Dostin Lakika is from the DRC and completed his PhD at ACMS in 2019. He completed his Development Studies undergraduate degree at the “Facultés Catholiques de Kinshasa” (now the Catholic University of Congo) and worked as a trainer in the public sector before moving to South Africa in 2007. He joined the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), at Wits University in 2010 and obtained a Master’s Degree in Forced Migration Studies in 2011. For his MA study, Dostin looked at how Congolese forced migrants, who were victims of violence, perceived illness and treatment in their new environment in Johannesburg. As part of this research Dostin participated in formulating a research project at ACMS on upholding the psychosocial rights of forced migrants and publishing a report entitled “Exploring psychosocial and health rights of forced migrants in Johannesburg”. Dostin is also interested in issues of food, health, illness and refugees in South Africa, for example, the way refugees perceive South African food and how they consider foods from “home” as remedies to combat diseases affecting their lives in South Africa. Currently working at the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), a branch of the Embassy of France located in Johannesburg, he is also doing his doctoral studies through ACMS. His thesis is titled Living the past in the present: A reconstruction of the memories of war and violence of former Congolese soldiers living in South Africa. This research engages with studies on memory and violence, by examining the role of remembering the war among ex-Congolese combatants living in Johannesburg. It is particularly looking at the functions of the violent memories in their lives, their feelings about their past violent experiences as well as the way they see themselves today in migration setting.