Living in a Kenyan refugee camp without your family is not easy, but it teaches you a lot about life, says Gloire, an International Development student who joined St. Paul's in 2013.
Born in Rwanda in 1993, Gloire and his family moved to Congo one year later, then Kenya, to avoid the insecurity from the 1994 Rwanda genocide. In 2012, he won a WUSC Student Refugee Program sponsorship to prepare him for post-secondary studies in Canada; one of the prerequisites was to live in the refugee camp.
"Life in the camp taught me how to live with people from diverse backgrounds in harmony and with love. From this I learnt that humanity has its boundaries at infinity."
However, he says, "The experience I had in the refugee camp also taught me how it feels not to have."
Since moving to Waterloo, Gloire has made many friends and feels that people are supportive. "I feel quite safe in my new home, since Canadians are very kind, respectful, and always willing to help. This has played a tremendous role in my transition. But in some situations, it has been challenging to express myself and address certain avenues of daily life as I have to limit myself to what is socially accepted in Canadian culture."
Besides all the Canadian friends he has made, Gloire also has a special bond with another WUSC-sponsored refugee student who is living next door at Conrad Grebel.
In fall 2014, Gloire became the Residence Don for our French-language floor, La Bastille, and in 2015, he worked at Student and Guest Services at St. Paul's.
Student Refugee Program