Concord, New Hampshire · Since 2016

Make room
for young
people to lead.

I'm Fiston. I left Minembwe on foot with my little brother in 2011 and reached New Hampshire on November 19, 2016, still learning English. Today I run the Young Adults Development Network, write for the Concord Monitor, and I'm finishing my first book.

Invite me to speak → See what I'm building
These days I
  • write.
  • speak to students.
  • train young leaders.
  • tell my neighbors' stories.
  • write.
Fiston smiling in glasses, a blue windowpane suit and a light blue tie.
Young Adults Development NetworkHelping young adults step into leadership before anyone tells them they’re ready.Photo: Fiston’s archive
2026Young Person of the Year, Stay Work Play New Hampshire
Co-founder & Executive Director, YDN
2026 Young Person of the Year Stay Work Play NH 40 Under Forty NH Union Leader · 2024 My Turn essays Concord Monitor Black Excellence Fund & Storytelling Grant NH PANTHER · 2024 Shout Out New Hampshire Magazine · 2023 Leadership Greater Concord Graduate

Where I start

From the High Plateaux of Minembwe to Concord.

Some mornings back home started with gunshots at four o'clock. I was a kid. I didn't choose that war, but I did get to choose what I'd do with the life I came out of it with.

I'm a Munyamulenge, from South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My brother and I spent years in Nakivale, in Uganda, and Kakuma, in Kenya, before New Hampshire took us in. We started over, beginning with the language.

Concord gave me a second start, so I try to hand that on: organizing for safer parks as a Grassroots Organizer with AFSC New Hampshire from October 2022 to 2024, writing about what this city means to people like me, and helping young adults step into leadership before anyone tells them they're ready.

Fiston Ndayishimiye

Read my whole story →
$0+
raised by partners in Arizona so YDN could take young leaders to Washington, D.C.
0 trips
to Washington, D.C. with YDN: our first conference in 2025, and again in July 2026.
0 essays
in the Concord Monitor's My Turn page since 2023, on freedom, memory and belonging.
0 stories
about our work in the press since 2022, from NHPR to New Hampshire Magazine.
Fiston in a blue suit and glasses, outdoors in front of a stone wall.
Since November 19, 2016I landed here still learning English. Now I write for the Concord Monitor.Photo: Fiston's archive

The word I lead by

Ubumuntu.

noun Being fully human: humanity, compassion, dignity, and the responsibility we carry for one another.

Being human is more than existing. It's how we treat people, especially people with less power than we have. That's the first test of any leader, and I try to pass it every day.

HumanityCompassionDignityResponsibility

What I'm building

Books, young leaders,
and a city that feels like home.

Tap any card to turn it over. There's a little more on the back.

Fiston in conversation with a young man at a table.
YDN · Co-founder & Executive Director

Young Adults Development Network

We help refugee, immigrant and underserved young adults grow into leaders through training, civic work and a real seat at the table.

↻
Washington, D.C.
July 1–4

Our annual D.C. conference

In 2025 we took young leaders to Washington for the first time, because partners in Arizona raised more than $8,000 to get us there. This July we went back.

Meet YDN → ↺
Cover of Awakening African Leadership by Fiston Mututsi. My first book · coming soon

Awakening African Leadership

A refugee's journey and a call to the next generation. I wrote it under my pen name, Fiston Mututsi.

↻
From the book

“Survival is not the final destination. The question is what we do with it.”

Want the first look? Join my letters and you'll hear before anyone else.

Get on the list →
Change for Concord
June 3

The lights came on at Keach Park.

Safe lighting for the youth field in the Heights was the first thing we asked for. It took years of showing up.

↻
Concord Monitor · June 4, 2026

“Community rejoices as Keach Park gets new lights”

With Change for Concord we held a community forum in 2023 and kept coming back until it was done.

Read the story →
Concord Monitor · My Turn I am not a refugee. I am an American.

My latest My Turn essay, July 17, 2026. Turn the card for more.

↻
More of my essays

We arrived in U.S. a decade ago. This July 4, our story continues

Building a future beyond the flames

Juneteenth and the struggle for true freedom in Concord

All my writing →
One Concord

One city, one people, one vision.

I founded One Concord to build belonging in our city, for newcomers and longtime neighbors alike.

↻
Keach Park

Festival days

I've supported the Concord Multicultural Festival, where flags from all over the world fill Keach Park.

Project S.T.O.R.Y.

Supporting Talents of Rising Youth.

I volunteered with Project S.T.O.R.Y., and I still cheer them on. They give Concord’s young people free programs and a place to grow.

↻
Juneteenth 2024

Mill Brook School, Concord

As a volunteer, I organized a Juneteenth gathering there in June 2024 and spoke as a guest.

Importance TV

My neighbors' stories, on camera.

Through Importance Leadership and Importance TV, I put the people I live beside in front of the lens.

Where I learned

Trained at Concord TV

I studied media and production at Concord TV. Follow along on Facebook at Importance Leadership.

My first book · coming soon

Six big ideas.
One road from Minembwe.

Awakening African Leadership is a refugee's journey and a call to the next generation. I wrote it as Fiston Mututsi: one prologue, fifteen chapters, six parts.

01

Heritage and identity

The land, the cattle, the elders, the songs and the faith of the Banyamulenge.

02

African history, told by Africans

The griots, the kingdoms of Mali, Great Zimbabwe and Kongo, and the independence generation.

03

Ubumuntu

Being fully human, and why it's the first test of any leader.

04

The road of a refugee

War as a child lives it, the long walk, Nakivale and Kakuma, and the work of belonging.

05

True leadership

Leaders judged by what they did, and the women who held whole communities together.

06

Africa's tomorrow

Young builders across the continent and the diaspora, and how young organizations last.

Giants on every page
“The development of a country is brought about by people, not by money.”Julius K. Nyerere · the Arusha Declaration, 1967
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”Nelson Mandela · Johannesburg, July 16, 2003
“Our children must never lose their zeal for building a better world.”Mary McLeod Bethune · “My Last Will and Testament,” 1955
“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”Martin Luther King Jr. · Strength to Love, 1963
Hear about the book first → Look inside the book →

Recognition

None of this was a solo act.

Every honor here has a room full of people behind it: mentors, the young adults at YDN, and neighbors who kept showing up.

2026
Young Person of the Year
Stay Work Play New Hampshire, Rising Stars Awards
→ 2024
40 Under Forty
New Hampshire Union Leader
→ 2024
Black Excellence Fund & Storytelling Grant
NH PANTHER
→ 2023
Shout Out: Community Organizer
New Hampshire Magazine
→ 2023
Leadership Greater Concord
Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce
→

Since November 19, 2016

Four places.
Two countries of waiting.
One city that said stay.

From the High Plateaux of Minembwe to the city that let my brother and me start over.

MinembweSouth Kivu, DR Congo · I leave on foot in 2011
NakivaleUganda
KakumaKenya
ConcordNew Hampshire · Nov 19, 2016

The road so far

Ten years, a lot of firsts.

Childhood

Minembwe

The High Plateaux of South Kivu, DR Congo, among my people, the Banyamulenge.

2011

On foot

I left Congo walking, with my younger brother beside me.

The camp years

Nakivale & Kakuma

Uganda, then Kenya. Looking for food, shelter, school and work.

Nov 19, 2016

New Hampshire

We landed and started again, beginning with the language.

2019

Concord High School

Graduated, then went on to NHTI, Concord's Community College.

Oct 2022 to 2024

AFSC New Hampshire

Grassroots Organizer, and Lead Organizer of Change for Concord.

March 2024

YDN

Co-founded the Young Adults Development Network with Pastor Serge Kagabo, and became its Executive Director.

June 3, 2026

Lights on

The youth field at Keach Park finally got its lights.

Oct 2026

Young Person of the Year

Named by Stay Work Play New Hampshire, while finishing my degree at SNHU.

Fiston speaking to an audience with a microphone.
On stageOne mic, one room, and a story that starts in Minembwe.Photo: Fiston's archive
I want to see young people thinking like leaders.From my interview with NHPR, January 22, 2025

Speaking

Bring this story to your room.

Schools, colleges, youth programs, faith communities and teams. I talk about where I come from, and what it asks of me now.

How I got from the mountains of Minembwe to New Hampshire, and why surviving is only where the story starts.

Best for students, graduations and youth conferences

Ubumuntu means being fully human. Character shows most in how we treat people with less power than we have.

Best for schools, leadership programs and professional teams

African history told by Africans: the griots, the great kingdoms, the independence generation, and what young people inherit from them.

Best for classrooms, heritage months and cultural events

What organizing with young adults in Concord taught me, including the years it took to light Keach Park.

Best for youth programs, nonprofits and civic groups

Invite me to speak →Trainings
in partnership withYDN, Young Adults Development Network

In the papers

Said out loud.
On the record.

All press →
This is what I am going to do for my entire life.
To the Concord Monitor · December 28, 2022
Our community needs leaders who understand the value of every human being.
To The Concord Insider · April 11, 2023
0
stories in the press since 2022.
Concord Monitor · NHPR · Union Leader · NH Magazine · Concord Insider · Stay Work Play NH
Meet the 2026 Rising Stars Stay Work Play NHCommunity rejoices as Keach Park gets new lights Concord MonitorThree Concord activists are continuing their work NHPRThe right to a voice Concord Monitor40 Under Forty: Fisto Ndayishimiye Union Leader
CYPN: Fisto Ndayishimiye is making changes The Concord InsiderCommunity leaders demand Keach Park lights Concord MonitorShout Out: Community Organizer New Hampshire MagazineKeach Park lights installed Concord MonitorCity projects impacting refugee and New American communities Concord Monitor

Writing & press

I write to make sense of it.

All essays and press →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

I am not a refugee. I am an American.

July 17, 2026Read →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

We arrived in U.S. a decade ago. This July 4, our story continues

July 4, 2026Read →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

Building a future beyond the flames

Aug 28, 2025 · as Fiston MututsiRead →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

Juneteenth and the struggle for true freedom in Concord

June 19, 2025Read →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

Carrying the lessons of the past

July 9, 2023Read →
Concord Monitor · My Turn

Hope for a better future

June 22, 2023Read →
Featured inConcord MonitorNHPRNew Hampshire Union LeaderNew Hampshire MagazineThe Concord InsiderStay Work Play NH

Civic leadership

Concord is home. I show up for it.

My 2025 run for City Council at-large, my plans and proposals for the city. All of it kept on the record, in its own corner of the site.

Visit Civic Leadership →
2025 City Council campaignWhy I ran at-large, and the forum address. Youth Council Committee PlanThe full plan, the summary and the presentation. Concord Forward 2030My vision for the next chapter of the city. New police station proposalA community letter and an 18-page proposal.

My letters

Read it first.

I write when there's something worth your time: book news before anyone else hears it, where I'm speaking next, and stories from the young people I work with. No noise.

Me
The book
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