Biography

Berger Badere Bellegie is a Congolese national who has been living in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi since 2013. He did his university studies online at Regis University through Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL). Berger holds a certificate for Completion of the Associate in Arts Degree in General Studies with a concentration in Communications. More recently, he is also pursuing a Bachelor in Arts Degree in Communications with a concentration in Business at Southern New Hampshire University (online).

For the past three years, he has been working with Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) as a facilitator of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). He is also a facilitator at Digital Laboratory and Teacher Formation Program (TFP). As an educator, his role is vital in Dzaleka, as it is a community with many displaced people that have high educational needs. Berger also happens to be a social worker, youth mobiliser, public speaker (MC), researcher and community activist, and Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) alumnus. As a young leader, he tries to accommodate everyone’s voice, since we all have a story to tell and inspire with.

After completing his secondary school in 2017 at Dzaleka Community Day Secondary School (Dzaleka CDSS), he immediately started volunteering with Okapi Team (a community-based organization that offers education to refugees). He worked as a secretary of this Community-Based Organization and facilitated EFL classes. He has taught huge classes of about eighty students in beginner level. In 2018, Berge started working with Plan International Malawi as a youth community mobiliser. He was leading a team of five youths who worked as youth mobilisers in Youth Friendly Health Services under the department of sexual and gender based violence.

In 2019, he joined Youth Organization to Promote Art and Culture (YOPAC), a non-profit and charitable organization aiming to promote youth’s talents through “Sanaa Weekend,” a musical event in nature that takes place twice a month. The event helps different gifted youths in singing, dancing, poetry, acrobatics, and fashion, among others, to showcase their talents and bring a smile to refugee faces. The event also gives an opportunity for talented youths from Dzaleka to link up with different artists in Malawi. Berge is a spokesperson of YOPAC.

Since 2020, he has been the manager of the Fighter Dance Crew, a team of sixteen youth talents: boys who are passionate about dancing and expressing their gifts (see Dance section of website). The crew has been able to perform at big festivals in Malawi and ceremonies of various different natures. Also, he coordinates a film company known as Youth Community Service: Eagle Media Industry (YCS: EMI) that educates, informs, and entertains the community through its short films. He is the vice president of Dzaleka Filmmakers, the association of filmmakers within the camp. One of the association’s short films, “It’s Not My Fault,” won an international competition, and can be found on www.focusonability.com.au under “International Short Films”.