Patience Irakoze

Current sophomore at the United Arab Emirates University – Abu Dhabi studying Architectural Engineering
ASEF student 2016 – 2017, Petit Séminaire Virgo Fidelis de Butare

In the national examinations, I had the best score in my District, and I was assigned a seminar school. To me, studying at a seminary was a great opportunity but the cost was so high to the extent my parents could seek help from relatives so that they can raise my tuition fees.

ASEF started supporting me. It was a great chance for my parents and me because that’s when I started studying with no issue. At my young age, my dream was to do my university studies abroad because their education is advanced and with favourable studying conditions. This made me start to look for a school abroad immediately after finishing secondary school.

I applied to over 20 schools; I can’t even recall all their names, unfortunately, all of them could reject my application immediately. Finally, I saw another scholarship announcement from High Education Council (HEC, Rwanda) for scholarships in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After 2 days only, I received a message informing me that I got a scholarship. In the beginning, I never imagined how amazing my university was, hostels, where we study from and very delicious food that makes someone grow quickly. Some cars would come to pick me and take me for classes and other places without paying any single coin.

You may think that it was all just because I was bright, no. There are other classmates of mine who were able to pass the exams that I failed and got scholarships, yet I was better than them in class. Whatever you commit to do and put all possible efforts; you can achieve it.