Mama Juma

“I’m proud of how far I have come. When I look back, compared to where I am, I feel I’m in a better place,” Mama Juma* tells us. Today, Mama Juma, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, runs a successful business selling shoes and is enrolled in beauty school. She dreams of being a hairdresser and hopes to gain skills that will be vital to earning a good income. Today, Mama Juma is able to purchase basic necessities like food for her family and house supplies. She is also able to cover the cost of tuition fees for two of her four children to attend school. But for Mama Juma, getting to this place of stability has been a winding journey with many twists, turns, and roadblocks. 

Throughout her life, Mama Juma endured many forms of abuse. When she arrived in Nairobi in 2018, she was forced to live in one small room with 12 people. She struggled to support her children. “In the past I used to think so little of myself. I would blame God and ask why I was like this. I would ask myself, ‘Did God create me to come and suffer? Why did he give me so many children yet I don’t have the ability to care for them?’ Each time I would blame myself,” Mama Juma shared with us. 

In 2018, Mama Juma met Akram, a RefugePoint Community Navigator. After learning about her story, Akram introduced Mama Juma to Carol, a RefugePoint Social Worker, who interviewed Mama Juma about the challenges that she and her children were facing. RefugePoint helped to stabilize Mama Juma and her children by providing food support, rent, medical, counseling and education support. Mama Juma also completed RefugePoint’s business development training and received a small grant which she used to start a business selling french fries and mandazis (a type of fried bread). Mama Juma left an abusive relationship and found a place to live independently with her children. 

Things were going well for Mama Juma and her family until one morning in 2021 when she was woken by screams from people outside of her home who were trying to break down her door to save her and her children from a fire that had started at her neighbor’s house. “I lost everything,” Mama Juma shared with us. “My neighbor and her two children died in that fire. Still, RefugePoint stood by me. My case worker, Carol, accompanied and helped me throughout. Sometimes when I remember all this my heart is in so much pain. Carol followed up and RefugePoint helped us to start over. I bought a new mattress, food, uniforms for the kids and other household items. I started receiving food rations again and RefugePoint paid my rent. Later, I was given money to restart my business.” 

It’s been 12 years since Mama Juma was forced to flee her home and two years since she narrowly escaped the fire that claimed the lives of her neighbors. Mama Juma has worked hard to create stability for her family, and she has done so with great success. “My hard work has enabled me to buy curtains, seats, and a television from the profit of my business. All my children – three boys and one girl – are doing well. My greatest desire is for my first born to excel in school and finish his education. If he could continue building his skills and finish his studies, I’ll be very happy. I want all my children to be educated and not to lack food.” 

“I have come from a bad place. The life I lived in the past was very bad. I hope for a better life; to be able to forget all the things I underwent. I know I have to keep working hard. All in all, I am very grateful.” 

*Pseudonym

Above, Mama Juma preparing French fries for her children. ©RefugePoint/Diana Karua

Watch Mama Juma video >>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyx_jDlkDT8