Jean de Dieu Mugabarigira experienced the unimaginable.
He was among the many children who were forced to live on the streets after the genocide against the Tutsi people in Rwanda claimed their families.
When the grandparents raising him were killed, Mugabarigira was just four years old.
On the street, he spent many nights covering himself in cardboard and many days searching the trash for something to eat. He turned to alcohol and drugs for a temporary reprieve from the harsh realities.
He was subjected to horrific conditions, including abuse when he tried to make a little money as a domestic worker.
It was a daily struggle to survive, facing not just malnutrition and the elements, but illnesses like malaria and smallpox. There was no one to offer love or support except the community he formed with other street children.
“I was hopeless. I just thought about the next morning. I was struggling to find food, there was no bright future,” Mugabarigira said.
Digging through garbage bins and eating rotten bananas to make it from one day to the next, Mugabarigira never imagined he would pursue higher education, let alone do it abroad.
“In my childhood, I didn’t think about becoming a master’s student. Now I am, thanks to Western University and the people there.” – Jean de Dieu Mugabarigira, MA’24
It was a long road to achieve his master of media studies.
Childhood hardship, resilience
“I spent two years without going to school. I can’t say I was born writing and studying. But in my life, I vowed to have a target,” Mugabarigira said.
“I knew it was up to me to be focused. That is my strength. When you feel you are alone, if you feel no one cares about you, you work very hard.”
He credits the community of street children and the bonds they formed with helping him through the roughest years. Still, he remained emotionally guarded.
Then Mugabarigira was invited to join a shelter for orphaned and street children, a place that brought stability and hope. El-Shadai Orphanage in Nyabugogo, an orphanage in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, represented a “transformative chapter in my journey,” he wrote in an independent research project created for his master’s degree.
It allowed him to go back to primary school alongside others who were resuming their education.
Surviving the genocide had left Mugabarigira with burning questions.
Initially he wanted to pursue medicine – specifically, clinical psychology – so he could help the many traumatized children and adults he witnessed suffering in the aftermath.
“My passion changed when I was in secondary school. I wanted to know what happened in the 1994 genocide. I decided to study history.”
The Western journey
University in Kigali seemed like a big step.
“At first, I didn’t want to go because I would be outside the protection of the orphanage. My brothers and sisters – the boys and girls I lived with in the orphanage – and other friends said, ‘You studied very hard. This is your reward. If you have a scholarship, you have to go. You never know what can happen.’”
By this time, Mugabarigira was already using his life story to mentor younger children, encouraging them to study hard and stay motivated despite immense hurdles.
“I shared my personal experiences of endurance and resilience that helped me achieve my goals.” – Jean de Dieu Mugabarigira, MA’24
After working at a museum for several years, he looked for opportunities to continue his education. He wanted to study the role of media, knowing the power it played in the genocide against the Tutsi people.
“Media can influence people,” Mugabarigira said.
A Western Graduate Research Scholarship helped make his master’s possible.
Flying to Canada to start his graduate studies – his first time on an airplane – Mugabarigira recalled pure joy. As a child living on the streets, he would look up and watch planes overhead, never dreaming he would one day be taking a flight to put down roots in another country.
It wasn’t always easy, as Mugabarigira experienced culture shock and battled with the long-lasting impacts of intense trauma and stress, especially as he witnessed homelessness in London, Ont.
But he’s proud of the work he did, especially his independent research project, a multi-media auto-ethnographic reflection of his own experiences surviving the genocide.
“My independent research project is a testament to the collective effort and support of many people who have contributed to my personal and academic growth. I am grateful,” Mugabarigira said.
“I owe everyone who has been part of my journey at Western.”
Faculty of Information and Media Studies professor Amanda Grzyb, who studies genocide studies, media and the public interest and social movements, along with other areas of expertise, was Mugabarigira’s supervisor.
“Jean’s journey from living on the streets of Kigali to completing a master’s in media studies at Western is remarkable. He was a tremendously committed student during his time here and his research makes such a meaningful contribution to our understanding of the impacts and aftermath of the genocide,” she said.
Eventually, his master’s work led him back to Rwanda for research. Travelling home was emotional, as he visited many of the locations that loomed large in his formative years.
‘You can do it, too’
The scars of a traumatic childhood don’t disappear.
Meeting with his brothers and sisters from the orphanage, Mugabarigira saw how his path veered away from others.
“Some didn’t have a chance to go to university, some didn’t have a chance to go to secondary school. When I meet with them, I discuss my experience and my achievements, to encourage them not to be hopeless.”
He also reaches out to children living on the street.
“The life I lived is what they are living now. It is not OK. You can’t do anything when you are hungry,” Mugabarigira said.
He has taken in three boys, renting them a home and helping to buy food.
“One says he wants to become a doctor. If he is passionate, he can do it. I told him, ‘if I can do it, you can do it, too.’”
Next, Mugabarigira hopes to pursue PhD studies in genocide studies, history or media.
As he sets his eyes on his next target, Mugabarigira recalls the impact of mentors and teachers in his own life, including those who guided him on during his master’s.
“I’m grateful. If I didn’t have instructors and my supervisor and other people at Western, maybe I wouldn’t have made it. I did it because of them.”
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Jean de Dieu Mugabarigira received his master’s of media studies during Western’s fall convocation, Oct. 23 to 25. He joins more than 370,000 alumni in more than 160 countries.