A REFUGEE’S PLEA FROM CONGO
Pax Lumina asks how we might reimagine gender for peace. I answer: by centering refugee women who have survived structural violence, cultural stigma, and institutional exclusion and who have nonetheless chosen to build peace, one small act at a time.
I am a refugee woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am a mother of seven children. I am the founder and coordinator of Refugee Women Care, registered in Kenya in 2025. I am currently pursuing a Master’s in Peace Studies and International Relations at Hekima University College. I was formerly the Chief of the Division of Gender, Children, and Family in South Kivu province a region ravaged by over thirty years of armed conflict. I fled to Kenya after political corruption
enabled my predecessor to reclaim my position illegally. When I pursued legal recourse, my children’s lives were endangered. I arrived with nothing. I cleaned apartments for 4,000 Kenyan Shillings per month. Today, I am a para-counsellor, a mediator-in-training, and a peacebuilding practitioner.
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