Doing well by doing good has been Jules’ philosphy during this time of worldwide economic turmoil.

Jules knew she had to reduce the costs of training, so instead of hiring highly-trained, experienced trainers, she took unskilled trainers and taught them how to train the content to their own communities.

This is just one of the insights within Jules’ new article that was published in this months’ Entrepreneur magazine.

Check it out here.

Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase knew the road race would be a tough mental and physical challenge, but he had faced far worse in his native Rwanda and as a refugee.

In the end, he comfortably completed last Sunday’s Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge under cloudy skies, alongside thousands of professional and amateur riders.

And, more importantly, he raised vital funds for a scholarship programme to put refugees and asylum-seekers through the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). “Education is one of the ways we can help empower refugees to be self-reliant, and make a difference in their host countries,” he said after taking part in the 94.7-km event, the world’s second-largest timed bicycle race.

Pie-pacifique was granted asylum in South Africa a decade ago and now works as an account executive here at Avovision, he knows from experience how important higher education is. “Against all odds, I was able to graduate from university while struggling as a refugee . . . UKZN was the first university in South Africa to change their policy to allow recognized refugees to receive financial aid,” he told UNHCR.

He arrived in South Africa in 2001, fleeing persecution in Rwanda, and is still trying to come to terms with its dark past. “During the genocide [of 1994], we had several attempts on our lives by the interhamwe [a largely ethnic Hutu militia] because we were thought to be moderate Hutus, and later on we were accused of being sympathetic to the interhamwe.”

At his mother’s urging, he set out on a long journey by boat, vehicle and foot that took him through Tanzania and Mozambique to South Africa. “My main goal was to get somewhere where I would be safe, but also could go to university,” he recalled, adding that he had planned to head across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar, “because it was a French-speaking country and my first language was French.”

But he changed his mind after a chance meeting in an internet café in Mozambique with a Congolese man who suggested that he go to South Africa, where asylum-seekers and refugees have the right to work and study. He reached Durban and was granted asylum in November 2001.

In November 2001, he successfully applied to study physics at UKZN but was denied a grant because he was not a South African citizen. Luckily, the policy on financial support was amended and he was able to take up his place with a bursary to cover his tuition, accommodation, meals, book allowance, general allowance and travel expenses.

Armed with a Bachelor’s degree, he easily found a good job as a business systems and data analysis for a major bank. Ever since, and fired by meetings with other refugees, he has been looking for a way to help others get the kind of education that helped him to become a successful professional.

He wanted to do something, so he decided to approach UNHCR, which runs a higher education scholarship programme to promote self-sufficiency among refugees and boost their chances of finding a solution to their situation. So Pie-pacifique approached the University of KwaZulu-Natal Foundation and convinced them of the need to establish a scholarship fund for refugees and asylum-seekers. “We know that among asylum-seekers and refugees there are many talented but needy students and through this fund, we could also help them,” said the UKZN Foundation’s executive director, Bruno Van Dyk.

The challenge was to raise money for the fund. That’s where the “Road to Education for Refugees and Asylum Seekers” project came from. And Pie managed to persuade others to join him in the race.

The UNHCR is fully behind the project, which seems set to become an annual event in the annual event. “This is only the beginning, Pie said, adding: “The Road to Education for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers will continue!”

Written by Tina Ghelli
http://www.unhcr.org/4ecbc7a06.html