Heritage Munyakuri's Story

As a young boy, Heritage loved to watch airplanes cross the sky. At the first sound of the engine roaring above, he would drop to the ground, lying flat on his back until nothing but a white streak remained. From his mountaintop village in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he imagined the world beyond. “I wondered, where are those planes going?” Years later, he too would fly, to the other side of the globe.

Heritage endured a childhood of war, in which he was snatched up to serve as a child soldier for rebel groups — three times. Twice he was forced to fight; the third time he refused to pick up a gun. “I told them to kill me, I won’t fight. I had found Jesus.” His captors tried to coerce him, delivering vicious daily lashings. But he held firm, sticking to his faith. His resolve finally set him free, but not for long. One unthinkable night, he saw his loved ones, his tribe, his entire world, go up in flames, when his people were massacred by rebels wielding machetes, torches, and guns.

He could have emerged a furious person. Instead, he changed his fate.

His journey took him to Rochester, New York, where he saw his first snowfall and carved out a new life. He became a pastor and now runs his own church, where he welcomes refugees and immigrants. When they land, disoriented and displaced, he uses his own experience to help them adapt. As America fights with itself over whether to close its doors to refugees, Heritage's story is a powerful reminder of what can happen when those doors remain open.

Heritage likes to say that he is the product of New Hope Free Methodist Church, who showed him how welcome refugees with love. The investment made by the church “will carry me for a lifetime.”

Heritage now works as Church Mobilizer for World Relief Western NY, whose mission is “to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable.” World Relief longs to see more churches join this movement to welcome refugee and other immigrants, just like New Hope did for Heritage.

Together, we can build a welcoming community

Read Heritage's full story here.