Refugee athletes proud after tilt at Olympic glory – and a better life for families
Lourence Numukiza, a 16-year-old athlete from DR Congo, has gone from being a war refugee to earning a prized berth at the Youth Olympic Games in Senegal.
After a tough childhood spent in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, the teenager said her path to Dakar was simple: "I trained hard, I competed hard and I was able to win."
She came in with two goals. Firstly, "I want to get a medal," she said.
That didn't quite materialise but the other aim is still in focus as she looks to offer her family a better life after her experience on a team comprising fellow young refugees who were able to compete in the first Olympic event Africa has ever hosted.
"I am proud to be an Olympian," she said after her taekwondo exertions even if she and her fellow refugee teammates did not manage to make it to the podium.
Arno Yafunga, 15, who fled DR Congo as a child with his family, eventually making it to the Kenyan capital Nairobi after time in Kakuma, took up judo encouraged by his father, a coach in the sport.
His teammates feted the teen as he notched up several victories before just missing out on a bronze medal.
Lourence and her teammates, originally from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, briefly put on hold their lives as refugees in Kenya and Uganda to show their mettle in judo, athletics and taekwondo.
In her yellow tracksuit, Lourence, with cropped hair and a mischievous smile, mingled happily with competitors in the Olympic Village at Diamniadio outside Dakar.
She told AFP of a gruelling road to reach where she is today. Her parents, from eastern DRC, fled conflict in Kivu. Lourence was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, then grew up in Kakuma.
"What made me become a refugee, first is the war. From where we came from, there's a lot of war going on," she said.
Lourence was just four years old when she lost her father, leaving her mother to raise nine children alone.
"I'm happy to be here because this sport has really, really changed my life," said the teenager, who only took up taekwondo in 2024 and admitted to feeling a curious mixture of "fear and confidence" before her competition.
She admits that "some people used to discourage me, saying that you cannot do this sport" as a girl.
"But I am grateful for the challenges. Because they are making me learn new things in life. And they are also making me become a strong girl who can overcome anything in life."
In the refugee camp, home to an estimated 300,000 displaced persons, "we have a lot of challenges – we can stay for five weeks or three weeks without (a supply of) water. Sometimes no food. You have to just take one meal per day and you wait for the following day."
'Sports can change lives'
In the meantime, her mother struggles to earn enough "to make sure that you go to school, to make sure that you eat, to make sure that you've got some clothes to put on."
On top of all that, "girls are getting married at a young age, at 12 years old. You find that a girl is pregnant... and she will not be able to pursue her dreams.
"So now this is my time to give back to my mother what she has been doing all of this time since our father died. So that's why I'm working hard and trying my best.
"Sports can change someone's life because I've been seeing a lot of people moving from a refugee camp to a citizen in a particular country."
Lourence cites as inspiration Yiech Pur Biel, the team's chef de mission who competed for the first ever Olympic refugee team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and is also a UNHCR goodwill ambassador.
Having fled war in South Sudan in 2005, he arrived alone at Kakuma aged 10 but earned his Rio berth and then got an opportunity to study in the United States.
"As we know, millions of refugees are from Africa (which) creates a lot of awareness about what is happening globally and also in Africa," Biel told AFP, celebrating what he sees as a chance to pass on a "message of hope".
Athletic prowess has afforded that chance to Rashid Rochene, 16, still battling the trauma of fleeing Beni, another DRC troublespot, after armed men attacked his home, killing his grandparents and another relative.
The rest of the family fled across the border to spend two years in a Ugandan refugee camp.
Tuesday saw him run in the men's 200 metres semi-finals against rivals aged 14 to 17.
He missed out on the final – but still revelled in the Olympic maxim of participation.
"Me being here, it doesn't mean that I'm better than those who are home," says Rashid, vowing to "represent the refugees with pride because this is what God has given me, the talent."