Living the spirit of journalism

Twenty-three-year-old Ramazan Masumbuko from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains a journalist despite running away from war in his country and settling down at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa District in Malawi.

Ramazan—a native of South Kivu, Fizi Zone in Baraka City in DRC—graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism from Hope Africa University in Burundi.

He worked with Lukala Television Station and Baraka Community Radio from 2005 to 2011 in DRC as a news reporter.

His mother was a Burundian while his father was a Congolese. He was born out of wedlock.

During the 1974 war in Burundi, his mother, only five then, fled to DRC. Both her parents had been killed during the war and she joined unknown people as they fled to DRC.

At the age of 16, her mother was impregnated by a man who later ran away after she broke the news about the unplanned pregnancy. According to Ramazan, the DRC government was also looking for this man as he was a member of a rebel group.

While still pregnant, the mother got married to another man. She gave birth to Ramazan who would become so ambitious to become a journalist that many people at Dzaleka refugee camp would call him a genius.

“But in 2010, the man who impregnated my mother resurfaced and said he had come to take me because I was his child. My mother refused to let me go with him. I also refused to go with him because I did not recognise him as my father,” said Ramazan.

This did not please Ramazan’s biological father. He got angry and killed Ramazan’s mother. Not only that. He also killed the step father.

It was terrible for the young journalist but life had to move on. While he was presenting a radio programme in the studio, his biological father heard his voice on air. The father, together with other rebel group members, invaded the radio station to kill Ramazan.

“My father was still angry because I rejected him so he wanted to kill me. Luckily, when he invaded the radio station, some people informed me so I broke the window and ran away,” says Ramazan who was not married at that time.

That was the beginning of a journey to unknown destination where he would become a refugee. He left behind all his property including three motor bikes.

He arrived in Tanzania but he heard the country was not accommodating more refugees at that particular moment. Malawi was his next destination. He entered Malawi on 31st November 2011 through Chitipa District where immigration officers directed him to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The UNHRC officials assisted him to arrive at Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

He found many challenges at Dzaleka such as lack of sufficient food. “But it was better to stay in the refugee camp and starve than living in DRC where my life was at risk,” he says.

When he had settled at Dzaleka, Ramazan fell in love with Hasha Masemo, a Congolese lady and they married.

Together they have a one-year-old child. He also takes care of a seven- year-old step-daughter from his wife, forming a family of four.

Despite being in the refugee camp, Ramazan did not want to see his journalism career die a natural death. Therefore, he hatched an idea to open a community radio station at the refugee camp.

“I realised that there was lack of good medium for communication at Dzaleka Refugee Camp so I decided to start a community radio station. I sold the idea to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) at the camp. Authorities at JRS sent the idea to UNHCR which brought two microphones, one amplifier and one loud speaker,” says Ramazan.

“People do not access our radio services through their radio sets; they listen to our programmes through a loud speaker,” says Ramazan.

The radio station broadcasts cultures of major five nationalities at the camp. “We also have Malawian culture programme so that refugees can learn some things from Malawians,” says the young journalist.

Ramazan is working with other eight refugees who are also journalists by profession.

Director of sexual and gender based violence committee at the refugee camp, Joseph Kashindi, says the radio has played a big role in sensitising the community to the danger of sexual and gender- based violence.

Apart from the radio, Ramazan and his colleagues have also started a magazine called Dzaleka Camp Magazine whose first edition will be published soon by UNHCR.

Ramazan does not stay idle at the refugee camp as he has also been working on different documentaries on how children are living at the camp.

“Many children in this camp are living without parents. Life is very tough for them so I have made documentaries about this so that people can compare their life in the refugee camp and outside the camp,” says Ramazan who is also a poet, actor and musician.

While at the refugee camp, he is studying a three-year diploma in community communication and journalism online with Regis University of United States of America.

“I left DRC without my academic documents because I could not go home to collect them when my life was in danger. So, I enrolled with Regis University to have new academic documents,” he says.

“Currently, I am seeking sponsorship so that I can study at University of Malawi [Unima]. This can be the beginning of my opportunity to work in Malawi or any other country that recognise Malawi’s education,” he adds.