……THE STORY OF DR. MIREILLA TWAYIGIRA: FROM A GENOCIDE SURVIVOR TO A REFUGEE AT DZELEKA…AND NOW A MEDICAL DOCTOR AT QECH.
By Cedric Chithenga Nyoni
Dr. Mireille Twayigira (MBBS) is a Malawian Medical doctor originally from Rwanda.
Dr. Mireille Twayigira’s story is one of incredible resilience and determination.
Born in Rwanda from the Tutsi minority tribe, she experienced unimaginable tragedy during the genocide in 1994.
Almost Her entire family, apart from her younger sister Claudine, was killed during the violence.
Her entire family was massacred by the Hutu extremists during the 1994 Rwandan genocide…
she was 4 years then…
With nowhere else to turn, Mireille and her sister sought refuge in the neighboring Congo.
Life as a refugee was not easy, and they struggled to find the basics of survival such as food, shelter, and medical care.
Unfortunately for Mireilla, The Banyamurenge rebels which were led by Laurent Kabila started the war again in DRC, which led to the ouster of President Mobutu Seseseko.
Mireilla and her grandma fled again from DRC into Angola…
By that time in Angola, Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA Rebels were also fighting the Angolan government…
That’s when UNHCR brought the 6-year-old Mireille and her grandmother here in Malawi and stayed at Dzeleka refugee camp.
That’s when they eventually, moved to Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi, where they lived for several years.
Despite the difficult circumstances, Mireille never lost sight of her dream of becoming a doctor.
She worked tirelessly to educate herself, often studying by candlelight late into the night.
Eventually, her hard work paid off as she was one of the best performers in that year’s Primary School Leaving Certificate Exams for the entire Dowa District… she was selected for Likuni Girls’ Secondary School..
Unfortunately, her grandmother died when she was still in secondary and now was left completely orphaned with no closer elder relative in Malawi ..
When she sat her MSCE at Likuni Girls, she emerged as one of the best performers in the whole country scooping 6 points.
That’s when she got the Zodiak Radio Best Girl Scholarship Award which was sponsored by the Chinese Embassy to study Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery (MBBS) in China.
Mireilla Twayigiri was enrolled at Hebei University in China.
By that time she had neither a Malawi passport nor citizenship, all she had were her refugee status documents.
As a Rwandese refugee in Malawi, she could face obstacles to traveling to China to take up her Scholarship since the Scholarship was meant for top Malawian girls as a gift from the Peoples’s Republic of China to the People of Malawi.
Lawmakers had to waive some laws on her to allow her to obtain a Malawi passport so that she could fly to China for her scholarship…
In 2016 Dr. Mireilla Twayigira completed her medical studies at Hebei University with an MBBS.
After graduating, Mireille worked at several hospitals in Malawi before joining the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.
She used her skills to provide care to patients from all walks of life, many of whom are also refugees or have experienced trauma.
Mireille’s journey from a Rwandan genocide survivor, then an orphaned refugee to a medical doctor is a testament to the human spirit’s resilience and determination. She is an inspiration to many, and her story serves as a reminder that with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.
Feedback: nyonicedric@gmail.com