People of Dzaleka and its wider community
Njamba Koffi
Also known as John Michael Koffi, John Michael
Congolese writer who grew up in Dzaleka and Mpaka camps, published the memoir Refuge-E at twenty through a UWC scholarship path, and went on to study and work in Canada.
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Early life
Njamba Koffi — published as John Michael Koffi — fled ethnic persecution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with his family as a child and grew up in refugee camps: Dzaleka in Malawi, then Mpaka in Eswatini. His memoir Refuge-E: The Journey Much Desired, published in April 2018, follows that route; the book has its own entry in this encyclopedia.
Education
While at Mpaka, Koffi encountered the nearby Waterford Kamhlaba UWC school and applied to the United World Colleges movement. He was accepted on a full scholarship to UWC Robert Bosch College in Germany, which he attended from 2015 to 2017.
Canada
Koffi went on to study International Relations and Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, where UWC’s alumni coverage describes him as a campus advocate for refugee awareness and African perspectives. His later work in Canada has included community-initiatives roles in the non-profit sector, board service, and speaking on refugee experiences.
References
Sources
- 1Writing the Refugee Experience: UWC Alum John Michael Koffi
UWC International
- 2About Njamba Koffi
jmkoffi.com (personal site)
Related entries
Culture
Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired
Njamba Koffi's 2018 memoir, published under the name John Michael Koffi, follows a young Congolese refugee through Dzaleka and Mpaka camps and his pursuit of education.
Education
Education in Dzaleka
Public, private, community, and post-secondary education in Dzaleka, including the Malawi curriculum and long-running scholarship and digital-learning programmes.
Place
Dzaleka Refugee Camp
A long-established refugee settlement in Dowa District, Malawi, opened in 1994 and now home to a large, multilingual community from the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa.
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