Finding Peace & Resiliency in Displacement, Trauma, and Violence.

Allian Biringanine, has been working in a non-profit organization called Fire Gopsel Ministries located in Uganda, for the past six years. Using his personal passions with music, drama, and dance, he created this faith-based organization to help others who were in a similar situation as he was.

Allian, is a young, refugee who had fled his home in the Congo, and left his family, and friends behind due to war, violence, and desctruction. In search for a safer life with more opportunities, he arrived in Uganda, a country that struggles to support its own citizens due to armed violence, human rights abuses and economic conditions, affecting the refugee camps located across the region.

Uganda, is a landlocked country that has upwards of 45,741,000 residents. Ugandans speak over 41 languages across the country, bringing diversity to all areas of the country. The national languages are Luganda, Swahili and English. Uganda is home to over 1.423 million refugees,

"How can a country of people support us here in Uganda, when we do not speak the same language as them? How can they support us across 11 refugee camps, when countless people are leaving their homes from neighbouring countries to come here in search of a safer life?"

Allain had questions, no one was willing to answer. He was not willing to stay slient or unmoving in his fight for peace and justice. Thankfully, Allian noticed he was not alone because he was not afraid to speak out and share his story. Through his advocacy, passion, and strong faith, Allian set out to make sure the children and youth without parents or families, people with disabilities, the elderly, and single mothers who live in Nakivale Refugee Settlement were all protected and heard.

The Nakivale refugee settlement is located on the Ugandan and Tanzanian border area, known as Isingro. Primarily, this settlement consists of Congolese refugees, which has been increasing in size due to the conflicts dynamics and political instability of the nation.

Allian along with eight other youths started to provide and organize opportunities that allowed these populations to transform their experiences for the better by offering free education in the local languages, preservation with their native languages, and economic learning and engagement by creating an agriculture program to teach people about breeding, taking care of, and selling polutry to make money.

Allian noticed that this was not enough and people needed more. They needed an option to build hope, find peace during these difficult learning times, and build lasting systems of support as they no longer had families who could help them. This is why Allian started to include his own passions for music, drama, and dance into his non-profit work.

"Using music to empower youth to heal their inner parts, escape negative peer pressure to focus their minds on using their talents to take innovative actions that positively impact their communities... is important. We believe that music is inclusive – This is the biggest reason why we use it as an educational tool of bringing together people from different nationalities, tribes, and cultures to work as one. We want to make everyone feel human, and be able to voice their abilities as role models, to further inspire the entire community to live as one."

Allian tries to ensure that all his fellow volunteers and the populations he services gains access to the things they require. With COVID-19, his efforts have been put at risk as mistrust for authority and lack of physical opportunities have led to issues within the settlement. Despite these hardships, his resiliency and faith is strong, and he has not given up during these difficult and trying times.

Taking time to read this post, means you have already helped Allian share his story. Help Allian, help hundreds of others who live in Uganda's Refugee Settlement, Nakivale, by checking out Fire Gospel Band Ministries's website HERE.

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