Kenyan woman who welcomed a refugee into her home

“I did not know much about refugees until I met Jean Petil”

By Caroline Opile in Nairobi, Kenya  |  7 Mar 2019

Four years ago, 43 year old Annita Sangili, met a refugee in a bus in Nairobi and her heart went out to him. Jean Petil, a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had spent the night in the bus and was looking for directions to a church where someone had told him he could get refuge.

“Jean looked confused and lost when I saw him in the bus, and my heart was filled with compassion to help him locate the church that hosted him for the night,” Annita says.

She was so moved by his situation that she offered to host him in her home. “My father taught us to always share and help those in need, and Jean definitely needed a home.”

And so Annita’s modest two bedroomed house in Umoja Estate, one of the suburbs in Eastern part of Nairobi, has been Jean’s home for the last four years.

In addition to hosting him, the kind hearted Annita  would support Jean with bus fare to go UNHCR to attend his Refugee Status Determination interviews. He was eventually recognized as a refugee after waiting for three years.

“Annita is like a mother and sister to me. She helped me out of desperation and continues to helps me to find manual jobs to survive,”Jean says.

Annita Sangili with Jean Petil ©UNHCR/Caroline Opile

Jean fled from war in Congo in 1999 when he was only 16 years old. He went to Burundi  but had to flee again when war broke out  in his country of asylum.  He ended up in South Africa where he got some training in the hospitality industry, a skill that he cherishes.

The last born in a family of two children says his sister is a refugee in Tunisia, while both his parents are deceased.

The war in DR Congo disrupted my secondary education, but I was fortunate to get training in the hospitality industry in Cape Town, South Africa, from my employer,” says Jean.

Danya Kattan, UNHCR Livelihood Officer in Kenya says that UNHCR works closely with Government of Kenya’s Refugee Affairs Secretariat (RAS) to issue work permits to refugees in urban areas, in line with one of the the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework’s (CRRF),  objectives of finding durable solutions for displaced persons.

“We are currently exploring the possibility of getting a Jean a work permit ,” says Danya.

She praises Annita who she calls a shining star because by embracing a refugee thus displaying that social cohesion between refugees and host communities is possible.