Pastor Mulamba preaching
the word of peace in
refugee camp Kakuma
in memory of his slain father
My father stood up against the violence in our village in Congo. And he was killed. Together with many other relatives. I'm now a community pastor in refugee camp Kakuma. I have my own church. And I am starting an organisation with other refugees to promote peace and reconciliation, to empower youth and women, and to encourage peaceful co-habitation!
I'm called Mulamba Placide, (but mostly known as Pastor Mulamba in my community). I'm 37 years old, married and a father of four kids. My country of origin is Congo. I forcefully fled my country in 2002 because of community conflict. My father was a traditional leader and my family was traditionally termed as the royal family. However, during the tribal war, people from my tribe and village wanted to kill a few foreigners - those from other tribes who resided in my village. But because my father was a peaceful leader, he immediately intervened and condemned the community from murdering the foreigners. After some days, the community organized a massive attack on us with the claim that my father was a traitor. They wanted to kill any member of my family. In the attack, many people were killed including my father. This made me believe that my country was no longer safe for me and I escaped for safety. I wanted to go to a far away place and I decided to come to Kenya, to Kakuma Refugee Camp. In Kakuma life was not easy. The climate was threatening. The food was poor. And there were hardly any jobs available. On the other hand, I liked Kakuma because of the different nationalities. I learned new values, new cultures, new traditions. I learned how to live with people from different nationalities. Besides, there are many opportunities for learning in Kakuma. For instance, in 2017, I joined a training course for counseling with Jesuit Refugee Service and I acquired skills and knowledge suitable for serving the community. After I successfully finished the course, I was employed by Jesuit Refugee Service in 2018 to work as a psychosocial community worker. For instance, I move from door to door to identify cases related to trauma, mental illness, stress, child maltreatment and other psychosocial related cases. After having identified such cases, I would refer the clients to the counseling department of Jesuit Refugee Service where they would get adequate help. But if the case would be something that I myself could work on with the client, then no need to refer. I would help the client to find a solution to the problem. Additionally, I'm working as a community pastor. I have a church where people from the community come together in prayers. My role as a pastor is to transform and relight hope among the victims of war and people with trauma, disabilities and those stigmatised. By connecting them with God through prayers. Hopeless people become hopeful in life when they understand that God loves them and this is my key role. Usually, I pray for the people, guide them and teach them how to live and create a peaceful environment with other nationalities. Lately, because of the Corona pandemic, my work as a pastor was greatly affected because I was not able to reach out to all the church members and people in the community. However, I tried my best to visit some of the members individually and pray with them. But currently the churches have been re-opened and all the members have come back. We pray again together. And our activities are running as before. My work as a psychosocial worker was not affected by Covid19, because I was still going to the community. My biggest dream is to create a community free of violence and sexual abuse. I have already formed a community-based organisation with fourteen other refugees. But we are not yet registered. So the CBO is not officially operating. We hope to operate soon when we get the funds. The CBO is called Social Action Center for Vulnerable Individuals (SACVI) and the objectives for this organisation are to fight against gender-based violence, sexual abuse and exploitation. And to promote peace and reconciliation, to empower youth and women and to encourage peaceful co-habitation!
Interested to get into contact with Pastor Mulamba? Email: info@i-am-kakuma.onlin
