“My dream, on a personal level, is to have a home in my country – and to have a peaceful home.”
Listen to a performance by refugee musician Mudibu:
Jean Patrick Bimenyimana, whose artistic name is ‘Mudibu’, grew up in the central African state of Burundi.
In 1993, he was just 16 and attending boarding school, when the assassination of the newly-elected president triggered a country-wide series of massacres in which Tutsis and later Hutus were targeted based on their ethnicity. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people lost their lives.
Bimenyimana survived the initial attacks but later fled Burundi for Kenya where he was registered by UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) as a refugee. He is now living in the United Kingdom where he has worked for an NGO assisting other refugees.
“If I didn’t have music, I don’t think I would have survived,” Mudibu says. He is a performing musician. His nickname was given him as a boy in the capital Bujumbura — it is a variant on the spelling of Modibo Keita, the first President of the state of Mali.
Watch Part 1 of Mudibu’s story here, where he describes his experience becoming a refugee after fleeing genocide in his home country, Burundi.
Will you show your support for refugees like Mudibu with a Blue Key?
For just $5, you will join the Blue Key community, a growing contingent of Americans who are standing up for the world’s most vulnerable people: refugees.
With your key you will open the door to a new life that was unexpectedly—through no fault of their own—closed to refugees.
Recently, I had the great experience of taking my first trip to UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It was an amazing experience to be in such a beautiful country and to get to meet some of my colleagues in person for the first time!
One of the most exciting things that happened while I was there was a demonstration of the Save80 cookstoves used by refugees to prepare food and use less firewood.
The need to collect large amounts of firewood each day to use for fuel is a major challenge facing refugees and other displaced persons in camps, particularly for women and girls. Many refugees spend hours a day collecting the neccessary amount of wood to keep a fire that will both feed and provide warmth for their whole family.
The result? Hours upon hours of lost time that could be spent in school or earning a living.
Not to mention the physical strain of carrying a large, heavy bundle of wood on your back for miles. I tried to lift the sample bundle showing the amount of wood women (and young girls!) must carry back to their homes for use in a traditional wood-burning stove. I could barely do it!
Anyway, the UNHCR staff did a wonderful demonstration, showing how the new Save80 stoves allow a family to cook food for up to 50 people — using up to 80 percent less wood!
On top of saving time searching for suitable fuel, refugee women and girls will also save time cooking their food. Because of the design, one can cook rice actively for a few minutes, and then let it sit in the warm, insulated cook pot for 30 minutes and it finishes the cooking for you! As many mothers, no matter where they live, can attest that preparing meals that don’t require extensive time and constant attention make a big difference for the whole family.
The best part of the whole demonstration, though, was when we got to eat the food. It was delicious! The rice and vegetables were all cooked perfectly.
Most of us will be lucky enough in our lives to never know the pain and hardship of being displaced from our homes. But the one thing we can do is to help be a part of making a woman or girl’s life a little easier and a little brighter. When using these stoves, women and families are healthier and more productive and young girls are more likely to go to school. And it only costs $79!
Learn more about UNHCR’s Light Years Ahead initiative and the Save80 cookstove.
“It’s been hard to sing my past. Sometimes, I sing it and then I just put it away, because it’s so hard. it feels heavy in my heart.”
Jean Patrick Bimenyimana, whose artistic name is ‘Mudibu’, grew up in the central African state of Burundi.
In 1993, he was just 16 and attending boarding school, when the assassination of the newly-elected president triggered a country-wide series of massacres in which Tutsis and later Hutus were targeted based on their ethnicity. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people lost their lives.
Bimenyimana survived the initial attacks but later fled Burundi for Kenya where he was registered by UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) as a refugee. He is now living in the United Kingdom where he has worked for an NGO assisting other refugees.
“If I didn’t have music, I don’t think I would have survived,” Mudibu says. He is a performing musician. His nickname was given him as a boy in the capital Bujumbura — it is a variant on the spelling of Modibo Keita, the first President of the state of Mali.
Stay tuned for part 2 of Mudibu’s story, coming out next Wednesday!
Will you show your support for refugees like Mudibu with a Blue Key?
For just $5, you will join the Blue Key community, a growing contingent of Americans who are standing up for the world’s most vulnerable people: refugees.
With your key you will open the door to a new life that was unexpectedly—through no fault of their own—closed to refugees.
In addition to Blue Keys, did you know that these cheerful hand-loomed bags from WORKSHOP/CoOp are free with donations to the UN Refugee Agency on GlobalGiving?
Yup, it’s true! Pick one out to increase your own happiness, thank your mom with a beautiful piece of style, and help a refugee — all at the same time.
Make a donation by May 6th and you’ll receive your free gift in time for Mother’s Day.
Here’s how:
- For $25, you’ll receive a Blue Key pin while helping to provide 5 blankets for refugees who were forced to flee during Libya’s recent violence and still do not have a permanent home.
- Or, for $25, you’ll receive a Blue Key pendant and also provide 1 refugee family with a kitchen set containing a cooking pot, cup, table spoon and deep plates — vital tools for families still recovering from famine and drought in the Horn of Africa.
- For $100, you’ll get (or give) a small tassel bag and help the UN Refugee Agency provide 11 mosquito nets to protect refugee children and their families from the deadly threat of malaria after fleeing violence in Sudan.
- For $150, you’ll receive a medium tassel bag while helping the UN Refugee Agency provide building materials for a former refugee who has returned to Afghanistan to build one shelter and begin rebuilding a new life.
- For $250, you’ll give the gift of a large market bag and you’ll help UNHCR provide blankets for 17 refugee families of 5 who have fled violence in Syria with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Since the devastating 2010 earthquake destroyed any semblance of normalcy in Haiti, an alarming number of women have reported being raped and sexually assaulted in the internal displacement camps in Haiti.
UNHCR and its implementing partners have been working to help respond to the increase in sexual violence by sponsoring safe house and livelihood programs.
The following photos show the work of one such partner, KOFAVIV:
Photos courtesy & copyright: UNHCR/E.Hockstein
Learn more about KOFAVIV and UNHCR.
Will you show support for displaced women on the road to recovery? Get a Blue Key today!
KOFAVIV (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim, The Commission of Women Victims for Victims) is a nonprofit Haitian women’s group formed in late 2004 by a group of women from poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince who were raped during the 1991-94 military dictatorship. Social, economic, and political insecurity during the military dictatorship created a climate in which grave human rights violations (including gender-specific violations, most notably rape) were committed with impunity.
KOFAVIV opened its medical centre in March 2005, partnering with the Organization d’Entraide pour la Promotion Sociale (ODPPS) to provide medical assistance to victims. KOFAVIV staff, called Community Human Rights Workers (CHRWs), reaches out to women in many distressed communities to encourage them to seek medical help and counseling to get through their trauma. In just one year, through 25 active community workers, KOFAVIV has managed to treat more than 350 women.
KOFAVIV’S Community Human Rights Workers reach out to women in many distressed communities to encourage them to seek medical help and counseling to get through their trauma. In just one year, through 25 active community workers, KOFAVIV has managed to treat more than 350 women.
Rape is not only physically and emotionally devastating; it is also often economically disastrous for poor women. When women are raped in their homes, aggressors frequently steal money and commercial goods, and burn or destroy the house or property, which is often their only means of economic survival. This extreme physical and economic insecurity leaves women highly vulnerable to further abuses. KOFAVIV works with a micro-credit organization to facilitate women’s access to economic resources and generate much-needed income for themselves and their families.
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