Jules Mugisha Bitwayiki is a 27-year-old Congolese national who arrived in the Tuscan capital two years ago for a three-year degree in Natural Resource Management for Tropical Rural Development as part of the University Corridors for Refugees (UNICORE) project.

ANSA interviewed him on the sidelines of an event organized December 6 by UNHCR and the partners of the project, which was created in 2019 with the aim of enabling refugee students to arrive in Italy through a legal and safe channel allowing them to continue their studies with the collaboration of over 30 Italian universities.

From nightmarish refugee camp to university dream

The childhood of the student, who was born in Goma in eastern Congo, was beset by ethnic conflict that in the mid-1990s led to the rest of his family being killed.

The only one who survived was an 'acquired' aunt, the sister-in-law of his father.

"We escaped together to Ethiopia when Goma was taken in 2012 by rebels from the M23 group. I began my life as refugee at age 17 in the Sherkole refugee camp located in the Benishangul-Gumuz region," in the western part of the Horn of Africa country.

The young man finished secondary school in Ethiopia, "but for someone living in a refugee camp, there are no options or hope to continue one's studies. Thanks to the interest of UNHCR and after doing well on an exam, I enrolled at the three-year college in the Ethiopian city of Gambelle."

Once he finished the college, however, other problems arose.

"I went back to Addis Abeba, where my aunt had come. She was sick and needed help," he said.

The young man then began to work to pay for food and treatment without any hope of studying further until a message arrived on April 23, 2020 that changed his life.

Chance at another life thanks to UNICORE

"A friend told me that there was an opportunity offered by UNICORE to continue my studies. I applied immediately and in June I passed the exam. I attended an Italian language course and since September 2020 I have been living in Florence," he said with a huge smile.

Since then, the young man has been studying for a three-year degree in Natural Resource Management for Tropical Rural Development at the agrarian studies faculty and is living at a Florentince university dorm.

However, studying is not his only passion. "In Africa it was very difficult to get food, especially for refugees. In Europe, instead, everyone can eat. I love Italian food," he said, listing several foods.

He added that he loves pizza as well, "especially of the Neapolitian type."

"My life is borderless. I will go where there are opportunities as soon as I finish my studies. For this, I will never stop being grateful to the UNICORE project, which gave me the chance at another life I could not even have imagined," he said.