The contribution of SACOLA on youth education

Felicien SEBAHIRE is born in Rwanda, Musanze district, in a very poor family with only a mother who took care of him and his siblings. His childhood were very miserable. Up to 2013 his family lived in a poor shelter and sometimes they even used to shift to their neighbours houses during rainy seasons, because the conditions were so poor. 

He studied at three different primary schools and did his high school in Musanze. He did his bachelors of science in civil engineering at National University of Rwanda, his Masters in Water and Sanitation at International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Burkina Faso and currently he is doing his PhD in hydrology and water resources engineering with specialisation in water supply and sanitation at Nelson Mandela – African Institution of Science and Technology in Arusha, Tanzania. To accomplish all of this Felicien was supported by many organisations including SACOLA. He started to get assistance from SACOLA in 2011, when he was about to drop out from university because of financial problems

After his graduation in 2013, as a civil engineer, he intervened  in construction projects and worked as a high school technical teacher in his own community. After getting his PhD he wants to use his knowledge in his daily life to motivate others. He has been trained in so many things whether socially or technologically and he wants to put them into application. He wants to inspire young people in his hometown to do something with their lives. 

His future is now good and very promising. Not only for himself, but for his community. He wants to be a problem solver and hopefully even worldwide. To be a problem solver means he can now turn problems into solutions. For example he is currently doing a research on how to turn organic wastes into biogas (energy), fertiliser, construction materials and other products.

In his own words he said without the help of SACOLA he would have dropped out from his university studies. He wouldn’t have travelled abroad to gain advanced trainings and simply could not expect a bright future. Other friends in his community were also helped by SACOLA. Apart from many students studying in University of Rwanda, others went to universities in China, Ethiopia, Tanzania and USA.

Felicien is very grateful for the SACOLA help. Not only for himself, but also for the population living around Sabyinyo Volcano. He is very happy to see the positive impact in the community in community development, natural resource and biodiversity conservation, business startups, infrastructure development, good governance, promoting cultural tourism, education and agriculture. 

In the following video his sister Agnes, who also had the change to study, is explaining some more.