Returning Home to Pearson CollegeReflections on Resilience, Renewal, and the Power of Community

This fall, I received a call from my alma mater - Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, the school that changed the course of my life and opened the door to Canada when I was a teenager.

From Refugee to Scholar

At the time, I was living in Burundi as a political refugee. Refugee children like me had almost no access to secondary education. To change that, our parents - with the help of the Catholic Church,  founded Collège Saint Albert, a school built out of necessity and hope.

After finishing primary school, I became fascinated by English. I spent hours reading at the American Cultural Centre, joined an English-speaking club, and practiced with American missionaries. My classmates laughed at first, but my passion for language only grew. Soon, that same love of English would open doors I never imagined possible.

In 1974, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, then the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, established a scholarship fund for refugee students. The following year, our school was invited to nominate two candidates for full scholarships to attend Pearson College in Canada.

I was one of the two chosen. I still remember my family’s joy and disbelief. It was the first time I truly understood how hard work, faith, and opportunity can transform a life.

A Return to the Shores of Pedder Bay

On October 23rd, my partner Shirley and I returned to Pearson College for the Global Affairs Lecture Series - fifty years after I first arrived as a student.

The moment I stepped onto campus, memories came flooding back: the scent of cedar in the forest, the glow of the wood-paneled buildings, the laughter in the cafeteria where I first tasted pancakes and French toast.

In that same cafeteria, I met a young Rwandan student - bright, curious, and full of life. When he realized I had graduated half a century earlier, his eyes widened in amazement. We only spoke briefly (he was hurrying to prepare for a math exam), but that meeting reminded me how far we’ve come, and how each generation carries the same spark of purpose.

How Hunger Fed Me

At Max Bell Hall, I spoke about my forthcoming memoir, How Hunger Fed Me. I shared how hunger — both the literal hunger of my youth and the hunger for meaning — shaped my life. It taught me resilience, compassion, and the importance of paying it forward.

I told the students about my decision to return to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, when more than a million people were killed simply for being Tutsi. Through my work with Building Bridges with Rwanda, I’ve helped connect international volunteers with local communities to rebuild, learn, and grow together.

After the talk, students and faculty gathered around to ask about Rwanda’s remarkable recovery — how a nation once shattered became a model of reconciliation and progress. I saw in their eyes the same hope and determination that once lived in mine.

Lessons for a New Generation

Some students were from countries like Syria and Nigeria. They asked how to balance living abroad with the dream of returning home to rebuild. I told them this:

“Life is easier today than when I first went back to Rwanda - not because challenges have disappeared, but because we now have more tools, more allies, and more hope.”

Leadership matters. Vision matters. But above all, community matters. Technology can help us find solutions, yet it’s our human connections - the people who lift us when we fall and walk with us when we rise - that truly sustain us.

Without community, we are nothing.

A Circle Completed

Standing once again at Pearson College — fifty years after a scholarship changed my life — I realized how full the circle had become. The same halls that once taught me global understanding now echo with new voices dreaming of change.

And that, perhaps, is the greatest lesson of all: education doesn’t just transform individuals. It builds bridges - between generations, between nations, and between hearts.

If you’d like to follow my journey or learn more about my work with Building Bridges with Rwanda, stay connected here. Together, we can keep building communities that empower and heal.