Interview with Pestalozzi Alumni Alex Habonimana.

Thanks to our supporters who believe in the power of education to change children’s lives, Alex, 23, was spared becoming an addict. Instead he was given an incredible education, enabling him to become head boy of the school, and a job lined up before graduating. Alex is ambitious and currently studying for a computer science degree. In the future he wants to create apps to help change the world.

Alex left Pestalozzi Zambia in 2018. He was offered several university scholarships but had to turn them down due to a lack of full funding. The resilience that was developed during Alex’s nurture at the Zambian Campus allowed him to overcome the disappointment and he did not loose hope. Finally with the help of a relative, he is now able to support himself through his computer science degree.

Alex reflects on what his life could have been if Pestalozzi Zambia hadn’t selected him. In the Meheba refugee settlement, where he lived before moving to our Pestalozzi Campus, aged 10, he sees the life he might have had through his old friends. Many have become addicted to drugs and drinking because there is simply nothing for them to do, with little job prospects and a lack of education.

Alex is fully aware of the significance of being chosen by Pestalozzi International has had upon his life. With a quality education, safe accommodation and loving care from staff at Pestalozzi Zambia, he was able to have a life dramatically different from what it could have been. He also absorbed the Pestalozzi values, of the Head, Heart and Hands, which he still uses to this day to guide him through his life’s challenges.

Alex has ambitions to become an app developer, specifically to design apps that will help the world and his community.