What does poverty have to do with the global forced migration crisis? It turns out — quite a lot.
Poverty and displacement are complicated, multidimensional issues. Wherever you find communities on the move, you will often find poverty lurking beneath the surface. Poverty can be a driving reason why a family flees and often continues to be a struggle even after a family finds relative safety.
To help you better understand the relationship between poverty and the global displacement crisis, we want to share a story of a refugee family living in Burundi. Like many refugees, the reasons they fled their home are multi-faceted — conflict, the threat of violence, and the risk of losing everything forced this family to leave. But their battle through and against poverty serves as a visceral reminder of this reality: that when families are forced to flee, crises compound.
Kashunga and Zamda: Life in Crisis
Kashunga Dadi and Zamda Musa are a young, married couple with eight children. They lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For years, they made a home together in peace, surrounded by family and friends.
But by 2019, their lives were in crisis. Ongoing conflict in DRC had made its mark: within a few months time, their house had been burned down and all of their belongings were stolen. Kashunga and Zamda had no choice but to flee.
Together with their young children, the family left for a nearby city in DRC where a friend had offered what they hoped would be a safer home to live in. But the situation proved disastrous. The house was unfinished and unsafe for the family. “They were still building that house,” Kashunga said. But with little money, they had few other options.
Like many families, conflict-driven displacement threw Kashunga and Zamda into severe economic upheaval, introducing yet another driver: extreme poverty. They found themselves empty-handed — no home, no jobs, no hope for stability or a safer life. So, in dire need of support, they were forced to move again, this time seeking refuge across the border.
“Another person told us [to] go [to] Burundi,” Kashunga said. “At least in Burundi you can get some assistance, because here, there is nobody who’s going to assist you.”
Escape to Burundi
Families that escape to refugee camps are often only looking for the basics needed for survival — food, water, clothing, shelter, safety. These places are a lifeline, no matter how meager their resources may be. When Kashunga and Zamda arrived with their children at Nyankanda Refugee Camp in 2019, they were thankful for a place to lay their heads.
Poverty, however, still followed them. Humanitarian organizations provided meals, but they weren’t enough to feed this family of 10. Kashunga and Zamda got to work where they could; their situation, however, remained unstable.
“We had nothing,” Kashunga said.
The Journey Away from Poverty
Thankfully, in 2025, things began to take a turn for the better. After hearing about World Relief, they learned about our Savings for Life initiative — a program developed in partnership with local churches that trains families in vulnerable economic circumstances on ways to save, gain credit and generate income.
Now, thanks to the local church in Nyankanda and partners like you, families like Kashunga and Zamda’s are taking steps forward in the long journey toward flourishing. After joining the Savings for Life program operating in Nyankanda, they received training and support from World Relief staff and fellow refugee Christians on how to save and manage their income. Zamda, Kashunga’s wife, was also supplied with a loan, which enabled her to start a small business selling food and palm oil.
That business has helped the family turn their life around. “Today, I am able to contribute to my family’s basic needs . . . This improvement has brought more stability to my household,” Zamda said. With the income generated from that business, they were able to venture into more income-generating opportunities. Now, Kashunga sells mobile data and SIM cards to others in the camp, and he is working on starting a sewing business. “To be honest, if you had no savings programs . . . I don’t even imagine how life would be,” Kashunga said.
The Long Road Ahead
Even with these successes, Kashunga and Zamda’s journey from poverty to flourishing is still a daily struggle. Kashunga tells people that he often feels limited by his surroundings. “We have many ideas, we are creative,” Kashunga said. “But at the end of the day, you find out you don’t have enough capital to implement.”
That’s why, like many refugees and other immigrants, Kashunga aspires to resettle in a third country with more stable economic opportunities. To those battling against poverty on a daily basis, these places with more opportunities represent a beacon of hope.
That’s also why, at World Relief, we walk alongside refugees and other immigrants both “here” and “there,” in the U.S. and around the world. No matter where a refugee’s journey takes them — whether to a refugee camp in Burundi or a home in the U.S. — we want to be a voice of hope, reminding them that they can flourish, even if the path is fragile.
But this work takes all of us — including partners like you to stand alongside us for the long haul.
By joining The Path, World Relief’s monthly giving community, you are ensuring that families like Kashunga and Zamda’s receive support at every stage of their journey. Monthly giving allows families to receive long-term care, which is exactly what is required when families are facing the long-term risks of poverty.
By giving today you’re ensuring a brighter future for families across the U.S. and around the world. Poverty may have a say in their lives, but together we can ensure that it does not get the last word.