Hundreds go through refugee experience at inaugural SA Step for Safety
The LuQuLuQu movement takes ownership of shaping the narrative of Africa’s displaced, and drives individual contributions toward supporting the refugee cause.
Tens of millions of refugees have found homes on the African continent, and in an effort to raise awareness for them, the first South African Step for Safety Walk was held on 10 February. The LuQuLuQu movement was started in November 2017 by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with the intention of transforming public perceptions of the African refugee. Every year, millions of refugees flee their home countries out of fear for their lives, while billions of ordinary people around the world stand by and judge them as cowards who run away from a situation they feel they could have survived.
Little do these people know that the 24,2 million refugees on the African continent had absolutely no choice, and that they fled their homes with next to nothing other than the clothes on their back. There are millions of harrowing refugee stories that will hastily change the toxic idea people have of refugees.
One of these is the story of award-winning musician, Tresor Riziki, who since fleeing his home in Goma in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the age of 19, has been through more than most and yet found a way to greatly impact the South African music scene. To him, the Step for Safety Walk at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden on 10 February meant a great deal. “I think it’s a beautiful initiative, especially for ordinary people to come out and support refugees, it means a lot,” he said.
The walk was the first one to be held in South Africa by the UNHCR, and featured three distances (3km, 6km, 8km) which participants could walk, jog or run through the Garden’s mountainous terrain. After this, participants could voluntarily take part in the process which a refugee would go through upon arrival in a foreign country.
Once they were done with the process, they could enjoy talks by the likes of Leanne Manas and Tresor as well as performances by Anatii and his sister Ma Nala.
For Leanne, who worked with the United Nations throughout last year, being chosen as a goodwill ambassador by the UNHCR for its LuQuLuQu campaign was an out of this world experience. “To get that title from the UNHCR was the greatest honour I’ve ever had bestowed on me,” she said.
To Anatii, taking part in such an event is above all else about spreading the word about the struggles that the refugees have gone through. “There are so many people whose stories are yet to be told. That’s what we need to do, and that’s what we’re here to do,” he concluded.
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