This is the story of Janvier Hafasha – originally from the Rutshuru zone of north Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now living in the Kyaka refugee settlement in Uganda. Janvier is one of nearly 400,000 people (according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) who have been terrorized out of Rutshuru, most of them fleeing to Uganda.
Janvier is much more than a refugee. He is an extraordinary leader who, despite suffering almost unimaginable personal tragedies, has gone on to co-found an organization that nurtures and develops children in the Kyaka refugee camp– ensuring that they are not only fed but that they heal and grow stronger by learning to share their stories and by protecting those who have disabilities and are even more vulnerable than they are.
This is the story of Janvier Hafasha – originally from the Rutshuru zone of north Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now living in the Kyaka refugee settlement in Uganda. Janvier is one of nearly 400,000 people (according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) who have been terrorized out of Rutshuru, most of them fleeing to Uganda.
Janvier is much more than a refugee. He is an extraordinary leader who, despite suffering almost unimaginable personal tragedies, has gone on to co-found an organization that nurtures and develops children in the Kyaka refugee camp– ensuring that they are not only fed but that they heal and grow stronger by learning to share their stories and by protecting those who have disabilities and are even more vulnerable than they are.
Welcome to another episode of Migrant Odyssey stories of and about migrants of all kinds People seeking a better life, people fleeing an unbearable one, All, I suspect, wishing they could fulfill themselves in their home countries. My guest today is Janvier Hafasha, originally from the Ritur zone of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now living in the Kyaka refugee settlement in Uganda. Jean-vier is one of nearly 400,000 people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who have been terrorized out of Ritur, most of them fleeing to Uganda. Jean-vier is much more than a refugee. He is an extraordinary leader who, despite suffering almost unimaginable personal tragedies, has gone on to co-found an organization that nurtures and develops children in the Chiaka refugee camp, ensuring that they are not only fed but that they heal and they grow stronger by learning to share their stories and by learning to protect those who have disabilities and are even more vulnerable than they are First. I think it might help if I just briefly sketch out something of the context of his story, the context of his country.
Stephen :The wars that have been raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have many of their historical roots in the conflicts between the colonial powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, involving not least the artificial borders created as the Belgians, Germans and British squabbled over who would get what territory. What is now the DRC was, from 1885 to 1908, called the Congo Free State, the private possession of one King Leopold II of Belgium. The National Geographic, amongst others, estimates that during those 23 years, half of the Congolese population, that's half of the Congolese population, died from punishment, torture, forced labor and malnutrition. After international pressure, the country was handed over to Belgium as a colony and renamed the Belgian Congo, Under occupation by the Belgians. In whatever form it was left very largely undeveloped. Its population was divided against itself and its economy continued to be stripped of its plentiful natural resources. Those conflicts and the corruption multiplied after independence in 1960, exacerbated by internal civil wars, by the struggles of its many neighboring states and by multiple internal and foreign rivals trying to control or at least extract that huge natural mineral wealth, which is a recurring story.
Stephen :The Democratic Republic of the Congo is bordered, in fact, by at least 10 countries. Those are the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. It has a population of around 112 million. It's the second largest country in Africa and it's officially the most populous francophone nation in the world. Despite that extraordinary natural mineral wealth, including vast quantities of cobalt and lithium, it's ranked near the bottom of the Human Development Index. This is a country that has been in trauma for many many years.
Stephen :So that's the bigger picture. Back to the story of Jean-Vierre HaFashe. When Jean-Vierre was finally forced to flee from the DRC to Uganda as a young teenager, he and his family had had to abandon their homes within the country at least twice before, and on one occasion his father was slaughtered in front of him. Finally, as you'll hear, mai Mai Rebels, one of 120 armed militias operating in the area, descended on and destroyed his village and, with it, the heart of his family. Jean-vierre, welcome to Migrant Odyssey and thank you for sharing your story with us.
Janvier:I'm honored to be here. Thank you for having me too.
Stephen :This violence that had been going on came to your village at one stage and affected you directly in the most vile way. Can you tell me, if you can, something about what happened and what then caused you to flee, and how old were you?
Janvier:Well, it is very hard moment for me, to be honest, that whenever I say it, I feel like I'm back in the same community. I'm sure it's-- well - It puts me back to the darkness, to feel like I'm not a human being. But on well, how it happened was at 9 pm. It was the end of the year, when we are closing, going to another year, this where it happened the Rebels, the Maimai Rebels . They had to break out into our house and Sorry, who were the?
Janvier:Maimai Maimai. It's a group of Lebes within DRC Congo, so they entered and and they were.
Stephen :What was their cause? Why did they break into your village?
Janvier:The Maimai. They just attack everywhere. They don't have specification For them. They are there to kill, they are there to destroy, they are there to harm because they have - they burn villages and they kidnap people, especially youths. They take them to train them, they give them weapons and then the kid is come back into the community the meaning, when they don't have any heart of people, they shoot and kill. So that's them, that's them and they. We wonder, where do they get resources? Where do they get weapons? And yet they are fellow Congolese within our country. So that's how we come to know all. They are supported by people behind of this, what they can have access to, what they need in their country. So these are the group of the people who attacked our community.
Janvier:They burnt the village and, if I'm not mistaken, my life I've been running, running in the villages about five. I was born in Gombert, but running I was, imagine coming from Buganza. So you could see that you migrate, you reach here. They burn the village. You are going to reach here. You burn the village. You have been able to get some clothes, you need to at least have shoes, but in one night they burn. You just run, having only what you have on your body. You don't carry anything.
Stephen :So, Janvier, sorry to interrupt. So, basically, are you saying to me that when you were five, they came and attacked your village and you had to run away, and then again, when you were how old, eight or whatever, they came again to another village which you were in and they attacked that as well? So this was not the first time, this was the second or the third time you had had to run away. Is that right?
Janvier:It was the third time to run away within my country. Within my country, yeah, and it also happened in 2007 when my dad passed on. It's when we ran and we saw him dying, chopping him like animals with machete, and that's what they used to kill they used machete and wooden spears. So that's how we survived in 2007 in a village called Buganza. It's also within Kivu. It's also within North Kivu, in Rutshuru. So where we went, it's where we had set the place for about to some good five years. That was in 2012. It's where now it happened, when they attacked, and they were three rebels who came and they had to attack my home.
Janvier:I was, I was then a teen, by then I was made 15 years, I was staying just within home and these people, they entered into our house. It I remember it was even my first birthday we had celebrated, because in my life I had never celebrated the birthday and, of course, because of over the running and having nothing to eat, it's when my mom had prepared my best meal, which is mashed Irish, and after eating with a smile, I never knew that it was the end of her life, because it is very. It's very that night, when they came and I just heard, I heard "Nisaidie hey, help me, help me. Once I stepped into the house and I saw that our mamu's house was open, I was like what is this? Because I've just left this house. So, stepping in, I saw the guy on top of my mom and another one, a guy holding a gun, and then my two siblings. They had tied them with ropes and had put gum like they could not be able to speak. Immediately when I entered in the house and this guy says, ahah, this is your son, and also after after me, he's the next. So they -their intention was for me to use my mom and before the children. So my mom. Could Aram just say you go, you leave this place, you go. But I was confused. I was like now, where should I go? What is happening here? I was really puzzled. And in that moment that's when now we had another nearby home, also Aram, being saying hey, we need help. And the guy now, with the break, stepped outside to see what is happening outside our home. And now me.
Janvier:I used that opportunity to grab my two siblings, to use the behind door to run out to save our lives. By stepping outside, in just in a few minutes we heard the bullet within our house and then realized that that's our mum. Now there's no more. So we were there, we had a whole night in the bush with the two siblings and in the morning, coming back to the community, it was. It was a mess, and my, my mom had passed on.
Janvier:I never got a chance to meet her or to see her, to see her body, and on us even our community members were crying asking for help. While we were dead we just saw ambulances of Lady Cross coming to call out to body station them away. So we realized that here we are not safe. We need to go ahead, because they could even tell by the thinness, by looking at how is your appearance and even the pronunciation, how you speak. They can tell, this is from this tribe. We went to the nearby church it's where we got the shelter and only thing we could eat was just only eating porridge, just making porridge. And that's lunch, that is breakfast and that is it. Unfortunately, when we spent the three days, again they, they had to burn still our - the church and then we had again to run.
Stephen :And now they came sorry, they came to burn the church as well. They came to burn down the church. Is that right?
Janvier:Yes, they burnt the church and this church had over over 200 people who had survived, where they come for a shelter, where they could come and get something to eat, and they came. They burnt the place because they realised that church has people and these are the people that they also want. So I and my siblings that's where we are putting up for three days and then again, when the fire came in, we had to depart ways right To part ways to land, run and in general, running. That's how I parted ways with my siblings. They took their direction. I also took my own direction and until now, I have not them. I don't know if they're alive, I don't know where they are and up to date and it started from there, when we were all running I spent some good time running, running within Congo, and I went to the nearby village which was close ? the bomb?.
Janvier:It's where I spent some other time up to 2015, 2016. And now there it's where, now again, they attacked and killing youth, taking them and use them to kill people. I realized that still here, I'm not safe. I really loved my country with my heart, because that's the place I could call home. Again. I had to run and it took me some three weeks running in the forest drinking contaminated water full of blood, and this is something that is really weird to say, but at times you could be drinking water full of blood, just a chopped head of somebody running in water, running with blood, and just just remove your face, it goes out and then you drink because, plus, we are like whatever comes, we have no option, because you don't know how, if you have the two minutes you could be running. You see your friend who is in front of you, the guy the bridge has a shoot is down. You can't have a chance to save him or her. We just jump over and we just run.
Janvier:So, reaching at the border of Uganda and Congo, I never knew because they just reached there. And then I saw soldiers like, they hey stand. I'm, like, shoot me. Because by then we were like we are tired of life, we are like whatever comes, we don't care. And then these guys are like oh no, we are not here to harm you, we are, we are, we are from Uganda, this is the border of Uganda, we are here to save you. And I was like, who are you For us? We, we don't care, because we are really tired of life, due to what we have gone through and what we have been experiencing all the years. And they had to check us. They took us on a side. It's where we spent some two days, three days, verifying us and asking us questions when do you come from, who are you, how many are you?
Janvier:And that's how now I came to enter Uganda in 2017, in December.
Janvier:That's when I stepped into the border over Uganda and they took us to a transit camp, which is the Nyakabande transit camp. That is a transit which is between Uganda, Congo and Rwanda, so it hosted refugees who are coming from the different borders, who have managed to across the border, now coming to look for a civil life. So that's where I spent my time, and also life was hard because the place was too cold under the mountain, eating was hard, sleeping was cement and again the trauma came back when I saw some small children running, running around there. If I can see my siblings and put them in a good place, let's see them. It was very hard moment for me, very hard moment for me, and after a month I think it was after some weeks in January 2018, now we are transferred from the transit camp. Now we are taken to the refugee settlement where I am, Chaka 2 refugee settlement which is in the western Uganda. It's now a place where I call home and it is a home of 130,000 population of refugees.
Stephen :And your siblings. Was that brother, and sister or sisters? What are they?
Janvier:The siblings were a sister and a brother.
Stephen :And how old were they when you were separated?
Janvier:When I separated with them, one was 10 and another one was making seven there the. Because the (the parents) took long to add me, I was the first born home and it had taken long for my mom to conceive the pregnant. So they were still too young. They were still too young up to now.
Stephen :Janvier, quick question and then I want to talk about some of the stuff that you've moved onto. A couple of questions. One is that this has clearly been a huge trauma, not just that awful time when your mother was killed and your father was killed, but you've been through all these traumas, continuously going through these traumas, for a long time, for probably 10 years, and that clearly affected you and you know that it's affected you. Did you, have you ever received help, trauma therapy, anything like that?
Janvier:Oh, yes, I have, and I think this is why I am now able and strong to share, because before I could not speak anything related to my life experience or my lifeline, because whenever I could share I could say I could fail to speak and then I just shut down. And in July 2022, it's when I was priveleged to travel to Cape Town for a short course and this way I got a chance to meet a certain facilitator who took us through trauma healing At first time. I never liked her because my two first impressions were kind of we were seriously hitting me, I was traumatized and I remember I moved out of the class. So one of the people came to me and was like hey, why are you leaving? I'm like, Do do mind if I go to sleep? Because we used to have sojourners who could guide us and it was like okay, it is okay, but why would you want to go to sleep? Because I don't like the session and I don't like the facilitator. Because I would feel that among all the participants, the students in the class, she's looking at me, she's focusing at me, like why me, why? And of course, this woman was so good in persuading and speaking nicely, so she pushed me I had to go back to class and this year sojourner of mine, she's called Lala, Somalala.
Janvier:I went back to class and they gave some good, some exercises to make to draw your lifeline from your childhood till now. So through that drawing, remembering the years, remembering the experiences that happened, the lifeline I was really dying in my heart, crying, crying and remembering everything. I could imagine back in Congo seeing what is happening. And now, through that, they took us through trauma therapy to enable you now close your eyes, think your lifeline. And I'm sure that was one of the best sessions ever during my stay in South Africa.
Janvier:And this session helped me to really know my identity and my purpose, which enabled me to embark into my life and also be able to to select, to be the Janvier and to say no enough. And I think it's now enough. Past has passed and now I need to move on with life, because I realized that with life it's a lifeline. You never expect everything to be smooth and if it has passed, it has passed. I need to now move forward. I know my identity, I know my purpose and then I share love with others because I believe that through my life and there are others also who might not have a to to understand what's going on. And here I am and I'm able to speak about my lifeline.
Stephen :Thank you for that. And even before you had the, that trauma therapy, you had indeed embarked, had you not, on helping your fellow refugees to gain strength and resilience through your foundation? That Hodari Foundation, can you tell me something? Because from what I've seen, what I've read of, it is extraordinary work that you're doing there. Tell me something about. Why did you, why did you form a Hodari? What does it mean, what does Hodari mean and what is the work you're doing? Tell me something about the work you're doing about it. Now, to start, what does it mean? What does Hodari mean?
Janvier:Thank you so much. Hodari means - it has different meanings. It means to be strong, brave or courageous, and it's a Swahili word. Why I say strong or courageous, I believe we all need to be together to be strong and through strength I can be able now to to end the day without maybe committing suicide, maybe harming another person, maybe killing someone. Because once you're brave you're now you're able to, to stand up and say, hey, I need to find out myself. I don't need to beg and I need to be strong and get out of the comfort zone. I change myself and get something to eat. So that is the meaning of the word of Hodari. And this was born in back in 2019. It's when I got a chance to..
Janvier:volunteer with organization to so that I can be able to support my fellow refugees, especially youth, and I was got an opportunity to work with "Humanity and Inclusion for my hard to get international. I was working at the community based facilitator and this how I came to deeply understand what my fellow refugees were going through because I was working as a translator and also working as a community mobilizer and also creating like the referrals to different partners in the same consortium, like if they come running for the services. I'm like we can't do this but let me recommend this organization who will support you. So through that, that's when I came to meet a woman. In one of the sessions we had; this woman had a baby who was two weeks old and this baby is named the Imoyis. The kid was crying, crying and I was sad when they said "Kwenda Inje , like because the baby could make lots of noise. So fellow group group members are like you go outside. I felt bad hearing them fellow refugees chasing their fellow refugee in the group session. So I was like no, this not good. After this I need to go and meet and talk to her. I'm glad I made it. I talked to woman was like why are you not breastfeeding the baby? And the woman was frankly telling me that this baby does not belong to me.
Janvier:The mom passed on three days back. I felt bad because I had in my life being an orphan, what it means: you are an orphan not in your country and you're not with your relatives and you're innocent because you're two weeks old. I felt bad because I thought maybe I should do something. So it was even I remember it was a Wednesday. I said I will come to visit you, which I did.
Janvier:I had to ask the neighbors of the woman before reaching home so that I can be sure is it true what I heard? So the woman told me - the nearby neighbors - they said it's true that baby's an orphan. The mother passed on a weeks - uh days - back. She was operated while giving birth to that baby and woman, this woman this a good woman mother, had no caretaker and this woman also could never, like never, received proper medication after operation, then she was not able to handle. She passed on. I was like, oh my God, this is not good. And I had to go back to the woman. When I know what to do, because I had made a research and I had evidence, I could not again go and ask you OK, tell me about this.
Janvier:So I had to get, nearby within the community, a cattle keeper, to now start giving monthly milk to this baby, Imoyis, and I was like, I get- I was earning by then- I was earnin g one hundred dollar ,350,000 shillings - Ugandan shillings. So I was like - bu t I have big money. this big money for me, why should I keep this money when people are suffering, especially for children who are orphans. So I was like, no, I'll be paying this money and I started paying for that child.
Janvier:Within two weeks, another woman came, a friend of The the of that baby, was like, hey, I gave birth to this child. I don't have breast milk and this baby is not my first born. I have over five children but I'm not getting milk. The baby was born when it was nine - was when it was five kgs, but is three kgs. I'm like, oh, the baby was really dying and I was like, it's fine, don't worry, they should add him also. So they also had to add him on a monthly milk and I was like the hundred dollars now is running. I'm also now. I also now need to meet my basic needs. So I had to share with few people around who are really understanding me, and then we were like I think we need to do something. And now that something, that now is the birth of Hodari foundation which is currently today supporting over 125 children in the feeding, and this is done on a weekly basis.
Stephen :So you feed them, you literally feed these children on a weekly basis, or daily, whatever this is. And so these children are how old? From babies right through to how old.
Janvier:I might say from zero to 17.
Stephen :And? And how is it now funded? Because you funded the first one, right? You funded the first, you paid for the first lot and then, I assume you got other people to help as well. And then how is it now funded? Because you're now funding over a hundred kids, right, every week, correct?
Stephen :. from.
Janvier:We started this program when we in 2019 when I started, we were just having only a 20 children and we could just provide on a week porridge and with porridge I could now deduct the little salary of mine, We buy maize within the community, then we grind maize, then we store a porridge for children and then from 20 children there is a person who visited the community camp was a pastor, (indecipherable ) was a missionary based in the camp to distribute Bibles and I was telling him by saying that, hey, bible is in English, my people don't know English, so it won't be useful. It is a wasteage. I don't think it's important to give what people will not use. So I thought this guy will not come back, but after about three months he brought over 400 Bibles in English no, sorry, in Swahili. I was like this is so good. And now that's how we came together. And now he saw my feeding program with 20 children. He was so attached and now through him I got to.
Janvier:I got a bishop called Bishop Charles from the US. Charles's organization was called Walters Ministries are led by him and the wife Regina, who had now stepped up, from 20 children they became 80 children. And now this. Now we changed from now porridge, we went now to hot meal and they could eat healthy meal. This is beef, rice, posho and some vegetables, bird eggs and yellows. So it changed their lives and then they were like, hey, maybe we can see if that was more who are vulnerable Like they are there, could you add them? So now, from 80, now we have 125 children within the community. So, and now that is the organization that which still is helping us to feed them, and now through feeding them, at least we have gotten a good testimonies from our children have been able to go to school Like the school has been. The number have increased in school because this kid is able now to have energy to go to school, because they eat well. And even the performance increased. They perform well in school because they eat well, balanced diet.
Stephen :Janvier, it's not just feeding those you're doing, aren't you? You're also looking after people who you feel are marginalized. So there are people with albinism, there are people who have got handicaps. You've also taken in terms with Hodari, is that correct?
Janvier:Yes, it is correct For the children living with disabilities and albinism in the community. They are discriminated, especially in terms of albinism. They say that they are ghosts, they are statues, they are not human beings and that is not correct. Basically, this has led to traumatization and stigmatization, because these people are feeling discriminated, they feel that they are not good enough and basically they are aware that even the parents of these children are saying it is true, our kids are cursed and they are even forced to be persuaded, to pay them money, to give out kids for sacrificing, and then it's really not healthy, it's not even good. So in the feeding program, having safe-space for these children, coming together, big love, is one of the things we do in our program. Because a child has to know the threshold to his house and how did he sleep. Because we have smaller groups and these kids, they share stories in their groups to know how are you treated, how are you living, what did they eat? So these kids, at times they are too shy to speak to us, but at least they share with their fellow children and within the kids we have the ambassadors, who now get which they they share with us. Then we get to know more about the children. So then we go back and now and then we speak to the parents. So we are trying to do a social program with the caretakers of these albinos to stop them - you know -. Hey, these kids are children like others. They just lack of melanin in their body, but they are children like others. All you need is to empower them, support them, support their vision, take them to school, engage them in community dialogues. They should also expose how they speak to them and have voice to speak so that they can know all these are children like others and we are doing this through different programs like arts.
Janvier:We are doing arts, we are doing a acrobotics. We have one child who is 11 years old, mojiz, living with albinism. He is doing yoga. And these other children, they want to do yoga but they don't know. So to know, they have to befriend, Mojiz and Mojiz can teach them.
Janvier:So you can see, we are breaking that stigma through connecting them and using yoga and sports as the awareness to the children, because the children are the one who goes to fetch water, who goes to school, goes to market. So we feel we should start from children and then it will scale them to the elders and this is working out because we are looking also helping their rights in schools to enable these children to sit in front, not behind, because if they are behind their eyes they have short sightness, they cannot see what is on black board, so they need to be in front, they need to be supported with the caring families. They need sunglasses to enable them to see. They need to have lotion to support them. They need the skin not to dry because once dried, they develop wounds, and the wounds develop into cancer.
Stephen :So, basically, you have taken these children and not only fed them, but then you have been able to get them to tell each other their stories so they start to understand each other. Whether they have albinism or whether they have other problems or whether they are physically very fit, it doesn't matter. You have created communities from them. From that you are then able to feed it back to the parents so that the parents start understanding Is that correct? And then, of course, you feed it into the education system where you say these people need to have. You have fed them, so you have given them much more energy and they are able to work and they are able to study. But also, you have taken the children who have problems, who have physical problems, and you have said they are fine, they are intelligent, they are as intelligent as any other human being. They need sunglasses, they need to sit close to the front of the blackboard because they have a problem with melanin.
Stephen :So you have created this model community, almost, haven't you? That is what you are doing. It seems to me. I think you are doing it consciously, very consciously, but you are creating this model community which feeds out back into the parents and into the schools. Everything that is what you are doing, isn't it, which is extraordinary? You come out of your own trauma and during this time you were still in a trauma and yet you were able to do all this stuff. Can I ask did that help your trauma as well? Did that make you stronger to get through the trauma as well by helping others?
Janvier:Yes, it does so much because I believe , like when the special children are telling their stories, they are healing. The more they share, they cry and then it shows the inner, inner wound heals, because if they don't share, it grows. It keeps on growing, growing, growing. So for me, after learning what I learned back in South Africa, I thought I have created self-spaces for children, and this is there in the community, even in the whole country, whereby children are not given a chance to speak, even in churches. They took, they take children outside the churches and say, you go and pray, go, go, go. Even home they don't give chances to speak. How are you feeling? A child comes from school. A parent does not give a chance to the child or ask how did the school go? How was the teacher? How were you in class? But if the kid was raped and maybe not given a chance to speak, how will you know?
Janvier:So we felt that it is important to us in our program to create that small safe-environment to enable children to speak and share and through that it is, to pair in a group so that they can share the idea. Maybe this child might teach this one. Why, doesn't he know? Maybe by sharing and you cry, other children cries, they are in a general with you. It's true that, ah, I'm not alone. I have people, I have friends who are with me here, so you're healing and you're at home, you're with other children. So for me, hearing their stories and seeing them how they are growing and hearing their visions - I want to be a doctor, I want to be a teacher, I want to be a psychologist - but in the future, of course. In the future is having a school for them and having like the safe-space, like a hall for a telling story, for storytelling, where we can invite people also to come and give testimonies, inspirational leaders come and give motivational messages with cheap way so that they can say, oh, though, I'm a refugee, I'm a refugee by status, but who I am, I am able to be, who I want to become.
Janvier:These things, stories, could help. We need to have volunteers who can come who could come and serve the communities. Like if maybe someone is good in sports, someone maybe is good in a interior design, someone might be perfect maybe in acrobatics, in yoga, you know. So maybe someone might be living with disability, or maybe someone is living with albinism, but he feels like, hey, look, I'm from this country, I'm living with albinism, but you can see, I'm able to fly. I'm here with you today. Only that message can change the life of very many children. They can say, oh, I want to be like this person. Not just that, but even the children will feel loved. Someone to move from distance, come and see them. They will say, wow, we are loved. We need to start them all. We need to be also leaders of them.
Janvier:So we need to have that channel of having people who could feel free to come, not in the financial, not money, but even giving your skill. It is a sacrificial -sharing your profession, sharing your skill, donating your time to spend with us running and teachers. It is something that you cannot take for granted.
Stephen :So, basically, you're looking for people to come and volunteer for a few months or a year or whatever it is, to come and give their experience, role model, share their skills, to boost and to create an alternative vision, almost, for these children. My friend, thank you so much. That was really inspiring. I think, yes, you look for volunteers to inspire your children, but I think you're doing a very good job yourself. So I'm very proud to have met you and I really recommend your work to anybody who's listening. Thank you, my friend. Thank you very much.
Stephen :My guest today has been Janvier Hafasha. What I find extraordinary about Janvier is that he has taken his own trauma of his family being hounded, of seeing his parents killed in front of him, of losing his siblings and still not knowing where they are or even if they survive to this day, and has transformed all that pain into a purpose, into actual work to ensure that the children of his fellow refugees are healed, are strengthened and take their place in the world. And he started doing that before he himself had had any therapy at all and care for his own trauma. He could have closed down, he could have been filled with anger, but he took his experience of his own vulnerability and turned it into a tool to build a stronger, compassionate and inclusive community, and if our leaders - political, organisational or whatever - followed that example, we might make this world a safer place. As you heard, Janvier and the Hodari Foundation are looking for volunteers and role models and, of course, donations to help expand its work. If you're interested in finding out more, the website is www. hodarifoundation. org. That's Hodari H-O-D-A-R-I Foundation all one word, dot org. You can also find them on LinkedIn, twitter, facebook and Instagram, all under Hodari Foundation.
Stephen :This episode wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable help and working partnership of Deng Dak Malual. Deng Dak is a refugee, a global advocate for refugee rights and, increasingly, a speaker at many conferences on the subject. He was my first guest on Migrant Odyssey and has been responsible for introducing me to the extraordinary refugee guests for this series. Thank you for listening to this podcast. If it's been of some value to you, then I would value your following us wherever you listen to your podcasts and please do share it with your friends and anyone who might be interested. Until the next time, I'm Stephen Barden. This is Migrant Odyssey.