HOME: Conversations with Ourselves
Sumeya Osman (USA) in conversation with Joyeux Mugisho (Uganda) on June 3, 2020
Special thanks to Eric Kleppe-Montenegro
As part of our virtual HOME 2020 work, we are interviewing refugees that have resettled to the United States, including both friends and family that are based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as those that remain overseas. These interviews are reflections of relationships and conversations that we continue to have long after resettlement; they explore issues that our refugee friends and family members continue to face as they remain in their country of origin or interim country.
About Sumeya Osman
Sumeya Osman is a Somali refugee who lived in Uganda as an urban refugee for six years. Resettling to the United States, she's lived in Milwaukee for three years. As a community advocate and interpreter, her experience and skills range from working as a community health worker at Aurora Walker's Point Community Clinic with Kai Mishlove, to supporting initiatives at the local level with Public Allies, and advocating for refugee rights. Her passion for grassroots engagement and community health has led her to pursue training as a doula and midwife within diverse communities, as well as encouraging talents in refugee youth. Sumeya is an active member of the HOME steering committee and is busily engaged with the planning of the annual, community-directed HOME refugee celebration at Lynden. She is the event's co-MC, alongside Rohingya refugee Hasina Begum.
About Joyeux Mugisho Mbiso
Refugees do not need a handout but a hand up, they did not leave their brains behind and nothing about them should be done without them.
--Joyeux Mugisho Mbiso
Joyeux Mugisho Mbiso is a Congolese youth advocate for refugees and street children—or, as he says, “There are no street children but children abandoned in the street.” He left his country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, back in 2011 for Kampala, Uganda, due to political unrest. Joyeux is an outspoken community leader in Uganda. He is the Executive Director of a non-profit organization called People for Peace and Defense of Rights (PPDR), a refugee-led human rights organization that focuses on refugee rights and Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs). He is a cofounder and chairman of the Network of Congolese Civil Society Organisations. His experience as a human rights defender and social worker has helped many refugees in Uganda.
Despite being in a foreign country, Joyeux has been much involved in helping homeless youth (street children) in Kampala slums with counselling, food distribution, and family resettlement. The goal of these efforts is to find homeless youth a way off the streets and back home.