BANZA December 2015 Issue | Page 11

Fatuma’s in a steel-blue wrap dress and flip-flops – which are perfect for the setting. She wears no sunscreen. Why bother? Her skin has enough melanin to protect her against sun rays. Before coming to the African Leadership University, ALU, she says, she thought she will “meet very intelligent students and find myself with no ideas to contribute when discussing serious topics. It is funny how normal they are. They eat, play, sleep, and get challenged just like me.” She laughs again and covers her face with her hands. “As an ambitious student I wanted something that took me out of my comfort zone,” she explains. “Just restarting college. It’s not the safest idea. But I have responsibilities.” Fatuma, of course, has never played it safe. And at this point in her adventurous life, perhaps the only risk left is to re-adjust to an unconventional university, maximize her potential. And so after receiving admission to ALU the spring of this year, she packed her bags and left Kepler to the island nation of Mauritius, one of the most beautiful islands on earth, and started college. “It is a new life,” she says, with a wideopen smile that expresses all that’s left unsaid about the highly privileged carnival that is her life Her older sister, Tujiza, studies at Kepler Kigali. Her young sister, Fathia, graduated from high school last month. And her young brother, Karim, is in third grade. “We are so close to our mother and have each other’s backs,” says Fatuma. “We have been through so much together and that has tightened our relationship. There was a time my sisters and I had to figure out how we can finance education on our own. We had only one year to break through. We supported each other, taught one another, and pushed beyond out limits to succeed. Tujiza got sponsored by our close Belgium friend, I received sponsorship from my school, and Fathia was sponsored by Imbuto Foundation. I was only 14.” When we meet, Ingabire has just returned from a Peer Group session, where she was working on her Communication for Impact assignment. . 11