Joel Tshite: From Zimbabwean Refugee Camp To US University

Joel Tshite broke a nine-year record when he became the first student in that period to pass Tongogara Refugee School in the eastern Zimbabwean province of Manicaland.



The 20-year-old student could not believe he was now enrolled to study electrical engineering at the University of Southern Indiana in the U.S.



His parents, needless to say, were thrilled.



"I am very happy," his father, Alex Kitunda Tshite, said. "My son has made me proud."



"He is my boy, I am so happy," Nongo Lukombe, Joel's mother, said.



While the proud parents were uncomfortable talking about Joel's upbringing, the star student bravely told the Anadolu Agency of his long, hard road to success.



Long road to success



At the tender age of six, in 2001, Joel watched in horror as his three older brothers were brutally hacked to death.



The thugs who carried out the heinous crime had been searching for his missing father.



"My world changed forever that night," Joel told Anadolu Agency. "We fled from the DRC a few days later and I knew it would never be the same again."



Joel, his remaining five siblings and his distraught mother left the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Katanga Province and settled in Zimbabwe's Tongogara refugee camp.



For a little over a year, he stayed at home, where questions about his still missing father went unanswered.



The surviving members of the family feared the worst, but, in 2004, Joel was finally reunited with his father in Zimbabwe.



After fleeing his home in the DRC and seeking refuge in Zimbabwe, the last thing he ever expected was the chance to study in America. 



"My ability to speak six languages allowed me to interact well with other kids," Joel said. "Today, I speak Lingela, Swahili, Kisonge, Shona, English and French." 



As a young boy, Joel attended Tongogara Primary School, located inside the refugee camp. 



"I went to primary school at Tongogara and was never top student. Then for secondary school I enrolled at Chibuwe High School in Chipinge. My father paid for my school fees but started struggling a year later and I went back to Tongogara Secondary School," Joel said. 



"Although I knew the school in Tongogara had a poor pass rate, I was happy to be back with my family. This is because there were times when I would go for day without any food or sustenance at all while away at school," he continued.



"I broke the nine-year history of no passes at Tongogara and won a UNHCR scholarship to a better school, Mt Selinda High School for Advanced Level," he said.



Beginning of a new life



"Joel is a remarkable example of the resilience of the human spirit; he was one of the 35 A-level students selected for the United States Achievers Program (USAP) out of over 900 applicants," Rebecca Zeigler Mano, founder and coordinator of USAP, told Anadolu Agency.



"Joel has academic talent and demonstrated leadership potential and an ethos of giving despite economic disadvantage," she said.



USAP is a program run under Education USA, in turn run by the U.S. State Department.



It started its operations in 1999 to nurture the talent of disadvantaged children around the world.



"Joel Tshite won a full scholarship to study electrical engineering at the University of Southern Indiana and because of him, this year, we have four refugees who have so far applied," Rebecca Zeigler Mano said.



"There is so much potential amongst refugee youth that live in camps but the opportunities to build on that potential are so few," Millicent Mutuli, UNHCR's Representative in Zimbabwe said in a statement. "It really is an amazing opportunity for Joel's future." - Zimbabve