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Help Gabriel Go to Graduate School

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Dear Friend,

My name is Gabriel Ndayishimiye, I live in London, Ontario. I am a writer with a passion to contribute to Black history and literature. Click here to learn more about me and my work

I am reaching out to request whatever support you can provide to support my graduate studies at Columbia University. 

A Bit of My Story

I arrived in Canada in 2016, to pursue a degree in Global Studies at Huron University. Four years later, I graduated with an Honours Specialization and a wealth of experiences beyond my wildest dreams. That said, my journey as an undergraduate student wasn’t exactly easy. I had to manage my time with unbending rigor to be able focus on studies, volunteer for causes close to my heart, and still earn money to support myself and my family back in the camp. While other students spent late nights out with friends or shamelessly procrastinated, I was working up to four jobs and as many as forty hours each week. My abilities in all areas of life, whether academic, familial, or financial, were stretched to their absolute limits and beyond. I am glad and very thankful for all the opportunities that come my way during my time at Huron. It is the support from members of the Huron community that has enabled my success. I’ll be forever grateful for everyone who has believed in me throughout this long journey.


On March 17, 2020, I received a letter from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Columbia University announcing my admission into the Master of Arts program in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. The admission offer came to me with a Scholarship in the amount of 16,000 USD. I would undertake my studies beginning in the Fall 2020 semester. 


I picked up the phone to call my family back in Dzaleka. First, I called my uncle and then my grandparents, who, despite my best attempt to explain the significance of such an offer, could not understand my excitement. To simplify the news, I awkwardly told them, "I just accepted an offer to continue with my studies where Barack Obama attended school." That did the trick. In a way, it helped them understand how happy I should have been feeling, and they were fittingly overjoyed. In the days after the letter arrived, I couldn't sleep. I spent nights awake fantasizing about a future in New York at Columbia University, one of the world's top-ranking universities, and days on the phone and online in search of scholarships and private student loans to grasp this possible future before it could slip beyond my reach.


By mid-July 2020, I had handed in as many applications for private student loans as I could possibly manage, only to be rejected because I didn’t have a cosigner. As if young people surrounded by wealthy potential co-signers are the ones forced to seek aid from faceless corporations? These rejections have underlined a reality I’ve fought long and hard to come to terms with: in many ways, I am alone here, on an island. Along with the most fortunate among my childhood friends--like me, now students, scattered across Canada--I live here by myself. 


So I watched the promise of continuing education, enabled by years of hard work and the most golden of opportunities, begin to crumble. By the end of August 2020, I had surrendered to fate and deferred my enrollment. 


Thus far, the level of education I have achieved might seem “a dream come true” to most. Although I am eternally grateful for all the good fortune along the way, I still find myself confused and disillusioned by the rosy, idealized life I always dreamed of. Shouldn’t I be grateful for being the first person in my family to glimpse beyond the hegemonic veil, the first to identify and question the ideas and beliefs that shape the power structures of this world? Why can’t I just be content in the Western world? Haven’t I made it? The personal enrichment granted by my undergraduate studies has carried with it a spiritual discontentment that pushes me deeper into new reflections on the societal, cultural, and institutional forces which push and pull my sense of identity in every direction. Today, my struggle is to disentangle myself from all the pressures stacked against and upon me. The questions I’m pursuing today are constantly evolving versions of those I sought answers to in my undergraduate career. The odds against me drive this search for a place in the world even further. 


Fortunately, the cultural tides are shifting in favor of unprecedented, large-scale societal examination of the very issues that plague me and countless other marginalized, oppressed, and displaced people around the world. We’ve paid a steep price for this once-in-a-lifetime moment, a historical juncture unlike any since the enlightening tumult of the 1960s and 70s. This past year saw the world turned upside-down in ways that require little explanation. Our light at the end of the tunnel? The intersection of the zeitgeist, now full to bursting with a new, heightened awareness of our shared humanity, with an unyielding and widespread demand for peace, justice, and equality in a world which (I confidently speak for most everyone) can feel too chaotic to bear. The long-awaited time to engage in the discussion and seek a broader impact is here. My aim in continuing my studies is not only to educate myself further, but to offer my voice in  discussions which, I say without pride or egotism, sorely need it.


I could ask for no better place to pursue my passions than Columbia University, and not merely because of its prestigious global image. I am equally motivated by where I come from. Being admitted into an Ivy League University was quite humbling, especially given my background. Where I come from, my experience is utterly anomalous. We knew, in no uncertain terms and for our own self-preservation,  to internalize the limits of how far we might go, the boundaries of our existence. 

 

Last fall, seeing my plans to attend Columbia quietly dissipate, I was forced to revisit memories of the old days to understand what I wanted to do with my life. Ashamed of myself, confused about my future on this continent and my financial situation, I imagined walking away from academia and building a career in carpentry and masonry. In a fortuitous turn, this possible future was interrupted by an opportunity to work for Huron as the Equity and Diversity advisor. Aside from the invaluable learning experience, working in this position has allowed me further time to reflect on my past and present and given me the space I needed to find my way back to my passions in academia. 

 

You see, growing up in the refugee camps across Africa, I could never have pictured going this far with my academic ambitions. It was only after arriving in Canada that I began to understand how far a focused mind could travel. I am now fully empowered to seek further opportunities and continue to build the skills I cultivated, with the help of so many great educators, throughout my undergraduate career. I envision myself working in academia, but my ultimate goal is to contribute to society as a writer, contributing to two fields of research and thought in African studies, namely African religions and spirituality and the critique of refugees and migration in Africa. Wherever I go next, this need to explore my place in the world--and what it reflects back to me--will lead the way. 

I am reaching out to you to ask for any support there is.  Even a small donation could help me reach my fundraising goal. And if you can't make a donation, it would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word. THANKS FOR TAKING A LOOK! 

If you have questions and would like to know more about this fundraiser, please feel free to contact me. Click here to visit my contact web page if you want to leave me a message. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

PEACE!!!

Organizer

Gabriel Ndayishimiye
Organizer
London, ON

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