The Kambale family, along with 22 other Congolese refugees, arrived in Missoula, MT, to start their new lives in September 2016. Less than a year earlier, the family was living in a Tanzanian refugee camp, where they had been for decades after escaping the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996. The Kambale children, ages 10, 7 and 4, were all born in the camp, and had never seen a glimpse of life outside its dire conditions.
An outsider wouldn’t be able to tell this warm-spirited family was once fighting for survival. Despite growing up in an environment riddled with malnutrition, poor sanitation, disease and a pervasive lack of security, the Kambale children have an undeniable air of optimism and playfulness, and refuse to come inside when their parents call them in for dinner. They laugh until they fall in the grass, hula hoop and jump in the air or into each others arms.
Soft Landing Missoula, a local organization that supports the refugee resettlement office, and the International Rescue Committee, made contact with the Kambale’s, and facilitated their resettlement in Missoula. Of the 23 countries that partici- pate in third-country resettlement efforts, The United States accepts 60-70 percent of the 1 percent who qualify for refugee status, with only a fraction placed in Missoula.