Mireille Ikirezi Umuziranenge is from Rwanda and currently a student at Bates College in Maine, USA
“...nobody should order rivers to stop running, rather everybody should learn how to swim in them especially in the midst of stormy times.”
Mireille Ikirezi Umuziranenge
What you should know about me
I am the first Rwandan student to attend Bates College. Ok seriously, the only thing you should know about me is that I love God. I love Him for his creation, his unconditional love for humans, his all-knowledge, power, characteristics, and so on. The last but far from the least, I love my God Jesus Christ for so many blessings (life, family, fiancé, friends, etc) he has poured on me and still more to come.
Biography
Very far away from home. I think that’s the best way to start my biography. Being a current student at Bates College in Maine, the coldest place I’ve ever been, makes me think a lot from the journey I’ve traveled so far and still more to go. This journey starts from Rwanda, a country where I come from. Located in central-east of Africa, Rwanda is a very small country (size of Maryland) where almost nine million Rwandans dwell! I was born in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda where my parents currently live, during a very hot season on July 5th, 1985. As I was growing up, I learned a lot from my surroundings. Starting from childhood, I began to realize that Rwanda was a very poor country, where most of Rwandans had to struggle a lot to find a way for a living. All the times when I had to take a little walk in the neighborhood or went around the whole country, many people especially children were on the streets looking at least for 1 cent to buy food that could feed on them for a half of a day. With this reality in mind, I couldn’t believe how much I was blessed to live a life that I was in. I had my family near me; they met all my needs I had, such as buying me food for everyday, paying for my tuition, and so on. In other words, my family was and still is the real model demonstrating how parents should take care of their children. With all their strength and love, they made sure I had a wonderful and a promising life full of hope.
So to be at Bates College right now had to start from somewhere. With caring parents, I was able to attend highly ranked schools in my country where I had a chance to get a great education. My parents always reminded and encouraged me to always work really hard in everything I would do. The schools I went to were academically challenging, but I tried and studied my best I could to prove myself that with hard work, I was able to do well in school. In fact, I did very well at school in Rwanda, and that’s why I was admitted to one of a greatest high school in US, Kent School situated in Connecticut. Coming to a US boarding school (August of 2001) for the first time with little English, it seemed like I was thrown into a vast sea where I had to figure out a way to get out of it. In addition to that, I was far away from home, from my family, friends, fiancé, and to live in a totally strange new environment where even our cultures are different, my heart was telling me that definitely I was not going to make it. Yet, with a great advice I got from my parents that I had to always work really hard no matter what situation I faced, I tried my best to cope with the new environment I was in.
“Il ne faut pas dire aux fleuves d’ârreter de couler. Il vaut mieux apprendre à naviguer dans les vagues.” I remember really well when my parents taught me of this inspirational and immortal quote when I was in Rwanda. Paraphrasing from French, the quote is giving us an advice that nobody should order rivers to stop running, rather everybody should learn how to swim in them especially in the midst of stormy times. With this quote in my mind, I didn’t have to cry all the times hoping that the time would stop flying, but rather I started to study little by little English until I knew it well. And the second thing I did was to put all my energy into my studies. In a year, I was able to understand what everybody was telling me in English, and I was happy about what my hard work had brought into my life. I did very well academically, yet socially I had another story. I had only one true friend during my first year in my high school because I couldn’t communicate with others really well. English deficiency and a new culture were two of the main obstacles that prevented me from not coping with other students. However, I didn’t lose hope because I embraced and acted upon my self-esteem, and actually I was able to make friends during my senior year of high school. After spending two years at Kent School, I got my diploma and I got admitted into Bates College. And with all these blessings in my life, I thanked my mom and dad for the wonderful quote they shared with me because it is the one that took me to next level of my exciting life that happened to be full of challenges and many surprises.
After high school, I came to Bates College where I learned a lot of new things. First, I met many people from all over the world, and it was fun to learn so many new cultures that surrounded me. Second, I learned to take care of myself, such as taking responsibilities of providing money for myself or of using my time wisely. My first year of college was very hard in many ways- it was another environment to me. Academically, I performed very because I didn’t try my best in my studies or used my time well as I should have done. However, during my second year I did better with my life because I corrected some of the things I wasn’t able to do during my freshman year. This shows that I learned from my experiences of course. Moreover, I’m now very excited about my life in college because I fully accepted in my heart Jesus Christ. He changed my life once and for all, and now I bear witness for what he has done for me especially in providing for me everything I needed, such as good parents, friends, good education, etc. Jesus Christ, the Son of God shows me the best path that leads me to freedom and peace. With many blessings I got from my God, I decided to help out poor people who are struggling in Rwanda. Now, I’m a rising junior at Bates College, and I can’t wait to see where the next journey is going to take me, but I put all my life, challenges, wishes, and ambitions into God’s hands because He’s my father and provider.
You're devotion to the Lord, humilty, bravery and passion for a healing Rwanda are a few things about you many people give thanks for. gracias por la historia:)