Burundi: Some students for whom Marguerite Barankitse has suspended the scholarships are still in difficulty.
The opinion remembers that Marguerite Barankitse , Shalom House leader, who had made a commendable humanitarian gesture to pay scholarships to Burundian students refugees in Rwanda, woke up one day of a bad foot and suspended scholarships a hundred of them no convincing reason. It was during the year 2020. Most of these students were in their terminal year, others in the third year. Charitable souls have been able to bring together financial means to help many of them, starting with those in their last year, which prepared their memory work to finish in style. We would like to thank all those who have collected money to help these refugees who have fled the injustice in their country and who found it in exile.
Today, there are a dozen who were in the third year and are in their terminal year that meet again in financial difficulties. Six INES-Ruhengeri students have arrears of the last quarter of the past year, and did not also paid scholarships for the first quarter of the current academic year. They may not do the exams if they do not yet find any benefactors or if the university does not give them a favour to study on credit so that they can reimburse later. Three who study in one of Kigali’s universities (Kigali Integrated College) are in the same situation.
Remember for useful purposes to all those who have not followed this file that everything started on October 09, 2020, when the Shalom House Education Officer gave the students to write individual letters of request renewal of the stock market; What was unusual to them because the university training agreement that governed them, (see Article 2) was renewable after a year. He even forbade them to ask questions about this sudden change. The students did what was required not to miss this favour even if they did not understand why this change in the usual procedure. The students had suspended the studies following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The university reopened the doors after the first confinement while these students had not yet received an answer from the Shalom house. They were also forced to attend the campus, because, according to their words, the Convention states that if a student does not follow the rigor the requirements of the university, he automatically loses the advantage of benefiting from the support. From the Shalom House (see Article 3: Student Commitments, Point B and C, plus NB). They came to school hoping for a favourable response.
By unpleasant surprise, 52 students received an email message, dated November 02, 2020, announcing the rupture of the convention is to say the refusal to pay them the stock market as usual, without any explanation.
In an email emanate from Richard Nijimbere, Director Country of Maison Shalom, we find a kind of explanation in this excerpt: ” You also knew that we had to wait for the answer from the Shalom house. The fact that you have then decided unilaterally to regain the campus without waiting for the answer means that you agree to take care of your training without the help of the Shalom house, since you decided to ignore it ”
The students of Musanze, northern Rwanda, transmitted, dated November 3, 2020, a correspondence Marguerite Barankitse, founder of the Shalom house, requesting clarification on this sudden rupture of their scholarships, but they did not receive an answer. The question they arose and that anyone can ask was why this decision, so much more than all had received a negative response to renew their scholarships. What was the selection criterion? Nobody answered this question. It should be noted that Marguerite Barankitse was not in a situation of lack of money because she had paid scholarships for new students who started university. The basic logic would like the available funds to be allocated to these students who are at the end of their studies to finish, the others could begin even with a delay. This is a bit of historical for those who have not followed this file from the start.
URN HITAMWONEZA benefits from this opportunity to ask all those who are aware of the delicacy of the refugee situation and still care about the future of these young students, the future of our country, to make efforts to make Finding money needed for these 9 Burundian refugees to finish their studies and get their diplomas. They could be useful for their families, for our country and why not for the whole world.