pagina 51 IAK056
He escaped the jaws of death and is now a refugee camp film maker
Born in DR Congo, I narrowly escaped my killers in Burundi after my father, the rebel, had already been murdered by the government. Now I run a film studio in refugee camp Kakuma, Kenya. I escaped the jaws of death. And now I want to help youth develop their talents and dreams!
My name is Edmond Baraka Mfitiye. I'm 26, married, with one kid. I left DR Congo in 2000 when I was 6. I fled to Burundi. My father was one of the rebels in the country. He worked for the opposition army. The rebel leader used to recruit children for his army. But my father didn't want me to be recruited. So he took us to Burundi in order to be safe. My father used to visit us regularly. However, in 2014 the government of Burundi noticed his regular visits. And he was arrested. And he was identified as one of the rebels. They killed him instantly. Besides, the government realized that he had a family in Burundi. Thereafter, the government of Burundi sent security personnel to our home. Their plan was to kill all the members of my family. I was the only child staying with my mother. The killers broke into our home at night. They found my mother. I was hiding under the bed. They were so cruel to my mother. Some started torturing her. But my mother resisted their cruelty and refused to expose my hiding place. They searched all the corners of the house. Afterwards, they took away my mother and I never heard from her again, upto today. The incident traumatised me. I run into the forest because I knew they would come back and search for me. But little did I know: One of them was still around, waiting for whoever would enter or exit the house. He wanted to shoot me but he did not succeed because I was running too fast. I couldn't believe the narrow escape! I really thank God! I escaped the jaws of death. I spent a sleepless night in the forest thinking on where to go the next morning. When the morning came, I crossed to the road side to seek for help. I was 20 by then. I didn't have anything at hand. But luckily, I met with a lorry driver who was a good friend of my family. He used to transport goods across the border from Kenya to Burundi. He took me to Nairobi. And I was directed to the UNHCR-reception. There, I was received warmly and they referred me to refugee camp Kakuma. I arrived in Kakuma in 2014. I found life was too difficult. I had too little food and I was living alone, in a tent which was extremely hot during the day. I had a strong desire to go to school, but I had to struggle to survive. Luckily enough, I got employed by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) under the department of Peace Building. The job didn’t pay well. But it helped me realise my dream of becoming a film maker. After having saved some money, I joined the Youth Voices of Kakuma Training Center. I studied film-directing, script writing, storytelling, editing, and camera operating. And afterwards I started a company, T-Sha Film, with a fellow film maker, Justin Wellborn. We started with just one camera. I was the coordinator and Justin the director. Later-on others joined. We have now a crew of 11 people. We cover events like weddings and birthday parties. And when we want to produce a film, we hire additional cameras from others. The money we get is invested in business expansion. Recently, Justin got a media training in Nairobi, thanks to the support of the Young Global Leaders of the Economic Forum in Davos! This will help us grow. T-Sha Film provides an opportunity for young talented refugees to realise their potentials and dreams. So far, we have already made one film, it is on YouTube, and we are working on a few others. T-Sha Film helps youth to engage in meaningful activities, rather than spending their precious time in substance abuse. We are grateful for the support we receive from Africa Action Help International (AAHI). They provide us with an office. And we are a member of their business incubation center. They provide us with a coach who monitors our business and trains us on various business skills. The coach trains us for example on how to create connections with partners, how to register a business and how to make a business plan. We are working really hard to make this company bigger in order to help more youth develop their talents and dreams. We have already applied for a loan from AAHI and we are confident we will get it - for the expansion of our business!
Interested to get into contact with Edmond? Email: info@i-am-kakuma.online
