Education has been the key to finding refuge in Kansas City for Engoma Fataki.

Fataki’s family fled a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was an infant. Along with his parents and eight siblings, he lived in refugee camps in four African nations.

“My entire childhood I spent in refugee camps,” Fataki said. “My background is full of trauma… Those things still haunt me to this day.”

Fataki’s father, Fataki Mutambala, now is a preacher who leads a congregation of more than 100 African refugees in the city’s historic northeast section.

Engoma, meanwhile, has leaned hard into furthering his education. He now serves as the student body president at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. Ultimately, he plans to go into international law.

“I can’t make all the change,” he said. “But the little difference that I can make will impact a lot of lives.”

See more in this week’s video installment of “Finding Refuge in KC.”