Age
17
Country of Residence
Kenya
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
I am Francois, a Congolese refugee born in Kakuma. For years, I watched 12 tribes live side-by-side but never together. After a small fight between two boys from different tribes, I called my friends - drummers, artists, writers. We had no stage, just dust. We drummed. Everyone came. Turkana, Dinka, Somali youth clapped the same beat. That was my Aha moment: we don't need to teach peace, we need to play it. That night, we formed Tusimulie - "Let's Tell Stories." Our first play in Block 13 about hygiene gathered 100 people. They laughed, then they learned. I realized art is our common language.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We activate others through participation, not just watching. So far: 180 people attended pilot shows, 30 volunteered to join. We use Facebook, word-of-mouth at water points, and school visits. Future: 1. After each show, we invite 5 audience members to join our Circle Talk and next rehearsal. 2. "Teach a friend to drum" - each of our 25 artists must train 2 new youth. 3. Murals: We let kids from the block paint with us - they become owners. 4. We will share short videos on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/francois.byembambf to inspire other camps (Dadaab, Kalobeyei) to replicate. We don't just perform for the community, we perform WITH the community.
How many people are on your team?
25
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
So far (Pilot): - 25 youth trained (15 girls, 10 boys) from Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Turkana host. - 2 pilot shows performed in Block 13 reaching 180 people. - 1 community mural painted at youth centre. Future Impact with grant (Next 6 months): - 20 mobile theatre shows reaching 5,000+ people directly. - 20 peace murals in all zones of Kakuma, seen daily by 20,000 people. - 100 youth will join weekly art clubs. - 50% of our artists are girls, reducing early marriage risk by giving them income and voice. - We will measure impact by counting audience, photos/videos, and testimonies about behavior change on hygiene and tribal peace. Our long-term impact: Kakuma becomes a model where refugees are not victims waiting for aid, but artists leading peace.
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Pilot-Stage (We’ve tried an activity or two)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
We are 25 young refugees, aged 8 to 17, from 12 tribes in Kakuma, turning trauma into theater, tribal drums into one rhythm, and dirty walls into journals of hope. Our mobile troupe uses theater, drumming, drawing, and journalism to teach hygiene, stop early marriages, and build peace neighborhood by neighborhood. We are not victims. We are artists who heal our community.
Project title
KAKUMA TUSIMULIE: Drums, Theatre & Murals for Peace
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Kakuma has 200,000+ refugees from 12 tribes plus host community. The problem is not only war trauma, it is silence between us. Youth suffer PTSD, idleness, and early marriage because they have no space to express pain. NGOs give food, but not healing. Tribal divisions grow, hygiene diseases spread because traditional sensitization is boring. No platform exists where a Somali girl, a Congolese boy and a Turkana youth can create together. Without expression, trauma becomes violence. Our community loses its most creative generation.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
Initiative Website: Not yet - grassroots youth group from Kakuma Refugee Camp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/francois.byembambf Instagram: @KakumaTusimulie (to be created with seed funding to document our 20 peace murals) Contact: Kakuma, Turkana Coun
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Next 12 months with Carnegie support: Month 1-2: Buy materials (drums, paints, 2 speakers). Train 25 youth in trauma-informed theatre. Month 3-5: Launch "20 Blocks, 20 Shows, 20 Murals" campaign - one block per week across Kakuma 1-4. Month 6-8: Start weekly Art Healing Clubs in 4 schools. Train 40 new youth. Month 9-12: Create Tusimulie Festival - invite all tribes, host community, NGOs. Document 20 murals on Facebook and Instagram. Register as CBO to get local partnerships with UNHCR and Luther World Federation. Goal: From pilot to regular program reaching 10,000 people per year.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Other NGOs in Kakuma do workshops in halls with PowerPoint. Youth are bored and tribes stay separated. Our innovation is 3-in-1: 1. Art as Therapy, not just entertainment: We turn trauma into scripts. A girl who was married early writes her story and acts it. That is healing that NGOs don't offer. 2. Tribal Collaboration as Method: Our troupe MUST have 12 tribes. A mural is painted by a Congolese + Somali + Turkana youth together. Peace is practiced while painting, not just preached. 3. Mobile & Low-Cost: No building needed. Theatre goes to where people fetch water. Murals stay forever with zero internet. This is innovation for a refugee camp with no electricity. We don't invent new tech, we apply old African storytelling (drums, theatre) to new problems (PTSD, hygiene, tribal hate) in a new context.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Tusimulie is a youth-led art troupe of 25 refugees from 12 tribes. Our solution is "Art for Healing and Cohesion." How it works: 1. Co-Create: Youth meet weekly to co-write plays in Kiswahili/English about real camp issues: hygiene, peace, early marriage, trauma. 2. Perform: We do mobile street theatre in markets, schools, water points. No hall needed. We use drums, dance, poetry. 3. Paint: We create 20 large peace murals with messages in 5 languages. Each mural is a photo point and learning point. 4. Heal: After each show, we have "Circle Talk" where audience share their stories. Youth learn public speaking and leadership. We solve 3 problems at once: we give trauma a stage, we make health education entertaining, and we make tribes create together, not fight. With Carnegie funding, we will buy drums, paints, costumes, and transport to reach 20 blocks in 3 months.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I am Founder - Coordinator. My team: 5 core leaders - Amina (Sudanese, female lead & dance), Joseph (Congolese, drums), Abdi (Somali poet), Grace (writing), Lokiru (Turkana host link). 20 volunteer artists. We share leadership: decisions in circle, each tribe leads one show. Girls co-lead 50%. We meet every Sunday.
