Oct 12, 2017
James Heflin interviews SIT Graduate Institute Sustainable Development MA student Bahati Kanyamanza about the difficulties children in refugee camps face in getting an education. Bahati was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1996, when violence came to his community, Bahati and his family fled to Uganda, where he lived in refugee camps for 18 years. When he was 22, Bahati and two friends established the COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa (CIYOTA), which provides primary and secondary schooling in refugee camps, and connects students with organizations to support their university education. Bahati moved to the US with his wife and daughter in 2016, and became one of SIT’s Global Scholars. The Global Scholars program provides the opportunity for individuals forced to flee their home countries due to political unrest and violence to study at SIT, all expenses paid.