Ephrem Vitya
Ephrem Vitya was an environment activist in the Congo DRC. He fled to the US in 2016 escaping government persecution for his group’s opposition to oil drilling and destruction of the natural resources in his region’s national park in the Congo DRC. He and his fellow activists mobilized the international community, the Congolese government started cracking down and arrested many of his peers, while he was attending an international conference in Hawaii, so he decided to apply for asylum. Ephrem was supported in his asylum case by Pacific Gateway Center in Hawaii. He participated in multiple conferences with lawyers about issues that asylum seekers face and to students a Hawaii University. He also took part in Refugee Congress Leadership training in 2017 in Salt Lake, UT. It took 4 years to get his asylum approved in 2020. He has been separated from his wife and four children ever since. He is working toward reuniting with them.