Biography

An experienced young woman known by the name of Sabrina Wakilongo spends all her days flying, through poetry and motivational writing, to convert life challenges into happiness. She has been through a lot in her past life due to cultural gender discrimination, but this simply builds her spirit to work towards ending gender violence and negative cultural influences. She is a web designer, and she has been working with Jesuit Worldwide Learning as an onsite facilitator of Data Structure and Algorithms.

In 1994, before she was born, Sabrina’s family fled war from Congo to Tanzania. Sabrina was born in 2002 in a Tanzanian refugee camp, and currently is living in Dzaleka. She grew up with a single mother, not because her father died but because he decided to abandon the family as a result of her mother only giving birth to daughters. The situation was not good after her father abandoned them, and her mother fought hard for their lives until they returned to Congo, when peace had begun to return. While in the Congo, her mother found a new husband who promised to marry her. He told her she could stay with him as long as she did not bring her children; seven children already, and her mother was already pregnant with an eighth. Ultimately, she chose him over her own children, but she is hoping that one day, she will be able to convince her new husband to let her children come and live with her.

Things were not the same after her mother left. Abandoned now by both her parents, Sabrina was in sorrow and wished to give up on life. She had older sisters who worked hard and supported their basic needs.

In 2009, one of her sisters decided to get married to a man who promised to take care of them. "God exists and always sends angels to the rescue of his servant," said Sabrina. When she realized how passionate and willing her brother-in-law was, she always said "he is more than my parents," with tears spreading in her eyes.

One day at home, the father of her brother-in-law was brought home sick from the Mai Mai rebel’s camp. The father was taken to the hospital, but unfortunately, he died due to poisoning. Suddenly, after the family’s mourning, they received a delegation from the Mai Mai rebels telling them to bring the father’s gun back to the camp. They had no idea about any guns and could not say anything; the delegation left, promising to return. Two days after that, gangs broke into the family’s house. They were abused, beaten, and threatened with guns, but fortunately, no one was hurt. Thinking that they had killed one of the family, the rebels decided to run and promised to come back yet again. Sabrina and her family made up their minds to run from Congo to Malawi, away from their enemies.

All of her life experiences caused Sabrina to start writing poems to positively influence herself and other women. She wrote a poem entitled "Does Peace Really Exist?" in reference to her life’s chaos. Moreover, based on her experiences, she has always placed her hope in education and cultural challenges for women.

When she reached Malawi, she finally encountered a little peace, but she was not happy with the way her fellow girls were taking life for granted. She started focusing her mind on how to change this mentality. She met with one girl named Masse Kininga, who was a long-term resident of the camp. They sat together, thinking, and eventually came up with a community based organization known as Girls VISION, which aims to empower women through education and talent-development, as well as reducing early marriages and pregnancies among young women. Sabrina’s younger sister too has joined the crew.

But Sabrina did not stop there. She has been working with different Community-Based Organizations that deal with women, such as AFECO PAD. She is now a coordinator assistant, moderating different types of vocational training to help women develop a sense of independence. Her life was full of miserable situations, but she did not give up. She turned her life challenges into an essence that motivated her to fight and work hard. In 2018, she wrote a poem entitled "Why Africa?" and performed it during a World Refugee Day activity. She has been invited to perform her poems in different areas as a tool to motivate people and educate young women who have been isolated by cultural boundaries. Her life story inspires her to strive for the female gender because she understands what it means to be a woman.