Overcomers Refugee Services is committed to providing services through case workers who have themselves experienced the dislocation and trauma of forced migration, and who have transformed themselves from refugee to United States citizens.
Both of our case managers came to the US as refugees after being forced to leave their homelands because their lives were at risk. They grew up in cultures similar to the cultures of origin of the people Overcomers serves. They faced similar challenges when they arrived in this community. They understand what new arrivals face. They are members of the refugee communities that Overcomers serves but they are also established members of their New Hampshire community.
This shared experience helps make Overcomers a place where New Americans feel comfortable asking for help and where they know that they will be understood.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Clement Kigugu is the Executive Director at Overcomers Refugees Services. Mr. Kigugu has a broad range of experiences in the areas of social service, employment, medical interpretation, and case management.
Clement has diverse experiences supporting refugees, immigrants, and low-income families. Besides English, Mr. Kigugu speaks Kinyarwanda, French, Swahili, Kirundi, Lingala, and other Congolese languages.
Mr. Kigugu also has a decade worth of non-profit experiences in Rwanda, Africa. Mr. Kigugu has a degree in Management from University Libre de Kigali (ULK), Africa, and is a trained and certified medical interpreter.
CASE MANAGER
Daniel was born in Eastern Congo. When Daniel was about 5 years old in 1999, his family fled to Tanzania – a neighboring country - to escape the deadly conflict and ethnic persecution. Daniel and his family stayed in a refugee camp in Tanzania for 17 years before being resettled to the United States in September 2016.
Before becoming a case manager at Overcomers Refugee Services, Daniel worked at Concord Walmart for about 3 years - a job he got with the help of Clement Kigugu who was working as an employment coordinator at Ascentria Care Alliance at that time.
Prior to becoming a case manager at Overcomers, Daniel assisted refugees in the community on his own time. After a few weeks volunteering at Overcomers, a case manager position opened up, so Daniel applied and was selected for the position.
Daniel graduated from high school in 2014 while living in the refugee camp, and is currently working on his Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Southern New Hampshire University.
CASE MANAGER
Chekeri is our newest case worker. Chekeri came to the United States from Rwanda in 2014 at the age of 17. She graduated from Plymouth State University with a Bachelors in Social Work in 2023. She joined the ORS staff in February of 2024.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
After retiring from the NH Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence as a Trauma Informed Specialist, Linda joined the team at Overcomers Refugee Services in the summer of 2022.
She has lived in NH since 2005 and worked in the fields of domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health, serving primarily the homeless.
Linda received her Masters in Education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Linda was glad to bring her many years of experience working with non-profit organizations to ORS.
Rex joined the Overcomers board in 2017 after traveling to Rwanda with Clement. They visited local people in their rural homes, listened to their stories, shared meals together, worshipped together, and explored their culture. Rex was moved by incredible sense of reconciliation just 25 years after the genocide they lived through. This experience provided Rex with insights that inspired him to help Clement and the Overcomers organization.
Rex has a Bachelor’s degree with a major in Business Administration and has worked for 30 years in various leadership roles with Praxair, Inc. He has been a self-employed business consultant for 15 years, working with leaders to find ways to improve safety cultures in their places of business. Rex also served two years in the US Army in a military intelligence unit at Fort Polk, LA and has served as an elder in two different churches.
Rex currently resides in Florida with his wife, Sharon.
Lena works at Mason + Rich, PA, a public accounting firm located in Concord, NH, where she works with nonprofit clients across different industries. She is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with a Master of Science in Accounting. She is a licensed CPA in New Hampshire and a member of the New Hampshire Society of Certified Public Accountants
Claire Uwimana Nepa was born in Rwanda. She was raised by her grandparents who were well respected. Her grandfather was a veterinarian in Nyanza south Rwanda, which was in the kingdom of Rwanda before the colonists came.
In 1994 Claire’s family was devastated by genocide. Her parents died and her family were separated. After Genocide Claire became head of the family and took care of her siblings even though she was still young. She married a Congolese man and moved to D R Congo.
In 1997 the war started in D R Congo. Claire was arrested and put in prison because of her race as D R Congo claimed that it was attacked by the Rwandan Government. Upon her release she fled to a neighboring country where she lived in a refugee camp for 3 years. In 2000 Claire was granted refugee status and was resettled in NH with her 3 children. Claire now works at Concord Hospital as a health care worker.
Claire became a board member of Overcomers in 2020. She helps ORS achieve its mission and she brings to her work her experience living in a refugee camp and her adjustment to living in the United States. Besides being a board member, she also volunteers to share her stories among clients as a person who is from one tribe and married to another tribe. Her message is to forgive and overcome the pain of war and violence.
Jim Snodgrass was the executive director of Second Start from 1974 until his retirement in 2022. Second Start is a private, non-profit educational, training, and childcare organization located in Concord, serving over 1,000 individuals yearly statewide with a staff of 65. Many of the people Jim worked with in Concord were people who arrived as refugees. For his long career of service, the Concord Chamber of Commerce named him its 2021 Citizen of the Year.
Jim also serves on the boards of Riverbend Community Mental Health and Building Community in New Hampshire.
He is a former trustee and treasurer of the New Hampshire Community Technical Colleges, and a former member and president of the Board of Trustees of the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits.
Jessica has worked with ORS since 2019 in a variety of capacities supporting the organization’s growth through outreach, awareness building, fundraising, and events.
As the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Capitol Center for the Arts, Jessica oversees theorganization’s Equity, Diversity, Access and Inclusion initiatives.
Jessica has always had a passion for working with local nonprofit organizations and specializesin mission-focused events, outreach, fundraising and development. When she became the
director of the Concord Multicultural Festival in 2013, Jessica found a new passion in working with refugees and immigrants and celebrating the beauty and benefits of diversity in this small, mostly white state in which she grew up.
As a tireless advocate for underserved communities, Jessica has received awards and honors, and has been featured in multiple publications highlighting her work. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Concord and the Hoffman-Haas Fellowship, and has served on many nonprofit boards,
and committees.
Erik Irakiza came to the US as a refugee from Congo DRC in 2013. He is a case manager for Building Community in New Hampshire (BCNH) in Manchester. Previously, Erik worked for Velcro Companies in Manchester. Erik joined the Overcomers board of directors to help the organization achieve their goals.
Mushoshere is a former refugee from D R Congo. He is now a care coordinator at North American Family Institute (NAFI). He joined ORS in 2017
Ghana is originally from Bhutan. In 1992, his family left Bhutan for the refugee camp in Nepal, where they stayed for 18 years. Ghana was resettled to the U.S. in 2009. He lives in Concord with his wife, Nirmala, and two children.
Ghana joined the board of Overcomers in early 2020 to support the expansion of services to the Bhutanese community.
Ghana attended and graduated high school in the refugee camp, and studied mathematics at Damak Multiple Campus and North Bengal University. He currently works at Concord High School as an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher where he works with New American students on math and science and teaches a citizenship class for adults. Ghana’s previous work includes Education Coordinator for BCNH (Building Community in NH), professional tutor at NHTI, and Garden Manager for Sycamore Community Garden.
In 2014, Ghana was named one of Concord’s “Most Fascinating Individuals” by Concord TV. He is also one of the lead organizers of the Concord Multicultural Festival and a lifelong board member of the International Nepali Literary Society of NH.
Anne Renner has been the Chair of the Board of Overcomers Refugee Services since 2018. She grew up in Europe. She is a lawyer by profession. She lived in Concord for over 30 years and has a deep appreciation for its caring and engaged community. She has significant experience with nonprofits, and chaired the Boards of the Concord Food Co-op and a local Montessori school for many years. She was inspired to help our refugee communities by a chance encounter many years ago with a Congolese man who had just arrived from a Mozambique refugee camp. She has been involved ever since. In Overcomers, she has found an organization whose mission and approach fulfills her long-term desire to make a meaningful and beneficial difference in the lives of new Americans.
Claudine is a former refugee from D R Congo. She has a bachelor’s degree in Health Science /Community Health. She works as a Home Visitor in the Concord District.
Siza is an Assistant Principal at Beaver Elementary School in Concord NH. He has also taught in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Morocco, and the UK. He has been privileged to attend graduate school at the University of Cambridge. He has been in the US for more than 15 years and cherishes the opportunity to work for ORS. He has been a Board Member since 2021 and also serves as the Secretary for ORS.
As an organization that serves refugees, we are committed to maintaining a board with more than half of its directors who are originally from the refugee populations that Overcomers serves. It is important for our board of directors to model the connection and interaction that we envision between refugees and the New Hampshire communities that have welcomed them.
The Board of Overcomers Refugee Services is dedicated to the organization’s mission and vision. Those of us who are established citizens of New Hampshire are proud that our community has offered new homes to fellow human beings torn from their old life by trauma. We want to share our community with our new members and we want to learn more about their cultures.
Our volunteers support our clients and our mission in many ways. From providing transportation to appointments, mentoring families and teaching English, to administrative tasks and help with fundraising, we couldn't do what we do without the enthusiastic support of our volunteers.
Copyright © 2024 Overcomers Refugee Services - All Rights Reserved.
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