Part 1: Close Up Radio Spotlights Acclaimed Human Rights Activist Justin B. Mudekereza of Rescue Democracy International

Welcome to Close Up Radio, where our hosts, Doug Luellen and Jim Masters bring you the amazing stories of people who answered the call to unlock their potential and take in control of their own success, with authenticity, creativity, persistence and resilience. Close Up Radio, special guests, share their knowledge and wisdom so you the listener can live the most empowered life possible. Close Up Radio, and now, here's today's host, Jim Masters. Welcome to Close Up Radio, everyone. I'm your host, Jim Masters. Thank you very much for joining us here in the program as we spotlight a claimed human rights activist, Dr. Justin B. Morricanese, of Rescue Democracy International. He will never rest easy, says if people suffer so greatly. And these are the words of this great leader that we're going to feature in a two part exclusive conversation here on Close Up Radio. Dr. Morricanese, who has made it his mission to combat some of humanity's toughest challenges, he aspires to eliminate social injustices, defend universal human rights, and mitigate extreme suffering. He has passionately advocated for lasting transformation, builds thriving communities, and improves societies all by peaceful, nonviolent means while facing his own struggles, obstacles and pressing challenges. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the doctor is a philanthropist, human rights activist and a political advocate. He is the founder and CEO of Rescue Democracy International, which we're going to talk about in this series, it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that's focused on strengthening and defending Democratic values globally. He is also the executive director of New Neighbor's Relief, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which supports refugees and immigrants as they try to navigate the complexities of a claiming, acclimating, to life in the United States, one of the doctor's most significant triumphs to date, and he has had many. It is my pleasure to welcome him to the show, Dr. Justin, thank you very much for joining us here on Close Up Radio for part one of our two-part series as an honor and a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much, it's a pleasure to be here. You are very, very welcome. Tell us about some of those inspiring moments in your journey early on in your life and some of the things that sort of pointed you in the direction of doing this work within your earlier life, and it sort of directed you to the amazing work you're doing today. Well, thank you so much for this opportunity. Back from, I mean, taking all from my background and from my family, so back home in the DRC, my dad was a cultural leader, those we call chiefs, so in the eastern part, all the conflicts that started in the DRC, started in my district in South Kivu, that's in the eastern part, and my dad was a cultural leader, he passed away to his soul, he passed away in 1997 during the war, and he was always encouraging me to help people because he was doing the same thing. By the way, it's a huge family of 44 children, where I was the 11th son of my dad, and my dad did great work when the king sent him to bring peace in my place where people were killing each other of a land, cows, and many other conflicts, so he brought peace there, and they named him, the people named him Mude Querezza, Mude Querezza means a stabilizer or a peacemaker, and that's when I was born in 1976, and he also named me after the name that the people gave him. So from there, he started teaching me how to take care of the people, how to help the people when they're in trouble, and I grew up with that spirit of fighting for people, fighting injustice, and that's how all started, you know, so as I grew up, I was saying what he was doing, how he was helping the people, and until when he passed away, we decided, we shared all his wealth, I mean wealth in my area, that's land, cows, and all those things that, you know, he owned, so we shared everything according to his will, and I decided to sell everything I received and started a nonprofit organization helping widows and orphans, and other victims of war, so, and everyone was looking at me as a crazier, he's running mad, maybe, how can he sell everything, you know, and that was very new, no one has ever done that in my area, so even my mom was crying days and nights because she was like, oh, how is he gonna marry himself, how is he gonna get money to pass with education, how is he gonna do everything he's supposed to do, so it was really, really a tough situation, but as time, you know, passed, so I got some attractions and many international organizations started approaching me to know what I was doing in helping the widows and orphans victims of war in my area, and I ended up signing many contracts, got one many grants to help these people, so that's where everything started to, you know, like a boom, as we say in English, and it was really good for the people, but also it attracted many, many, I mean, enemies to me because some of those who thought they had power wanted to, wanted me to help them in their campaign in elections, and I said, no, I cannot do this because I know they were not doing it to help the people that they were doing to help themselves. I said, no, I cannot help in your campaigns, and that's how problem started, they started targeting me, and you know, until I got caught and tortured seriously, and that's what led me to flee the country, and went to Uganda, a neighboring country with my family, my wife and children there, so that's briefly what inspired me to do the work I'm doing, so I grew up fighting for people, fighting for justice, I hate when I see people suffer, so I feel like, you know, I should do something every time someone is suffering, and all this has been, you know, it has been now, within my life, this spirit, you know, even where everywhere I go, actually, even when I went to Uganda as a refugee, after a few moments, I mean, a few months after, you know, settling down, I started looking into the community and connected with youth organizations, youth, refugee youth, and many other community organizations to start, you know, guiding them, even when to Somalia where I was teaching in university, but also in the communities there, I was involved in development, you know, community development work, so everywhere I go until I come here, I came here in the United States, and that's when I saw how refugees were suffering, maybe we talked about that early, I mean, soon when we talk about new neighborhood relief, so that's briefly what I can say about how my life inspired me to do, my background inspired me to do what I'm doing today. That's amazing work that you're doing, it really is extraordinary, and out of all of this, you've created the organization Rescue Democracy International. Congratulations on that. Tell us about the organization and some of the important work you do. Oh, yes, thank you. You know, in a world where democracy is too often taken for granted or denied altogether, rescue democracy international stands as a bold force for change. Our mission is rooted in action, so we train young leaders to become agents of democratic transformation. We support women entrepreneurs who are not only building businesses, but building communities, and we champion grassroots solutions that fight poverty, not with charity, but with opportunity. So this is not just development, it's a movement, and we have many, many, I mean, programs that we run, those programs that help, you know, to foster democratic principles, democratic processes, and to prepare the people for, you know, to be able to take their own lives in hands, and that's to do it in a peaceful way, of course. And when it comes to our programs, we have youth leadership program. So in this program, we train the youth, you know, to take on leadership roles and develop their advocacy skills and become actively involved in addressing issues that affect their peers and communities. So we, you know, I think you're not about, you know, something about African, the history of African leadership or politics and stuff like that. So we have countries in Africa where leaders don't want to go, they don't to go from offices. So they want to remain there forever till their death, you know, and this, you know, while analyzing this situation, I took it into two ways. One is, we have leaders who are power hungry, they don't want to give opportunities to the youth, they don't want to leave because maybe they know what they're, you know, they did lots of wrong things and they're fearing about their future because they know that something would happen after they live power. But on the other hand, we have youth that are not really trained, they're not ready to take over. Sometimes these, you know, these old men and women say, okay, if we live office, who's going to take over? So they fail to prepare those who can replace them. And it's not only at the top because actually rest of the democracy in the national believes in, it does not believe in top-down process, but it believes in down up, you know, so bottom up. So leadership can start from up, from down to up, from the bottom, then reaches the top level. So, and we saw that it was really important to empower these, to build the capacities of these young men and women. So they can, you know, get involved as well. And it's not only in politics, but it's also in the community development process, you know. So there is also advocacy where we do local and digital campaigns where, you know, we try to see how digital, I mean, how we can use digital systems to strengthen grassroots advocacy, by launching comprehensive campaigns that drive real community change, you know, leverage online platforms and social media channels to amplify, you know, message while organizing ground level initiatives that directly engage with local stakeholders. So this is really a very very nice program that the youth really like today and, you know, in their life where technology is really taking over. So we do also voter education. So we empower people to participate in the democratic process by educating communities on voter rights, how to register to vote, to understand the voting process, host voting process awareness events and setting up votes to register eligible voters, because there are some people in some communities are, you know, their votes are suppressed or they don't have that chance to vote because, you know, they have to, sometimes it's very expensive to vote or to reach the voting, the polling stations and so on. So others don't even know how to do it. So some in some places they try to train people, but not really as it is supposed to be. So we try to make sure we bring that gap so we can bring in, you know, women make sure they have their potential to participate also in the democratic process, because in most cases women are left behind. Some laws have already given them the opportunity to vote and to be elected, but they don't give them opportunities to have like, you know, means that helps them to participate exactly because they cannot compete with men because they don't have money and that brings us to helping them to access economic opportunities that will help them to be able to compete like men. So we have human rights that's about housing and education. So we champion the fundamental belief that quality housing and education are basic human rights, not privileges. So through strategic partnerships and the evidence-based advocacy, we work tirelessly to break down systemic barriers and preventing individuals from accessing safe affordable housing and comprehensive educational opportunities. So by mobilizing resources and engaging with policy makers are the, I create sustainable solutions that transform lives, ensuring that, you know, every individual has the opportunity to thrive in a stable home while pursuing the education goals. So this is really something that helps, you know, I mean, we have of course financial challenges, but we try to do more with the little that we get. So we are a result, you know, result-based, I mean, organization. So we are more connected, more focused on results. So we make sure the little we receive is used for good. So we have also environmental conservation where we support projects that participate in trip planting initiatives, regenerative farming, soil amendments or soil remediation, you know, habitat restoration projects where we do also recycling drives and end up preserving natural resources. We mitigate also environmental degradation, global warming and promoting sustainability within the communities. So here we do also like we organize, you know, organize and participate in cleanup events where community members come together to pick up leader, beautify public spaces and improve the overall environment of their neighborhood. So we have this and recently we changed into the people because we want to hear the people from the ground and they said, well, instead of we know planting a trees is beautiful, we love it. But I would like to plant trees that really matters more. They help with the, you know, the environmental conservation, but also they help our families to gain something economically. And they chose to start, you know, to request that RDI gives them the opportunity to plant fruit trees. And that's we have a very big program on that where we are distributing recently distributed trees to over 10,000 households in the Democratic Park of Congo. And these are tree, plant trees that are, you know, able to bear fruits. So the avocado fruits or passion fruits, mango and mango fruits and so on and so forth. Because and we do, we make sure that they are propagated. So the people don't wait longer because with propagated trees, fruit trees, you can expect fruits in maybe between two and three years, not 10 years. So we also support interfaith dialogues. Here we facilitate interfaith dialogues and cultural exchange programs to promote understanding tolerance and cooperation among diverse religious and cultural groups within the community for peace building and good participation in democratic processes. So for many, many years in these developing countries in Africa, for instance, we've seen conflicts, you know, grow up between different people, different cultures, different different tribes and ethnic groups. But we saw that through interfaith dialogues, we can be able to bring these people together and try to see how together we can build a peace building and continue to help people to live in a good and a good manner helps them to participate in democratic processes with, you know, when they are talking this. We have also disaster preparedness and relief, you know, in places where wars have been really, I mean, rampant. So people are in this situation where there are, I mean, war itself is a disaster, but we have also natural disaster catastrophes that happen. And we want to make sure that the people are prepared for these disasters. And we can also bring relief to them when we have partners who help us to bring relief to these people. We can also do that by, you know, putting together some proposals and collect donations or collect, you know, relief that we can distribute to people during the disaster. So we do, we have a very big program as well on sustainability agriculture. So this is very, very crucial program as well. We use regenerative organic farming to promote sustainable regenerative agriculture and soil restoration, because in these countries there are many, many places where the soil is not really rich or the soil is, it's arable soil, but it's washed away by, you know, the rains and stuff like that. We support initiatives that help farmers improve their yields on food nutrition content. So, they do have them also diversify crops and access markets, because many can produce some times on food, but they will not have access to markets. So create and maintain community gardens, provide opportunities for residents to grow their own food and foster a sense of community spirit. So contribute to food security and rural development, hence reducing people's vulnerability to politicians advances. You know, some places, politicians use the people. So in fact, they have made the people so poor. They left them, you know, in a very, very deep poverty, so that they can continue using them when elections come. So because, you know, when someone has nothing to eat and you bring like a pound of half a pound of rice, you say, hey, you have to vote for me to have this rice. So the person will not refuse because they are very hungry. So that's where we thought that this is a very critical program because it helps people to produce their own food and reduce that, you know, that vulnerability to politicians advances, where they, I mean, the advances aim that buying their consciousness before and during elections. So this is really critical. We help them with seeds. We give them, I mean, crops, I mean, seeds that they can use to produce their own food. That's terrific. So it's really cool. It is. It's also economic empowerment, you know, at RDI. That's got about four minutes left to the show. Okay. Okay. So to have power, I just want to keep it. Yeah. More questions to try to squeeze in there. Yes. So I think that's more about RDI. So you can go move ahead with other questions. It's fine. Why is democracy so important to you? Well, yeah, that's a good question too. You know, we believe, personally, and that RDI, we believe that democracy is more than elections, you know, it's the daily practice of dignity, inclusion, and justice. And RDI, I will work hard to protect and promote human rights, foster civic engagement, you know, and empower voices that are too often silenced, especially youth and women in developing countries. So it's really important as it gives people those opportunities to thrive, not only about election, you know, it's not only about election, but it's about human dignity, about justice and inclusion. Very important. Absolutely. Fighting for social justice, near and dear to your heart. Tell us about why. Yeah, it's, I mean, as I said in the introduction, I feel so bad to see people suffering. So it's so, so, so dear to me, to my heart, to fight for people because I hate to see people suffering social injustice. That's yeah, I do too. I understand that completely. What are your qualities of a good leader? What's your expert opinion about that? Well, I think a good leader is, I mean, the quality is, you know, a good leader has to be that person who has courage, who, who, I mean, who has, you know, integrity, respect and compassion, collaboration, resilience, gratitude, accountability, recognition, and, you know, learning agility, because the leader has to continue learning, you know, in a learning process has to continue. Very important, absolutely. And the new neighbor relief program. Yeah, new neighbor relief actually is a, you know, proft organization that I lead as an executive director since 2017 up to now. It helps refugees to start a new life in the United States of America. You know, most refugees come from this country, I mean, from their country to this one, when they have left everything behind, they lost everything. So we help them to start a new life here. And that is through helping them to learn language, to help them to drive, to get drives license and have a car, get a car. We help them to access employment opportunities, get ready for job, that's job readiness, job search, and so on and so forth. And most of all, we see, most importantly, today we have refugees who came with nothing literally, but today, their home owners here in California, especially, you know, how, how expensive it is. So it is, that's what we do at new neighbor relief. And more can be found on our website, newnevereleaf.org. It's really important to help refugees, isn't it? Yes, it is, for sure. Why do you feel it's so important? Yeah, it is important because actually, you know, generally speaking, helping refugees is vital because it protects human dignity, saves lives and strengthens communities globally. But humanitarian reasons consider the fact that refugees flee war, persecution, or violence, leaving everything behind. As you know, they face trauma, exploitation and poverty, making humanitarian support essential for their survival. Providing aid ensures access to food, shelter, healthcare, education, which are basic human rights as well. It's all so important, all of this. And you're in the front lines doing beautiful work. What do you, thank you, you know, when you think about it, what do you feel about leadership today in the United States? And what are ways we can improve leadership? So people live more abundant healthier lives. Yes, when it comes to leadership today in the United States, I think in this one, it may take me long to spend, but I'm giving just, yeah, a week for that. I'm giving, yeah, I'm giving my opinion. And I know everyone has their own opinion that I really respect. But before answering this, I would like to make it clear that I'm not a US citizen as per now. And, you know, I'm not a US voter or I did not vote for anyone, right? So, but what I see, because for me, I see things globally. I don't see things only here in the United States, but I see things on the, on a global, with a global eye. So I think leadership today here is, I say it's a strong leadership. So and I know a change is very difficult for people to adapt with or to deal with. So when a leader comes with some new approaches, most people don't understand at the beginning, but they understand over time, you know, as time goes by, the people start understanding, oh, this decision was really good for us. But some decisions don't really work out so fast and it's, it's, it needs time. So what I appreciate with the, with the current leadership here in the United States is that, you know, being life oriented, you know, is very important because if we can have leaders who don't want to fight, you know, to, to have war everywhere around the world, that will be really a good thing, according to me, because even if the United States is a number one power on the world, but every war, you know, has consequences. And you cannot say that there will be a war here, but America will not be touched to in any way, even one life lost is a very important life. So that's why I think currently the ship is really strong because I'm seeing how, you know, the efforts to, to reduce wars around the world, including the Democratic Party of Congo, where there are. It has been a war that has been going on between the DRC and RUANDA for over three decades now, three decades. And now there are, you know, progress is on trying to end that. There is still a lot to do, I know, because peace process is a, is a long process. And bringing peace is a process. So it's not from, you know, to then to more that it can happen. But when you see leaders efforts, you can say that, you know, that they are really doing some good work. But when we talk about internally here, what is really surprising is that, you know, I love leaders who put the interest of the people first. I love leaders who actually it's also even one of the good qualities of leadership of a leader. When a leader promises, he has, he or she has to, to deliver. So a leader that delivers what they promise to the people, that should be, I mean, for me, that's really enough. So, but in essence, if those, you know, who are, I mean, partisans, you know, they don't work for the country, then that would be really bad, because we have to make sure at some point that they left and right to come together and they put the people's interest first. So not the, the, the, the parties or their, their political affiliations. So the people's interests have to have to come first. And that's also what they, the American leadership today has to also focus on. Speaking with Dr. Justin, Marcariza, you can go to Justin, Marcariza.com. Let me spell that for you, everybody. J-U-S-T-I-N, M-U-D-E-K-E-R-E-Z-A.com. Part one of our exclusive two-part series here on close-up radio. Dr. this was a real pleasure and honor to get an opportunity to hear your passion, your story, and to celebrate it here for part one on close-up radio. And thank you so very, very much for your eloquence and for your expertness and sharing it with our listeners here. And we look forward to part two. And I hope you enjoyed the time with me on this episode as much as I have with you today. Well, thank you so much. I really enjoyed every second of this show. Thank you so much to our listeners. And yeah, those who are willing to be part of this great movement, the rest of the democracy in the national are welcome to do so. And they can reach out to us anytime. Thank you so much. You're very, very welcome. Thank you, Dr. We appreciate you and we appreciate our listeners all around the world. This is Jim Masters thanking you for your time this time, till next time. And inviting you to come join us again right here on close-up radio for more extraordinary conversations with people who are making change and making the world a better place. We appreciate Dr. Justin and we appreciate you for being here. He'll be back for part two next week and we look forward to that. For all of us, have a terrific day. Thanks for listening and bye for now. You have been listening to a broadcast from close-up radio, a division of close-up television incorporated. For more information about our show and to be considered for future broadcasts, please visit closeuptelevision.com. 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