The

 Refugee’s Story

By James Henderson

What is it like to be a refugee? It can be hard for us to grasp fully the reality of the refugee’s plight.

My wife and I have just come back from a church plant in a place called Kakuma and felt I had to tell you all about it. From our perspective the visit with our people there was one of the highlights of our ministry so far.

Our leader in Kakuma is called Nyenye. Let me tell you his story.

Nyenye lived in Ulvira in former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1993 he was a student at the local university and, just like so many young men that you and I know, he had high hopes for a future career. It was an exciting time in his life.

<<-Nyenye Mosafiri Nova

 However, this area has been the scene for many years of rebel and insurgent activity. Students in particular have been targets of intimidation, and Nyenye was chased out of region. He fled to the neighbouring country of Sudan, where he met up with some Sudanese Christians, who had come under religious persecution. He escaped with them across the border to Kenya and was admitted to a refugee camp at a place called Kakuma.

One of the remarkable things about Nyenye is his Christian faith. He and other refugees have gone through trials that I can only imagine and that would probably defeat me. I know a refugee woman, a Christian, whose husband was shot dead in front of her and her children, and the murderous soldiers then drove them out of their country. How would you cope? Would you cope? Yet in the midst of all this pain faith exists. Nyenye and the refugee widow and believers like them trust in Jesus.

Come to think of it, Jesus and his parents became refugees at one point. When Jesus was an infant, the dictator of the country where he lived decided to oppress the people and to kill male children under 2 years old. This tyrant was afraid of a prophecy that a future king, who would one day usurp him, had been born. Joseph and Mary with the young Jesus fled to Egypt in order to escape. Later the adult Jesus was despised and rejected by men, just like so many refugees have been - he knew suffering and shared in our humanity.

There are about 240,000 people staying in makeshift accommodation in the Kakuma refugee camp. Food is distributed through a World Food Program, and there are rumours that soon the donor funding will cease with disastrous consequences. Whilst there, some refugees told me that the twice-monthly ration is one glass of cooking oil per person, some maize (corn), salt and one bar of soap. For meat and vegetables people have to use their initiative. The surrounding area is dry and arid and inhospitable.

In 1997, Nyenye moved to Nairobi to try to get work and also to train in Sign Language. While in Nairobi he came into contact with the Worldwide Church of God. We have a refugee congregation in the township of Kangemi on the outskirts of Nairobi, and Nyenye began to attend there. He became friends with another young man, Eraston, who also had fled the Congo, but this time from the predatory troops of Kabila, Mobutu’s successor. In 2002, in an effort to re-group the refugees in Kenya, the authorities transported Nyenye and Eraston back to Kakuma. 

Back in Kakuma, Nyenye and Eraston recognised that the refugees had spiritual as well as physical needs. Although some churches had been established, there was more to do. They decided to try to plant their own branch of our fellowship. Not sure I would have done that – I would probably have waited for someone else to start the congregation and then join them! But, thankfully, Nyenye and Eraston have more zeal and courage than I, and they set about spreading the Word.

Nyenye and Eraston went door-to-door, or more accurately hut-to-hut, to preach Christ and to promote awareness of our fellowship. They invited those who would listen to meetings. Gradually the church grew, and now we have an attendance of around 70, mainly adults with just a few children. These are composed of Sudanese who fled from extreme persecution, Rwandese and Burundians from the Hutu/Tutsi conflicts, Congolese whose home areas are still occupied by rebel forces, plus some Kenyans and Ethiopians. Main languages spoken are Swahili, English and French. This ethnic mix is unusual in Africa and reflects the tolerance shown in our church services where we are all one in Christ Jesus.

One of the more exciting parts of my job is, whenever feasible, to visit new church plants in our fellowship and to welcome them officially into our fold. So it was with a degree of anticipation that Shirley and I set out on the long journey from South Africa to remote Kakuma. Nyenye met us upon arrival at Lokichoggio’s tiny airport and soon we were on our way to the camp, roughly a two hours’ drive. Visitors had to check in with the Chief Security Officer, and when we did, he was horrified that we did not have an armed escort. This is a dangerous place with local bandits causing tension on the roads. There were reports that in early February two charity/church workers were shot dead on the main road to the camp. He gave us permission to proceed, and for part of the onward journey we were accompanied by the Kenya police, who carried an assortment of weapons from automatic rifles to clubs.

The drive to the small building where our church meets was bleak. Past security checks, shanty dwellings, barbed wire compounds, toxic open sewers, empty feeding posts, under-stocked street markets, some men fighting over who knows what, women carrying baskets on their heads and children in their arms, brown, dirty and dusty. How would some of my pampered friends survive in this? How would I survive?

When we entered the hall Nyenye was there, of course, full of smiles and enthusiasm. But for an African church it was unusually silent. Why? About thirty of our members are deaf refugees, mainly from the Sudan. Nyenye, as if he had nothing else to do or think about, recognised another need. The church groups in his immediate vicinity did not have special arrangements for the hearing impaired. So he, in conjunction with our Kenyan church started a Sign Language school and invited his pupils to church!

<<-Shirley Henderson hands out a Sign Language Certificate to an Ethiopian refugee.

Despite the silence the welcome we received was overwhelming, and we felt at home, with everyone shaking our hands, smiling constantly. Various

songs of praise were sung, one of them by the Deaf Choir, which is composed of about 12 people. A beat was clapped out, and then someone recited the words of the song, “I love Jesus,” and the 12 signed to the words and the beat. It was an inspiration to watch. Later we gave out WCG certificates that showed advancement to a certain level of Sign Language appreciation. Some months ago we supplied this congregation with Bibles, and I was able to see them being used.

What do you say to such a group? I told them about how Jesus suffered and that in their sufferings Jesus is present with them, that there is a hope in Christ, that He too was a refugee at one point and was called the Man of Sorrows, that, above all, each and every one of them is special to God, that although everything seems stacked against them, God is for them. I also told them they were part of a worldwide fellowship that cares for them. We intend to help these children of God as we are able.

The Chief Security Officer told us we needed to travel back in the heat of the day (and it was very, very hot), as most attacks occur in the relative coolness of the morning or the late afternoon. So we had to leave earlier than planned. It was sad to go. Once again my wife and I felt emotional, like we were leaving newly found brothers and sisters. We were. These people are not only our brothers and sisters in Christ, but yours too.

But what of Nyenye? He has not seen nor heard of his family since 1993, and he cannot return home because Kisangani is still insecure. He remains a refugee. However, he does not dwell on the unfairness and the hardship that have come his way. He sees his situation in life as an opportunity to do something with God’s help for others. His desire is to continue to give of himself as much as he can. Maybe there is a lesson in this for us.  Whatever problems we have, whatever dire situation we find ourselves in, there is still something positive we can do. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we can still reach out to others. We can still do something for God.