Lalies is the third of five children in her family. After the death of their father, she lived with her mother, sisters, and brother in Sake, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo where a rebellion has been ongoing for more than three decades. The tragedy began on December 21, 2020, at 12:00 p.m. while Lalies’s father was working at a mining company in Sake, which is located about 20 km from Goma. Rebels attacked the company and killed several workers, including Lalies’s father.

When the news reached their home, it felt overwhelming for the family, as their father had been the sole provider. After his death, their mother struggled to support the family by running small businesses for five years in order to meet their daily needs and ensure her children’s education.

In February 2025, the rebels attacked Sake and subsequently invaded Goma, where their mother operated her potato business. She lost all her goods in the chaos and was forced to flee with her children to a refugee camp in the province of South Kivu. There, humanitarian workers discovered them and arranged for their transfer to Kinshasa, where social services contacted us to provide temporary accommodation for Lalies and her sister, Flower.

Lalies has a strong ambition to become a nurse.