Teke was born in 1959 in Uvira, DRC at the northern tip of the longest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Tanganyika. He has fond childhood memories of his homeland: mountains, lush forests, swimming, hiking, and of course, football (soccer). He completed 6 years of school and then worked for many years as a fisherman, even owning his own boat at one time.
By 1999, the violence that started in DRC in 1996 nearly reached Uvira, so Teke fled along with many others. He traveled for miles by lake in an overcrowded, unstable boat. When he reached the Nyarugusa Refugee Camp in Tanzania, he remembers being assigned an area between two trees to build his new home. He was supplied with seeds and a place to garden to help subsidize the food rations.
Teke married in 2000. Twenty one years later he, his wife, and their 6 children finally left the camp for a new life in Rhode Island. Teke has struggled to find work, but he is not the kind of person who complains. After so many years of lacking food, medicines, and other essentials, he seems focused on abundance. He particularly likes sending his children to school and knowing they will be able to graduate and have opportunities.
Teke brings a quiet calm to the busy work of Beautiful Day and has a special talent for working with our youth trainees.
