David

David* leads the RefugePoint Livelihoods team across a hallway in his building to a very small, unlit, and windowless room, filled with cooking smoke. “Before I met RefugePoint, I was here in this single room, with my family of eight – my six children and my wife and I were all in this one room. At the time that RefugePoint identified me, my life began to change. RefugePoint paid my rent and provided me a business grant. RefugePoint also provided food to my family for six months. From that time I was able to rent this new house across the hall, with two rooms. Before I met RefugePoint, it was very hard to get food. My family used to eat once a day, and it was a hardship for us. I was very empowered by RefugePoint when I received my grant, and now I am able to make many clothes. Currently, my family eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Now, I am able to pay for two rooms for my family. I can even pay for the school fees for my children.” David fled from Congo to Nairobi, Kenya with his family when a group of Mai Mai attacked their village, burning houses and killing cows. David’s daughter now suffers from a mental disability as a result of the trauma that the family experienced in Congo. David shows us all of the different orders that he is working on, including a beautiful dress, multiple men’s shirts, and fitting a suit for a young man who is about to be married. While David is speaking to us, his eldest son is busy at the sewing machine, and a young man and a young woman from the neighborhood have come to learn the art of tailoring for themselves. David received his RefugePoint business grant just one year ago, and his business is already flourishing, and the quality of life for his family has greatly improved. As one final comparison, David holds up an old metal iron in one hand and a new electric iron in the other hand, and says: “I used to use this old iron that required charcoal, and now, with the RefugePoint grant, I was able to buy this new electric iron.”

*Names changed for anonymity