The Safe House: An Enclave of Peace and Hope

Frances* is a young girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At RefuSHE, she is pursuing her high school degree and will sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in the next two years.  She is also taking business education, financial literacy, and vocational training courses at RefuSHE. She is preparing to sit for her tailoring examination, accredited by the Kenya National Industrial and Technical Authority (NITA), in December. When she’s not studying, she manages her own perfume business and hopes to expand it after finishing her studies.  

Frances came to Kenya after her father, who was part of an opposition party in DRC, was killed. Her mother became a target as well. Fearing for her life, she ran away, leaving Frances alone with her older sister Mary*. Two men later came looking for their mother, but when they only found Frances and Mary, they sexually assaulted and beat them. Their mother never came back. A neighbor, an elderly woman, brought them to a religious leader for help. He took Frances and Mary in, but he and his wife abused them. The girls would go to sleep without food and were not taken to school. They were forbidden from talking to neighbors, and if they happen to talk with them, they were beaten. The abuse continued to the point that the wife threatened to poison the children.  The husband then decided to take them to UNHCR. 

UNHCR referred Frances and Mary to RefuSHE. They moved to the RefuSHE Safe House where they were provided food, clothing, and shelter. Frances and Mary were also enrolled in the Girls Empowerment Project (GEP) to continue their primary school education and Kiswahili and English language skills. After staying in the Safe House for more than six months, Frances and Mary were placed in a foster home.  

Today, Frances and her sister are thriving.  Frances has become a leader in the RefuSHE community through her determination, strength, and perseverance. When she first joined the GEP, she was very shy and unable to speak English or Kiswahili. With RefuSHE’s psycho-social support and holistic services, she has built her confidence, sense of empowerment, and self-reliance. Frances continues to demonstrate outstanding performance in both class and extracurricular activities and is a role model for the other girls. They nominated her to be their student leader, and she is active in the RefuSHE community as a Junior Ambassador Group (JAG) member. As a JAG member, Frances ignites community dialogues around sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response, life skills, and human rights. Through community trainings, Frances and her fellow JAG members identify vulnerable cases for referrals to RefuSHE’s core programs.  

In April 2019, Frances participated in a trauma-informed yoga training. This training taught Frances to be a teacher of therapeutic practices that she can show others dealing with the symptoms of trauma. Frances plans to continue her community outreach work after graduation. RefuSHE is connecting her with other refugee artisans in the community who can share best practices in business, how they got started, and helpful knowledge of the neighborhood markets. RefuSHE is honored to serve Frances as she embodies our core values of respect, honor, and dignity.  

“When I lived outside, I was stressed, but when I came to [RefuSHE], they provided for us counseling to address our psychological problems.” 

*Name has been changed for protection and security reasons 

Amba* was 17 years old when civil war erupted in her community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Instead of spending her days at school or with friends, Amba and her family were forced into hiding for fear of persecution and violence from the armed Mai-Mai militia. Amba described some of her experience, saying, “When war broke, we hid ourselves in the mountain for about eight nights. From the mountain, we saw a battle between Mai-Mai groups, we had nothing to eat, and it was such an awful ordeal.”

Amba ’s home was sprayed with bullets, and the violence made it unsafe to go to school for months at a time. Before the war, there was peaceful coexistence with others. During our session, Amba recalled, “Before, I used to enjoy the nature around my house and the food coming from the land. I woke up every morning to the sound of birds singing. The civil war forced my family to leave this house and to start the journey to be refugees.”

The violence separated Amba from her parents in 2016. She and her cousin Cécile* were left to find their way to the country’s border with Kenya. During their journey, a missionary van headed to Nairobi picked them up along the way and brought them to Nairobi. Arriving in a new place with her cousin, Amba found that meeting different people with a different culture in a new country wasn't easy. But it was peaceful and safe compared to their civil war-torn home in DRC. “When we arrived, I was overwhelmed, everything was different. I couldn’t speak any Kiswahili or English. The culture was so different, but at the same time I felt so welcome and supported,” Amba said.

Amba and Cécile lived together in the Nairobi neighborhood of Kayole, but still faced many challenges in their new home. Amba moved from job to job, working as a house maid. One morning, Amba woke up to find her cousin missing. Cécile never came home to Amba, and to this day she still does not know what happened to her cousin.

Amba, still a teenager, found herself alone. She eventually found a position as a nanny for a woman named Wanda* and earned room and board for her work. One Sunday night, Wanda’s husband came home drunk and took advantage of Amba. She was too scared to tell anyone about the assault. Soon after, her employers fired her.

After leaving Wanda’s house, Amba felt sick and sought medical help at a local clinic. She found out she was pregnant. Alone, pregnant, and traumatized, Amba needed more than just medical care. She had suffered severe violence, abuse, and trauma in not only her journey to Nairobi, but also at the hands of her employers. The clinic alerted UNHCR about her case, and they referred her to the RefuSHE Safe House for temporary protection in January 2018. By the time Amba was welcomed to the Safe House, she had given birth to her son Fred.

When she first joined the Safe House, Amba had difficulty socializing and interacting with other beneficiaries. Safe House staff made sure Amba had counseling sessions, which have helped her to heal and recuperate.

Now Amba wants to give back to people who are on a similar journey to safety and have experienced similar hardships. Amba noted, “I know how hard it is, I went through it, I lived it, and I want to help other people feel welcome in their new home the way I was helped when we first came to Kenya.”

She further reflected, “It's not easy to start over in a new place. Exile is not for everyone. The loneliness is a terrible thing; it takes all your thoughts and engulfs you. I believe in resettlement to a good country that is safe and secure.”

Since moving to the Safe House in early 2018, Amba feels that RefuSHE has instilled her sense of hope. She and Fred are doing well and feel safe, protected, and nurtured by the RefuSHE community. Amba is still processing the trauma she went through with the support of Safe House case managers and psychotherapy counselors, but she is looking towards to her future. She is enrolled in RefuSHE’s accelerated education program through the Girls Empowerment Project (GEP) and is learning English and Kiswahili. Her favorite subjects are English and math, and she is strengthening her tailoring skills through RefuSHE’s vocational training program. Amba dreams of becoming a designer and is excited to further her studies through the GEP.

*Name has been changed for protection and security reasons