A United States-based musician, Augustine Sarafino, has shared about his life in the Kakuma refugee camp where he was born and raised before relocating to the US.
“I was born in a refugee camp in Kakuma and we moved to the States when I was younger. We all know the conditions of Kakuma. Coming from there and being here now I feel blessed,” Sarafino told TV47 on Saturday, April 10.
Sarafino started his music career in August 2020 after his friends who were in the music industry urged him on.
“A couple of my friends used to make music all the time. One day I went to the studio with them and they heard me flow. I then started making music and my songs gained a lot of attention really fast and it just started happening for me,” he said.
The musician currently majors in rap, hip-hop and afro hop. He however notes that he is versatile and can do any type of song.
“Doing music in the Unites States requires that you be really good. You can’t make it by being just average. The pandemic has been good for me. It has given me time to build strategies on how to market my music in different ways,” the artist said.
The musician added that he hoped to build a better life for his family and break the poverty cycle.
Other Kakuma refugees including supermodel, Adut Akech, have excelled globally. Akech’s family left the refugee camp for Australia when she was eight years old.
“I do not remember much about my earliest years but certain vivid memories linger. The scorching yet still comforting heat of the African sun, the rich brown colour of Kenyan land.
“Adults from backgrounds different from mine helping others with daily needs and most of all the carefree laughter and pitter-pattering footsteps from children like myself,” Aketch narrated in a previous interview.
In March 2021, Kenya's Interior Ministry announced plans to close the Kakuma and Dadaab camps which are home to more than 400,000 refugees.
The high court however temporarily blocked the closure of the two camps in April 2021. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in a statement urged the government to ensure that those who needed to get protection got it.
“The decision would have an impact on the protection of refugees in Kenya including in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
