Will I see the Sun again? The story of 36-year-old Alice: A Congolese Refugee
Every single person who has passed through this earth has asked themselves this question. A question when life hits us over and over again, when doors slam shut in our faces, dashing any remnant of hope.
“Will I see the sun again?”
After your emotions have been laid bare, you become a bit numb and at one point, you accept your reality. Alice had reached this point, accepting that she could never start up a business or any income generating activity. A life of begging was all she knew as a single mother after she fled the political unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with her three children in 2012.
However, after every torrent, there is a rainbow. Alice had settled in one of the five refugee camps in Rwanda where World Vision operates and implements the Poverty Alleviation Coalition (PAC) project. She was enrolled in the project and received training on self-reliance. Professional guidance designed to alleviate poverty particularly among vulnerable refugees and host communities was also given to all the participants.
Alice had found a ray of hope, she recalls “The trainings transformed my fixed mindset; from thinking that it was impossible to improve my living standards because of my incompetence, to believing in myself and abilities.”
I am reminded of the Japanese tradition called Kintsugi (golden journey), also known as Kintsukuroi (golden repair) where gold is used to mend broken pottery, she said. Her restored growth mindset change had fixed the broken pieces of hope in her life.
Alice joined a savings group, took out a loan, and invested in a poultry business with just $77. Her business quickly grew and became stable, with her stock multiplying to over 100 chicken. The profit she earned was used to provide for her family’s needs and improve the wellbeing of her children.
The life she never dreamed she would have had materialised. But as Alice looked around her, seeing people living the life she once knew, she wanted to be a community change agent.
“Just like I have been able to become self-dependent and financially stable, I dream of expanding my business and offering employment opportunities to the vulnerable people in my community. I want to help them overcome poverty as well.” Alice said, so that one day when someone asks her that question she can answer confidently with a smile, “Yes. You will see the Sun again.”
The Poverty Alleviation Coalition has the ambitious goal of alleviating the poverty of 500,000 refugee and host community households in 35 countries within 5 years. The Graduation Approach project model will guide the coalition’s response for extremely poor refugees and host communities to become self-reliant. “Graduation” in this context refers to participants moving out of safety net programmes and “graduating” into income earning activities that let them sustain themselves without external subsidies.
By Sian Mwiza : Communications Intern