Pierre

In November 2019, Pierre, a RefugePoint client from Nairobi, Kenya, was invited to participate in a week-long training in Sanremo, Italy, which focused on human rights and internal displacement. Before Pierre was forced to flee his home country of Burundi in 2015, he had been working as a community worker with an NGO focused on human rights. Pierre had established strong working relationships with his colleagues and friends in his field of work, and one of these connections referred him for the training. Pierre received a lot of encouragement to participate in the training from his RefugePoint caseworker, Catherine Mwangi. Catherine and RefugePoint assisted Pierre in preparing the documentation he needed to process his visa, as well as coordinating travel insurance. 

The training, organized by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Italy, helped participants to gain a deeper understanding of the international norms underpinning the protection of internally displaced persons and refugees. The training also helped to educate participants about how governments and NGOs can participate in protecting internally displaced persons and refugees.

As part of the training, Pierre had the unique opportunity of visiting a refugee settlement in Monaco. Although Pierre’s journey as a refugee differed from the refugees he met in Monaco, he felt that he genuinely understood their experience. 

“After a few days of training, we went to Monaco, and we saw immigrants who were in prisons waiting for humanitarian associations to come and help them and perhaps give them a better hope for the future. I was able to talk with them and listen to their stories and share my own experience. They could not believe that I was a refugee in Kenya and that I was able to travel to Italy for such training. The refugees that I met in Monaco had cut across more than four countries and had risked a treacherous trek through the Sinai desert. Then, they sailed across the Mediterranean Sea in makeshift boats. They made this perilous journey with the hope that reaching Europe would offer them the opportunity for a better life. Now, they have ended up in refugee camps in Italy, facing uncertainty. They are unsure if they will ever be resettled. Their dreams of having decent housing, access to medical care and employment, are now shattered. They face an uncertain future, and I can relate to their situation. They are just like me. Their journey was longer and more difficult, but we are both refugees,” explained Pierre as he talked about his experience visiting a refugee settlement in Monaco.

Pierre was able to share some of the key learnings he took away from the training,

“I learned that some governments and associations that have a responsibility to protect refugees do not always respect the rights of displaced persons. We need to develop ways to make them understand what they must do to respect these rights. We learned that displaced persons have a right to have land to farm, to have a house, to live a normal life. They are entitled to sustainable solutions, and they must participate in the development of these sustainable solutions. This reminded me of a lot of my experience with RefugePoint and the fact that they work hand-in-hand with refugees to help them to develop solutions for themselves.

When I first arrived in Kenya, I had no source of income. Just before I met RefugePoint, I was working two jobs. During the day, I worked as a casual laborer on various construction sites, and in the evening, I would sell cooked pastries on the streets. My wife was unwell, and I needed to take care of her. It was too much to bear. When I met RefugePoint, I received food assistance, rent support, blankets and mattresses, and counseling for my wife.

Most importantly, I completed RefugePoint’s business training and received a small business grant. Using that grant, I started to sell mobile phone accessories. I now run a successful business, and I can take care of myself and my family. RefugePoint is an organization that is aware of the rights of refugees.

The training helped to deepen my knowledge regarding the rights of displaced persons and refugee rights. I continue to run my business, and I also volunteer with HIAS Kenya as a member of one of the Community Committees. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained to champion for the rights of refugees and displaced persons.”