The leadership role played by Christian leaders while addressing the challenges faced by refugees in Durban was the theme of a paper by a masters student from the Leadership Centre.
 
The paper titled: Evaluating the responses to change by Congolese Christian Refugee Leaders in Durban, was presented by the Reverend Assan Biruli during the Business Management Conference hosted by the Faculty of Management Studies in November.
 
The paper was co-authored with Reverend Biruli's supervisor, Professor Kriben Pillay. "The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen many Congolese refugees settling in South Africa.” — Durban being one of the main areas opted for settlement," said the Reverend Biruli.

"In their struggle to reach a certain meaningful standard of life, refugee Christian leaders from the DRC have gone through rough and traumatic experiences."

He highlighted hardships such as psychological stress, discrimination, and social exclusion experienced by the refugees daily in host countries.

"Christian leaders are, however, able to effectively generate positive social change among their mixed congre¬gations. They do so by applying leadership situational theories relating to servant hood principles to address different challenges and factors that have hindered the promotion of social change among refugees," said Reverend Biruli.

Reverend Biruli is a leader of a refugee church in Durban.

- Hazel Langa