Francis

“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.