Civil engineer first to graduate UCC refugee programme
A civil engineer from a war-torn country has become the first student on the Education Pathways Ireland programme to graduate from UCC.
Kanku Biselele from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who availed of the scholarship programme for refugees, received a postgraduate diploma in sustainable energy last Wednesday.
Education Pathways Ireland is a scholarship programme enabling refugees currently residing in Uganda with an existing university degree to pursue graduate studies in Ireland, and is supported by UNHCR and Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre.
Scholars are further supported by Fáilte Cork, a community sponsorship group made of UCC students, staff, teachers, and alumni, as well as members from the larger Cork community.
This volunteer group provides wrap-around support to the students for the duration of their studies to empower them to successfully integrate into Irish society.
DRC is the second-largest country in Africa, and according to Concern Worldwide has seen one million refugees flee the ongoing internal conflict that has displaced a further eight million within the country.
Before his refugee journey which led him to UCC, Kanku was one of just eight young people to win an undergraduate scholarship within DRC which led to him earning a civil engineering degree in India. He then returned to DRC to work.
While on leave from this new job, Kanku attempted to travel to visit his family, however he never made it home – an outbreak of militia-led violence thwarted these plans and, with his brother, Kanku fled to a refugee centre in neighbouring Uganda.
“These were really hard times, I spent three or four months sleeping on the floor with no bed cover, pillow or comfort, but at least I knew I was safe. I knew no one would be killing me for no reason, or because of political reasons that no Congolese person is in control or even aware of,” Kanku explained.
“As a person who left the country before and studied you have a high ceiling, you have expectations about yourself. You want to achieve big, but the environment in my home country wasn’t favouring that. That’s how my journey started as a refugee. I lived in Uganda for a couple of years and applied for many scholarships.”
Kanku said he is incredible grateful for the support he received from both UCC and Fáilte Cork. Having worked in McDonald’s during his studies, Kanku has since moved to a job within the construction industry where he hopes to move into sustainable energy work.
“It was full support from day one all the way to graduation. I was supported with accommodation and a stipend. Some might call it a bare minimum, but it was more than I could ever imagine because I never had access to such resources up until I got here. Everything had been difficult for me nearly all my life up until I got here, so I'm grateful. The scholarship is a unique one and I try my best to honour it through my academic work, to graduate and to look forward,” he said.
Kanku takes comfort in the fact that the rest of his family made it to Uganda. His graduation is a bittersweet day however, as his father sadly passed away while Kanku was in Cork.
“It will mean the world for mum to at least see that I have achieved what essentially brought me here and I would have so loved for my dad to be there as well to witness this.
That's not going to happen. It's okay - if mum sees that, the joy in her eyes would fill my heart with happiness,” he added.