Mark Leveri | 60 Years of Hosting Refugees: A Tanzanian Narrative

Mark Leveri, former Director of the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service (TCRS), recounts the organization's pioneering role in Tanzanian refugee operations since its 1964 founding. This period coincided with prolonged unrest in the Great Lakes region, leading to significant refugee flows into newly independent Tanganyika. Early responses were sporadic, involving aid from the local Lutheran Church, the Red Cross, host communities, and other faith-based organizations. Following an invitation from the newly independent Tanzanian government to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the LWF's Department of World Service formalized refugee operations, with TCRS playing a central role.

Leveri describes the initial development of refugee settlements in southern and north-western Tanzania, culminating in large-scale refugee encampments following the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its subsequent major influx of refugees; this followed earlier arrivals (1993) of Burundian and Congolese refugees. He also highlights TCRS's evolution from an expatriate-led organization to a mature, locally-run entity, marked by the appointment of the first Tanzanian Executive Director in 2005.

In this video
00:00 Introduction
02:44 Role of TCRS in Tanzania
05:25 Challenges that TCRS faced
07:01 TCRS' response to refugee influx
08:45 Services that TCRS provided to refugees
16:36 Relationship with TCRS and Ministry of Home Affairs
18:51 Examples of TCRS' impact on the lives of refugees
21:35 Political and social context of Tanzania influencing TCRS
25:25 Shift from hospitality to hostility
28:17 Hosting refugee in camps compared to providing them with land

Edited by Jarukson Jeevakumar