Félicienne Lusamba Villoz-Muamba

Villoz-Muamba was born Félicienne Lusamba Muamba in 1956 in Lusambo, then part of the Belgian Congo.^[1] She was the eldest of eighteen children born to her parents, who were schoolteachers and followers of Catholicism.^[1][2]

In 1962, at the age of six, Villoz-Muamba moved to Brussels to receive a primary education and live with her aunt.^[3] She completed her secondary education in the Congo, then returned to Belgium to study law in Brussels and Paris.^[1][4]

Villoz-Muamba moved to Switzerland in 1984, after she was hired by the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) in Bern.^[2] She relocated with six of her siblings, who at that time were under her guardianship.^[1]

Her work in the embassy's visa department exposed Villoz-Muamba to the experiences of refugees, and their difficulties in being believed or overcoming discrimination.^[2] These interactions prompted Villoz-Muamba to leave her post at the embassy in the mid-1990s to work within volunteer networks that supported immigrant integration.^[1] She worked with teachers at local educational institutions to help them support students from different cultural backgrounds.^[1]

After marrying Jacques Villoz, a Swiss citizen, she relocated to Bienne, where the couple had two children together.^[1][5][6][4]

In 2000, Villoz-Muamba became the first black woman to be elected to Bienne City Council, having campaigned as a member of the Green Party.^[7][8] Outside of her work in municipal government, she co-founded Carrefour de Réflexion et d'Action contre le Racisme Anti-Noir (CRAN; "Crossroads for Reflection and Action against anti-Black racism") in 2002, based in Geneva.^[2] By the time of Villoz-Muamba's death, CRAN was the largest anti-Black racism association in Switzerland.^[2] Between 2006 and 2008, she also undertook continuing education in the topics of adult education, intercultural mediation, and sexual and reproductive health.^[1]

Villoz-Muamba held her municipal position until 2008, when she instead ran for a mid-cycle seat on the Grand Council of Bern.^[1] She was successful, becoming not only the first black woman to reach the office, but the first woman of African origin to serve on a cantonal legislature in Swiss history.^[9] During her term, she co-authored a review of the progression of pay for teachers in Bern.^[10]

While serving in the legislature, she continued to run integration workshops at a local adult education and vocational training institute.^[1] She also worked with the Swiss Network Against Excision to raise awareness of, and combat, female genital mutilation among immigrant communities.^[5] In 2009, she contributed to the founding of l’Université Populaire Africaine (UPAF; "the Popular African University"), an anti-racism and cultural exchange organisation.^[1][11]

Although Villoz-Muamba won re-election in 2010, she was ultimately forced to decline the seat on health grounds.^[12][13]

Around the time of her resignation from politics, Villoz-Muamba became involved with Caritas Internationalis.^[5] She primarily provided counselling and social integration assistance to immigrants, though she also provided support to elderly people experiencing loneliness.^[3] She described her professional motivation as a desire to "motivate people to go out, exchange ideas and engage in new encounters."^[3]

Though her campaigns for racial equality occasionally attracted threats, Villoz-Muamba served as CRAN's president until 2019.^[2][14] In June that year, she and CRAN released a statement criticising instances of police brutality against black men in Basel.^[15] Between 2013 and 2019, she also worked as a sexual health counsellor at a family planning centre in Delémont.^[1][16]