Rose embraces her oldest son, John.

Even though it seemed unthinkable, Rose named her twins in honor of the commander of the death camp. In Congolese culture, having a child named after you is an incredible honor. Having twins named after you is even more extraordinary.

“For a mother to have twins is very special,” Rose says. “If a woman has twins, no one can be mad at her.”

In learning of the babies’ names, the commander’s wife came to the prison and brought Rose tea, bread and some clothes. A familial connection had been created between Rose’s family and the commander, so he could no longer accept that they would die in his brigade. Instead, he had all of the 32 remaining prisoners transferred to a safe haven in Kinshasa, where it would be up to the president to decide if they were to be killed.

“After eight months, they say, ‘You are free. Now you are mother of commanders.’”

Five days after arriving in Kinshasa, Rose crossed paths with an American named Sasha Chanoff, who was working for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In 1999, in response to the government-sanctioned killing of Congolese Tutsis, the U.S. government launched a rescue effort by sending small teams into the country to evacuate those in grave danger. The IOM was in charge of the evacuations.

“My explicit instructions were to go into this safe haven to get all the people out that were on our list and to fly them out to a refugee camp in Cameroon,” Sasha tells PHOENIX magazine.

The evacuations were extremely dangerous and complex. During a previous IOM mission, one of the three buses carrying refugees broke down in a busy market. When people nearby realized it was a bus full of Tutsis, a mob formed. Fortunately, the team was able to get the refugees onto the other two buses just as the first rocks were being thrown.

“That was the kind of environment we were going into,” says Sasha, who ended up picking up the refugees left from that mission.

When Sasha’s three-person team arrived in Kinshasa, there were a few dozen more refugees than were on the evacuation list. A gaunt woman sitting on the ground with two bundles in her arms and seven severely malnourished children surrounding her immediately caught Sasha’s attention.

“When I asked who that was, they told me she was a woman who had come in a few days earlier as part of a group of 32 widows and orphans. This woman was Rose Mapendo,” he says.

He knew it was crucial for their survival to be evacuated but was told that trying to get them out could jeopardize the mission of evacuating the refugees they originally went in for. “The Congolese government won’t let you and they’ll try to sabotage the whole evacuation,” was the message they received from their headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

“We were faced with this moral dilemma. Do we try to take Rose and her family out, or do we leave them there to die?” Sasha recalls thinking.

Sasha’s team decided to go against their orders and try to fly the additional 32 women and children out. “We were the ones on the ground there, making the decisions,” Sasha justifies. Rose and the children were traumatized and emaciated. The twins were 8 months old when they arrived in Kinshasa and each weighed no more than 6 pounds. “If we didn’t try, that would be it for them,” Sasha says. 

The evacuation of 156 refugees was ultimately successful. They were brought to Cameroon, where they would stay in a refugee camp while they were processed to come to America as part of the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

During those six months in Cameroon, Rose and her family received food and some medical care. Sasha visited with Rose and her family on several occasions, learning what they had endured and how they managed to stay alive.

“It was pretty wild, because all of the other refugees in the camp had been terribly traumatized and gone through really horrific stuff, but when they heard Rose’s story, they all cried because of the horrific conditions she lived through over 16 months,” Sasha remembers, impressed by Rose’s triumph over death. “Every day Rose had to make life-or-death decisions.”

He says it was her positive attitude and the ability to forgive those who killed her husband and imprisoned her family that helped Rose keep her children and the other prisoners alive.

Rose (left) and other family members reunite with Rose’s brother Fredrick, along with his wife and child after a 16-year separation

In August 2000, two years after they were imprisoned, Rose and her family resettled in Phoenix. Her twins spent a month in Maricopa County Medical Center, where they were nursed back to proper health.

Rose and her family were safe, healthy and free. Still, the initial acclimation to their new lives was difficult. There were no friends or family to support them. She could not read or write, speak English or drive.

From his experience relocating refugees, Sasha says it’s difficult resettling in the U.S., especially for a widow with nine children and no father figure. Not worrying for her family’s safety also allowed Rose time to reflect on what she had lived through.

“When you’re in survival mode, you don’t have the luxury of evaluating everything you’ve been through,” Sasha explains of the refugee thought process. “But when you get to the U.S., you have that time because you’re safe and not thinking about how you are going to live from one day to the next.”

While her kids proved resilient and quick to adjust, it took Rose months before she was able to cope, not only with her past, but also her new surroundings in Arizona. In due time, however, Rose overcame and embraced the challenges of her new life. In the nine years that Rose and her family have lived in the U.S., she has acquired the education she missed in the Congo, even taking college courses.

Inspired by his experience with Rose, Sasha remained in close contact and has since founded an organization aimed at “rescuing people and protecting the lives of refugees who otherwise might die or be killed.” Sasha named the organization Mapendo International, in honor of Rose and the Swahili meaning of her last name: “great love.”

Since 2005, Rose and Sasha have been sharing her story across the nation and world, including Africa, addressing the plight of refugees and advocating for their protection. She has spoken at the White House next to former First Lady Laura Bush, at a UN refugee conference in Geneva and alongside celebrities like Ben Affleck and Anderson Cooper at engagements across the U.S. Her hope is to raise awareness and inspire action.

Rose also was elected by the refugee community in the U.S. as the spokeswoman for peace talks in the Congo.

“Rose has a message of reconciliation, peace and forgiveness,” says Sasha, adding that he’s still moved every time he hears her speak. “Sharing her story also seems to be cathartic for her.”

Volvo recently recognized Rose with the Volvo for Life Hero Award, for which she was nominated by actress Susan Sarandon. Sarandon, who sits on Mapendo International’s advisory board, also chose Rose as her personal hero for a CNN special about celebrities and their heroes.

Along with more than 3,500 other refugees, Mapendo International found Rose’s surviving family members living in the Congo and have helped them with the resettlement process. Thus far,  Rose’s parents, brothers and sister have been relocated to Arizona. On January 21, Rose’s family reunited with her brother Fredrick, along with his wife and child, at Sky Harbor International Airport after 16 years of separation.

“It’s unbelievable,” Rose shouted while clapping her hands. “I’m so excited to see my brother again!”

They are still in the process of bringing over her remaining four siblings.

Along with her role as an international spokeswoman and peace activist, Rose gathers money from resettled refugees in the U.S. and takes it to Africa to distribute among families left behind and those in need. She says she is grateful for the safety and security her family has found in Arizona but admits her greatest hope is to one day return to the country she loves.

“I miss my country so much, my brothers and sisters,” Rose says. “I wish for it to be safe so one day I can go back to my village.”

But as long as the Congo remains mired in war and political upheaval, Rose will continue fighting for peace and sharing her message of survival, compassion and forgiveness with anyone who will listen.