When Kembetia Bissa fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to Ireland in 2003 he found not only sanctuary but beauty, friendship and a home.
The asylum seeker settled in Bandon, west Cork, and found work as a landscaper. He opened an African dance school with Congolese drumming and taught local people the rhythms of his homeland. “It was very positive, very welcoming. I felt like I was in my own country,” Bissa, 55, said this week in Dublin.