Djamaba

When a community joins together to accomplish a shared goal, great things can happen! Djamaba, a refugee from Congo, suffers from a lung disease and requires breathing support through an oxygen concentrator machine. Due to the high cost, Djamaba could not afford the machine that he needed for his home, and so he would spend months at a time in the hospital, away from his family. “Every day my wife would come to the hospital. Every day the children would ask for me. It was as though they were slowly losing hope,” Djamaba told us.

Word quickly spread around Djamaba’s neighborhood of Kitengela, where he and his family have lived for eight years, that he desperately needed an oxygen concentrator, so that he could return home to his wife and children. The cost of the machine was $1,500. The community decided to begin a group fundraising effort, called a Harambee, to sponsor Djamaba’s oxygen concentrator.

“The Harambee (fundraiser) was done at my church and coordinated by the pastor. Many people attended, and everyone gave what they could. On that day we raised $1,040, and I was able to get the machine, although I still have a balance of $460. I was so happy, and I was so thankful. I knew on that day that God had heard my prayers and had created a way for me, through this community that I live in. I may not be healthy, but at least I am at home with my wife and children, and I get to spend time with them now. I get to create and share memories with them.”