Darius Habamenshi

My name is Darius Habamenshi. I was born in 1985 in the Eastern province of Rwanda. I am the sixth of nine children. When I was young, both of my parents and all of my brothers and sisters were alive. My parents were farmers and the fields they cultivated were enough to supply us with food. When there was genocide in Rwanda I lost my eldest sister.

I studied at a primary school near my home. In 2000, I pursued my secondary studies at a Catholic seminary where I finished with distinction in languages. My favorite subjects were French, English, history and Latin. In my free time I used to play handball, sing and paint. The main difficulty I had during my school years was poverty because I always had a problem finding school fees and materials. I worked hard to buy some materials by making and selling postcards. My parents also sold some of their fields, and some other benevolent people helped me. In spite of our efforts, I finished my secondary studies with a debt that I later paid off when I got a job teaching. I taught English, history and arts at Gahima Agape Secondary School for two years before beginning my university studies.

I came to be affiliated with ORI through an organization called Caritas which advertised an announcement about ORI. I was very interested because I wanted to study at university in order to be among the important people in Rwandan society. I will never forget the joy I had when I succeeded to become one of the ORI scholars. Now I am studying arts and languages at the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), and I have chosen to concentrate my studies in French, English and Education.

I plan to study hard through my university studies, and to achieve the best results. After university I hope to pursue Education as my career. My dream is to become an important person in the educational domain. I wish to pursue a master's degree and to become either a lecturer or an administrator charged with education. I hope to help people to obtain an excellent education. I wish that, after about ten years, Rwanda will become a developed country in which problems like lack of education and ignorance are abolished.