In 2015, Diane was forced to flee from Burundi to Kenya with her three children. Diane’s husband died during the war that forced them to flee their home, and Diane, far from her family and friends, found herself without a support network in Nairobi. Since Diane wasn’t fluent in Kiswahili or English, she wasn’t able to find a good job and was paid very little. She was struggling to survive. In 2019, Anne-Marie, a RefugePoint Community Navigator in her area, identified her as a refugee in need. After an initial assessment, Diane and her family began receiving food support and rent assistance. Diane also completed RefugePoint’s Business Development Skills (BDS) training and was awarded a $300 grant to start a small business selling African print fabrics, also known as kitenge. RefugePoint also supported Diane with counseling services so that she could learn skills to cope with her situation, including the loss of her husband. Diane’s children re-enrolled in school through RefugePoint’s support of their school fees.
“My life has changed. I used to be in a mabati (a house made of galvanized iron sheets) for so long. It was so bad. Now I’ve moved into a single-roomed stone house. My children were so happy to get out of there. They encourage me to try my best so that we never have to go back there. Our future will be better,” she told us with a smile as we spoke to her at her home in January 2021. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a slowdown in Diane’s kitenge business, but she was proactive and began making and selling mandazi, a type of deep-fried dough snack, to supplement her income. This fried snack is a favorite in her neighborhood. Now, Diane makes at least $5 per day, which she puts towards rent, necessities for her family, and paying her children’s school fees.
Cover: Diane prepares some mandazi at her home in Kawangware.