Greetings Friends!
Please help us raise $20,000 in 2026 and $20,000 in 2027 to help fund Josue's education at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Twice denied a student visa in the US, 2+ years later, we've finally found a path for Josue to escape Eastern Congo and finish college in Canada! Please help us get him across the finish line.
Here's our story. ...
2.5 years ago, I launched a fundraiser to help Josue pay for online college. I met him in late 2022 through a virtual mentorship platform (UStrive) and have been committed to his success ever since.
A lot has happened since I first launched this fundraiser:
Josue has completed two years of Computer Science coursework, online through Golden Gate University, and then in Ghana at Ashesi University.
Unfortunately, during this time, Josue has faced significant adversity. The conditions in his hometown of Goma, DRC have worsened considerably, with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels taking over his city and other parts of Eastern Congo in a violent siege earlier in 2025. His city is currently occupied by a violent militia (you can read more in this recent BBC article).
Josue lost all access to power and could not leave his home, making his online studies impossible to continue. We were able to get him out of the country and to university in Ghana, where he studied in the fall of 2025.
While Josue was accepted to multiple colleges in the United States, including a generous 90% scholarship to the University of Wooster in Ohio, his student visa application was denied in fall of 2023 and again in fall of 2024. At this stage, Josue has no path to study in the United States as the conditions in his homeland make it virtually impossible to get a US Student Visa approved. We have learned this the hard way over the past 24 months.
However, we received some wonderful news in November! After a 7-month wait, Josue's Canadian Student Visa was accepted, allowing him to study at the University of Victoria in British Columbia where he was accepted and enrolled in January 2026!
While we plan to fund Josue's completion of his undergrad degree over these next two years, and Josue will be working to offset costs, we are looking for generous donors to help offset the overall cost.
Annual Cost:
Tuition: $27,000 USD annually
Room & Board: $14,000 USD annually
Our goal is to raise $20,000 in 2026 and again in 2027 to cover roughly half of the overall costs of his undergraduate degree.
Thank you for reading this far and considering supporting Josue. Please reach out to me with any questions. All donors will receive monthly updates from Josue. He also loves to meet friendly faces in America, particularly those of you working in tech. I'll provide calendly links to meet him directly for anyone who is interested.
Below is, in Josue's own words, an update on how we have supported him so far!
"The American online college experience at GGU has been very meaningful, I earned a 3.175 cumulative GPA and, through the experience I harnessed some opportunities restricted to students enrolled at American institutions - CodePath program. This helped strengthened my programming skills through hands-on learning. I also benefited from career coaching in that program, which helped me improve my résumé, technical skills, and LinkedIn profile. Moreover, Courses like IT Support at GGU gave me a solid, practical understanding of how computer systems work.
This experience has played a big role in shaping my growth and confidence in tech. I am finishing up final exams at Ashesi University in Ghana and am going to complete my undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria, planning to study CS with the prior skills being a solid foundation!"