Education, peace, and dignity for the youth of eastern DRC.
Urafiki Fellowship runs youth-led education, peacebuilding, and women's empowerment programs across North Kivu, showing you exactly where every dollar goes.
A fellowship rooted in community
Urafiki means "friendship" in Swahili. We believe lasting change grows from genuine human connection, trust, and shared purpose, not charity from a distance.
Education Access
Removing barriers to quality education for youth in conflict-affected communities across North Kivu.
Voice & Expression
Poetry competitions and writing programs that amplify youth perspectives and nurture peacebuilders.
Agricultural Training
Practical land-based entrepreneurship through Shule ya Ardhi for youth aged 16–28.
Girls, Women & GBV Survivors
Education, healing, and economic independence for girls, women, and GBV survivors across North Kivu and Ituri.
Moments from our programs
Real photographs from Shule ya Ardhi and the Irenge Rukwasha Peace Prize, featuring students, voices, and communities in Goma.
What we do on the ground
Four interconnected programs working in parallel across eastern DRC.
FESCOL GOMA
A city-wide nine-discipline school championship celebrating academic excellence across Goma.
Irenge Rukwasha Peace Prize
Annual poetry competition honoring youth voices for peace and reconciliation.
Shule ya Ardhi
Eight-month agricultural training and entrepreneurship for youth 16–28 building sustainable livelihoods.
"I did not choose this cause. This cause chose me."
Originally from eastern DRC, I founded Urafiki Fellowship while studying Computer Science & Quantitative Economics at Berea College, Kentucky, on a full-tuition merit scholarship. My work is rooted in a personal commitment to Goma and North Kivu — the place I am from.
The girls of eastern DRC did not choose to be born into conflict. But we can choose to respond — with education, with dignity, and with trust in young people's ability to lead their communities into a different future.
