During the Second Congo War (also known as the Great War of Africa), which began in August 1998, there were violent clashes between the Mai Mai, a community-based militia group, and the Rawanda-allied and ethnically Tutsi, Banyamulenge-dominated rebels. It was in the months immediately following the start of the war that the Mai Mai attacked Arcel*, aged 9 at the time and the fourth eldest, and his nine-member family in their village home in South Kivu.  The entire family – four sons, three daughters, and two parents – were scattered in different directions.   Arcel found himself fleeing along into the…

Your mobile phone beeps. You check it. A “Breaking News” alert: “Tensions grip most of Nairobi city following months of threat of attack by guerillas fighting from Ngong Forest.”  These same guerillas have taken hold of the rest of Kenya and you are targeted because of your ethnic background. Your twitter timeline is suddenly frantic with new messages: all of them talking about attacks underway in various parts of the city and beyond. You run. You run and the next time you look back, you are somewhere along the border of Tanzania. You can’t turn back. You have left with…

Over the past few months, we’ve been engaging in discussions with iHub Research, a Nairobi-based organization that works from within the nerve center of Kenya’s technology community and has expertise in technology research and facilitation of local ICT research capacity in the region. Together, we have crafted an exciting research project that aims at assessing the Refugees United family tracing service from A-Z; from our mobile sign-up tools to the processes supporting this on-ground through our local partner organizations. Our tools and processes are subject to constant iterations and improvements, and during this research journey, we’ll invite you into our…

since birth i’d never meet my father..my mother was an ofw she is filipina..she meet this guy (Mr.valanitham jayavalan) when she worked in Malaysia .. . they became husband and wife and i’m their child but when they separated i came with my mother here in the Philippines and until i’d never meet my real father i just want to see him in person .. my mother has now a new family and she change my family name towards my step fathers family name ..  

Refugees United and RCK in Eastleigh Streets of Eastleigh Visiting Ethiopian refugees, Eastleigh Refugees United in Nairobi, September 2011 Chapter 2. One of the most impacting experiences of the week was an afternoon that Chris and I spent in Eastleigh together with Vladimir and one of our local community mobilizers (these are refugees themselves, employed through the Refugee Consortium of Kenya to help spread awareness about Refugees United and help refugees sign up to our platform). Our aim was to gain some first-hand insights into our ‘customer base’ and better understand the work of our community mobilizers and the related…