Before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked businesses worldwide, Beti, a refugee from Congo, was already struggling to support her family of four by selling fruit. Beti was recovering from injuries that she’d sustained when she fled to Nairobi, Kenya, from Congo, and was also dealing with the loss of her husband. Beti’s eldest child, a 15-year-old …
Early morning showers bring the usual confusion on the busy Kayole Spine road, with matatus (vans commonly used for public transport in Nairobi) and buses aggressively angling for space in the long line of vehicles headed towards Nairobi’s Central Business District. Heavy rain turns small dusty pathways into thick mud between the densely packed apartments …
My name is Muli, and I work as a social worker at RefugePoint. Social workers are the coaches in the case management process here at RefugePoint. Our roles include assessing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating actions required to meet our clients’ health and human services needs. One of the most significant moments in my work …
In 2015, Diane was forced to flee from Burundi to Kenya with her three children. Diane’s husband died during the war that forced them to flee their home, and Diane, far from her family and friends, found herself without a support network in Nairobi. Since Diane wasn’t fluent in Kiswahili or English, she wasn’t able …
RefugePoint’s Livelihoods program aims to enable urban refugees to achieve greater self-sufficiency and a better quality of life. Our Business Development Skills (BDS) training empowers our refugee clients with the necessary skills to run a successful business in the harsh business climate of Nairobi, Kenya. The training is a critical component of RefugePoint’s Livelihoods program …
Access to financial services, like bank accounts, helps refugees to cope with shocks, reduces exposure to risk, and stimulates local economies. This enables refugees to become self-reliant and productive members of society who contribute towards economic development. Access to bank accounts not only gives refugees a safe place to keep their money, but it also …
On August 10, 2009, Ajah, a refugee from South Sudan, was finally on her way to reunite with her son and her mother, from whom she’d been separated for more than ten years. Many years earlier, when violence broke out in her village in South Sudan, Ajah managed to escape with her mother and son, …
We’ve accomplished so much since we began in 2005, and we invite you to explore this timeline, which highlights our top 15 milestones over the past 15 years. In 2005, RefugePoint (which at that time was known as Mapendo) was founded to serve a small group of refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. These refugees had been …
In 2016, Nanziza* and her six children were forced to flee their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo when rebels attacked their neighborhood. Nanziza’s husband was at church at the time of the attack, so Nanziza was forced to flee without him. After more than a month of traveling, Nanziza and her children arrived …
