugePoint Community Navigator introduced Esther to RefugePoint, where Esther and her family were assessed to be at significant risk, and received a wide range of services, including food assistance, group counseling sessions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), assistance in finding a new and improved housing situation, and assistance with non-food items like mattresses, blankets and bed sheets. Additionally, Esther completed RefugePoint’s business skills training and received a grant of Ksh. 13,000 ($130 USD), which enabled her to grow her small business of preparing and selling traditional vegetables and fish.
Esther used some of the grant money to purchase a freezer to store her prepared food products for next-day deliveries. This saved Esther half a day’s work, as she no longer had to wake up early, travel to the farm to collect vegetables, and process the vegetables before Delivery. Esther continued her engagement with RefugePoint, attending business mentorship sessions, which allowed her to brainstorm ways to build her business with other RefugePoint clients. In September 2017, Esther received an additional grant of Ksh. 20,000 ($200 USD), which she used to buy oil, dried fish, and kitenge cloth, to expand her business. Esther’s business is currently doing well.
She says that the greatest skills she learned from the RefugePoint business training were networking and identifying her competition. She has now established a wide customer base, and relies greatly on referrals.
As an integral part of RefugePoint’s program in Nairobi, the counseling team helps to stabilize and empower refugee clients to achieve self-reliance by enhancing their support systems and by strengthening their social networks through individual and group therapy sessions. Group therapy sessions allow members to express themselves in a safe and supportive environment with the aim of enhancing the clients’ coping mechanisms and offering a space in which to re-structure collapsed social networks.
Betty* is a client who has benefited tremendously from the counseling services at RefugePoint. When war broke out in 2008 in Betty’s home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, she managed to escape to Kenya with her two children. Once in Nairobi, she befriended a Kenyan woman who hosted the family until 2012. After this, she faced many burdens alone. She became pregnant and developed ulcers. When she visited a government health facility for medical attention, she was diagnosed with a serious illness, and cut off all communication from the world after her diagnosis. She didn’t know how she was going to cope.
A few months later, RefugePoint visited Betty to find out how she was doing and in 2014, Betty enrolled into group counseling sessions where she participated actively in identifying ways in which she could manage her emotions and behaviors. She spoke candidly about feelings of shame and about her self-perception. Betty identified coping strategies that would work for her, including positive self-talk, building social networks with Kenyan friends, acceptance of her past life, prayer, keeping busy with her small business of selling shoes, and having loving moments with her three children. In January 2016, Betty graduated from the counseling sessions and her case was forwarded to Australia for resettlement consideration.
Through counseling, I was assured that life must go on. That there is more to me…and I started to believe that.” RefugePoint’s doors will continue to remain open to her when she needs someone to talk to.
*Name changed for anonymity
As an integral part of RefugePoint’s program in Nairobi, the counseling team helps to stabilize and empower refugee clients to achieve self-reliance by enhancing their support systems and by strengthening their social networks through individual and group therapy sessions. Group therapy sessions allow members to express themselves in a safe and supportive environment with the aim of enhancing the clients’ coping mechanisms and offering a space in which to re-structure collapsed social networks.
Betty* is a client who has benefited tremendously from the counseling services at RefugePoint. When war broke out in 2008 in Betty’s home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, she managed to escape to Kenya with her two children. Once in Nairobi, she befriended a Kenyan woman who hosted the family until 2012. After this, she faced many burdens alone. She became pregnant and developed ulcers. When she visited a government health facility for medical attention, she was diagnosed with a serious illness, and cut off all communication from the world after her diagnosis. She didn’t know how she was going to cope.
A few months later, RefugePoint visited Betty to find out how she was doing and in 2014, Betty enrolled into group counseling sessions where she participated actively in identifying ways in which she could manage her emotions and behaviors. She spoke candidly about feelings of shame and about her self-perception. Betty identified coping strategies that would work for her, including positive self-talk, building social networks with Kenyan friends, acceptance of her past life, prayer, keeping busy with her small business of selling shoes, and having loving moments with her three children. In January 2016, Betty graduated from the counseling sessions and her case was forwarded to Australia for resettlement consideration.
Through counseling, I was assured that life must go on. That there is more to me…and I started to believe that.” RefugePoint’s doors will continue to remain open to her when she needs someone to talk to.
Many refugees emphasize to us their desire to be self-reliant, and request support to get back to their independent lives in their new homes. Henri* is one such client. Henri completed business training and received a small start-up grant of $200 USD. Henri decided to start a business that none of our other clients had ever attempted to do before – he wanted to peel, cut, and package mixed vegetables to sell as a convenience item. Unlike items like fabric, second-hand shoes, or quick-selling things like tea, our Livelihoods team wondered if the demand for such a product, which spoils quickly, would succeed. Every day, at three in the morning, Henri walks to the local market to buy vegetables, including carrots, beans, and eggplant. The journey to the market takes Henri three hours. He makes much of the trip in the dark in unsafe sections of the city, but he has arranged to walk each day with a group to ensure greater protection.
With his wife, Henri prepares and packages the vegetables in small plastic bags sealed with wax from a candle. Once prepared, Henri walks around his neighborhood and sells the packaged vegetables to schools, households, offices, hotels, and restaurants. Henri has a diverse group of clients, including people from Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Kenya.
When he began his business, Henri used to sell five bags of vegetables per day. Each bag of vegetables sells for about 50 cents. Now, just a few months later, Henri sells 50 bags each day and he is not able to meet demand for his product. Henri is hopeful that he will soon be able to hire others so that he can keep pace with the demand.
*Name changed for anonymity
Many refugees emphasize to us their desire to be self-reliant, and request support to get back to their independent lives in their new homes. Henri* is one such client. Henri completed business training and received a small start-up grant of $200 USD. Henri decided to start a business that none of our other clients had ever attempted to do before – he wanted to peel, cut, and package mixed vegetables to sell as a convenience item. Unlike items like fabric, second-hand shoes, or quick-selling things like tea, our Livelihoods team wondered if the demand for such a product, which spoils quickly, would succeed. Every day, at three in the morning, Henri walks to the local market to buy vegetables, including carrots, beans, and eggplant. The journey to the market takes Henri three hours. He makes much of the trip in the dark in unsafe sections of the city, but he has arranged to walk each day with a group to ensure greater protection.
With his wife, Henri prepares and packages the vegetables in small plastic bags sealed with wax from a candle. Once prepared, Henri walks around his neighborhood and sells the packaged vegetables to schools, households, offices, hotels, and restaurants. Henri has a diverse group of clients, including people from Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Kenya.
When he began his business, Henri used to sell five bags of vegetables per day. Each bag of vegetables sells for about 50 cents. Now, just a few months later, Henri sells 50 bags each day and he is not able to meet demand for his product. Henri is hopeful that he will soon be able to hire others so that he can keep pace with the demand.
