I shaped the narrative and coordinated a public photo exhibition, bringing refugee stories from the field into the museum.
The result Photography and testimony brought together for a public audience.
View the exhibition invitation
Have you ever had to prepare for a media interview while the situation around you was escalating?
Perhaps internal information has leaked, your organisation is suddenly in the spotlight, or you are facing a media storm you never saw coming.
For me, the impact of that kind of pressure first became tangible on 22 May 2021.
I was celebrating my birthday with friends on a rooftop terrace overlooking Lake Kivu. It was a quiet evening, with cocktails in every imaginable shape and colour on the table. Then the sky suddenly turned red.
“A special birthday candle,” we joked, assuming Mount Nyiragongo was simply a little more active than usual.
Before long, my guests’ phones began ringing, one after another. The instructions were clear: go home immediately, pack a grab bag weighing no more than 10 kg, and be ready to leave for an unknown length of time.
My call never came. That uncertainty — not knowing what would happen, when or how — was just as paralysing.
A few days later, we left in a convoy of more than a hundred people: colleagues, expats and families. First towards Bukavu, then back to Sake, where the emergency response was taking shape for the many families who had fled Goma.
Camera in hand, I began documenting what was happening. At the same time, media requests were pouring in.
That experience changed the way I think about communication.
Communicating under pressure takes more than a good story. It takes strategy, clarity and responsibility — precisely when everything is shifting.