“I come from a family of nine. I am the first person in my family to complete high school. This makes me feel good and motivated. School was difficult, considering I joined late, but I had to finish. God was faithful, and I completed high school last year (2023). Something that motivated me to join …
Esperance has always had a natural talent for business. As a 12-year-old living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she grew fruits (bananas, avocados, and sugarcanes) on her family’s homestead. After the harvesting season, she would store the fruits to ripen and sell them at the market. In 2013, Esperance and her family were forced …
Introduction In the mid 1980s civil war erupted in Sudan. Government-backed militias launched brutal attacks on villages in southern Sudan, killing numerous civilians. Thousands of young boys survived these attacks, as many had been working in cattle camps away from their homes when the violence erupted. With no ability to return to their villages, they …
In 2019, escalating conflict forced John to flee his home in the Democratic Republic of Congo in search of peace and safety. “Life was good, and we lived with other people in harmony, but the war increased,” John shared with us when we visited his shop. Today, John is a proud young entrepreneur in Nairobi …
“I heard the melody and that’s when I knew I had to learn how to play. So I left Congo with one wish: learning how to play the piano.” Joshua was forced to flee his home in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014 due to violence in the country. After arriving in Nairobi, Kenya as …
Click here to view the PDF. By Amy Slaughter, Former Chief Strategy Officer The core of RefugePoint’s work, as captured in our mission statement, is finding and expanding solutions for refugees. But what exactly are “solutions”? The term “solutions” has a precise meaning in our field of work. With this blog and graphic, we …
Francoman enjoyed working as a barber in his home country before he was forced to flee. In 2015, rebels attacked Francoman’s village, killing his father. During the violence, Francoman was separated from his mother and siblings and fled to Uganda, where he stayed for one month before moving to Kenya. After one week in Nairobi, …
Two of the most significant annual refugee-related conferences took place in Geneva earlier this month, and RefugePoint was very active in both. First, on June 3-7, was the annual Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP, formerly the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement). In keeping with the name change, this year’s event was diverse and …
Jean, who became a professional chef in 1998, has dedicated his life to training both refugees and Kenyans in the art of French cuisine. “I really love cooking. It is in my blood,” Jean said when we visited him at one of the weekly catering classes that he leads in Nairobi, Kenya. John was busy …
“I learned how to bake from my brother,” John shared when we visited his bakery in Nairobi, Kenya. “I started this work 25 years ago; even before I came to Kenya, when I was a refugee in Tanzania, I was doing this work,” John shared. In his home country, John’s older brother, Peter* frequently brought …
Join us at RefugePoint’s 20th Anniversary Gala on Tuesday, October 14. Tickets are now on sale!
