Thank you for that question.
I would say that I was a lucky survivor of the genocide, because in my own family's experience, the reason I am able to be here today is first, hard work by my parents, and second, hard work in school. I was able to win scholarships based on academic merit. Sometimes these tend to be very competitive, and they are given only to a very limited number of students. You find that many who are qualified are probably left behind. I would say my parents insisted on academic performance, even though they themselves had no chance to have access to education because of problems ranging from way back in 1959 when the Rwandan issue began.
One other thing I would mention is that I was probably not a conventional refugee, in the sense that I settled in Nairobi. My dad had previously worked in East Africa, in Kenya. But on the legal side we were not able to become Kenyan citizens.
At the end of high school, when I was 18, after so many years I couldn't be granted Kenyan citizenship. Basically the Kenyan government was not willing to grant citizenship to many Rwandan refugees who had flocked in when the genocide happened. It was a very complicated situation, on a legal basis. It's difficult to understand in Canada, because basically in Canada we have the rule of law, and the law says that if you live in a country for three years and have been a resident there, you either become a citizen or you are sent back into your country. It never happened in Kenya.
I would say it was sheer luck and my parents' encouragement and hard work. My father was in business, so he was able to encourage me in different ways. Unfortunately, my story is not similar to that of so many others who are disadvantaged not only on an economic basis but also from a social perspective. You're basically a refugee, because you feel persecution, but on paper you're not recognized because of different dynamics in the political system.
I would say I was lucky. At the end of high school, unfortunately I couldn't go into a Kenyan university, because I was not a Kenyan citizen and so the government could not grant me my scholarship. But luckily Canada accepted me. I had to look beyond, to Canada, and by way of luck again, I was accepted here. I've been living in Canada for six years. I went through the process as a resident and I became a citizen about five months ago.
Looking back, I can connect that to the fact that if you're disadvantaged in one sector of your life, or in many sectors in the case of refugees—you don't have economic power; you can't go back to your country; your parents lost all their assets in their country and they do not have a stable job; you are sent to a refugee camp in a very remote part of the country—your life is basically almost done.
In Kenya, and for this I must commend the Kenyan government, there is free primary education. It began in...I can't remember the year, but it hasn't been very long, maybe 10 or 12 years ago. But high school and post-secondary education are very expensive. If you don't win a scholarship or you're not a citizen, then you're locked out.
Interestingly, in Canada when you find yourself in a position of socio-economic disadvantage, the same might happen to you. Canada has a good economy, but we have some members of our community, such as aboriginals and racialized minorities, who are categorized and who have economic disadvantages, and sometimes they don't access post-secondary education because of that. Unfortunately, most who come as genocide survivors find themselves at the bottom of the list in terms of economic disadvantage.
It's a very complicated problem, but I think Canada can do much, and I appreciate the committee's doing a study on this.