Muzabel Welongo

Muzabel is a Congolese exiled to Kenya, where he has been living since 2010. He completed high school in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in 2014 he completed a Diploma in Liberal Studies at Regis University (Colorado, USA), a 45-credit online course offered through the Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM). He also worked with JC:HEM as a Technical Assistant (IT) from 2011 to 2014 in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya where he helped students with online assignments and computer-related issues. He also served as a JC:HEM Academic Tutor from July to December 2014 providing academic support and coordination for new students, monitoring timely submission of class work, preparing class materials, and addressing issues between students and online instructors.

Muzabel is the Director of Solidarity & Advocacy with Vulnerable Individuals in Crisis (SAVIC), a local organization he founded in 2010 to promote education, economic independence and reproductive health awareness among young people. Since 2012, his organization SAVIC has been able to provide functional literacy, communicative English lessons, and vocational skills to more than 1,800 refugees, as well as provide information on sexual and reproductive health to more than 2,000 adolescent girls and boys in Kakuma. His work with refugees has been instrumental in promoting education for all while helping create greater spaces for integration of girls in education, promoting socio-economic self-reliance and reducing unintended pregnancies. Muzabel is currently completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, minoring in Political Science at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), in Nairobi.