Financial Biographies of Refugees in Kenya

By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of profiles from Kenya explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

COVID-19 impacted our research in Kenya. These stories come from refugees initially hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi and were gathered by refugees themselves. Researchers trained five refugees in the interview process prior to the start of the pandemic. Given the limitations the pandemic created, these researchers wrote down their own stories, which began an iterative process to develop their biographies. Enumerators then completed five additional interviews to share the stories of fellow refugees. The full collection of these stories can be found in “Refuge? – Refugees’ stories of rebuilding their lives in Kenya.”

The biographies in this publication are intended to preserve the entire financial story of selected respondents and are meant to supplement our other publications, taking the reader into the depths of individual migrant experiences.

.