One Community, One Campus: Jolie's Story
Over the past few months, we’ve been raising funds through our One Community, One Campus campaign to move our programs to a larger, more centralized location so we can serve more young women and children in 2020 and beyond. Throughout this campaign, we want to share the courageous and inspiring stories from some of the young refugee girls whose lives were touched by RefuSHE’s programs and where they are today.
Below is a story of one young woman, Jolie, from the DRC:
In 2014, when war and fighting broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jolie was forced to flee her home. After losing her parents and her brother to the conflict, she was captured by the militia and held hostage for over a year. During this time, Jolie experienced sexual assault, which led her to become pregnant. Then, she met another woman in captivity, who eventually helped Jolie escape to a nearby village where her aunt and uncle lived. With her aunt’s support, Jolie successfully gave birth.
Soon after welcoming a beautiful baby boy into her life, Jolie was forced to flee from the encroaching conflict once more, this time with her aunt. Jolie and her aunt had a very strained relationship and eventually, her aunt left and took Jolie’s baby boy with her. Devastated and alone, Jolie was forced to flee once more as the conflict continued to draw near. She caught a ride from a truck driver and made her way to Nairobi, Kenya where she learned about RefuSHE. Upon arrival at our campus, Jolie was enrolled in the Girls Empowerment Program and moved into the Safe House. She quickly advanced to Level 3 and later joined our Artisan Collective, where she learned to hand-dye scarves and earned a stipend to support herself. Jolie was resettled to the U.S. in 2016.
RefuSHE prepared me for a real life. I learned to speak better Kiswahili and English, but mostly RefuSHE taught me how to use my own hands. I became more independent and learned how to take care of myself.
Today Jolie lives on the West coast with her foster family. She graduated from high school in just 3 years and received a full-ride scholarship to Saint Martin’s University, a private liberal arts university in Washington, where she started her undergraduate studies this fall. With the power of education, RefuSHE’s safe community, and an advocacy team who fought for her case, Jolie was able to thrive and grow as an individual and community member.
RefuSHE’s first priority was school, which was one of the most important things that made me who I am today. Without RefuSHE, I wouldn’t have gone to school because I thought it doesn’t matter. But [RefuSHE staff] made me realize that I’m here for a reason and, as long as I try, it gets better every day. I decided to start school as soon as I got to the United States and all the staff back in Kenya encouraged me – they told me that they can see me changing the world. I promised them that I’d go because I don’t want to let them down, including all of my RefuSHE girls who believe in me.
By supporting RefuSHE and our One Community, One Campus campaign, you are supporting the dreams and goals of girls like Jolie – young women who, despite traumatic hardship, meet the world around them with resiliency and determination to make a change.