As a refugee student from South Sudan, Stephen got the opportunity to study and build a future in Belgium thanks to the EU-Passworld programme, an education pathway set up by Fedasil, Caritas International and KU Leuven, among others. His buddy, twenty-three-year-old Tuur from the welcome group in Leuven is helping him along the way.
Unlike most students in Leuven, Stephen cannot go home on Friday evenings. In 2017 he fled violence and war in his homeland South Sudan. Like millions of other refugees, Stephen found safety in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Through a DAFI scholarship for refugees, he studied nursing, while volunteering for the Red Cross, assisting doctors who went to refugee and migrant neighborhoods with mobile clinics. ‘I also volunteered for Save the Children,” he explains. I provided information to refugees and migrants about all kinds of services and legal issues, I conducted needs assessments, identified problems and helped vulnerable people with questions about education, health and protection.’
It was meaningful work, but Stephen was also thinking about his future. When he heard about EU-Passworld, a programme offering refugees a safe and regular pathway to a third country to study, he immediately applied. Scholarship opportunities for refugees in Egypt are quite limited, so he had never considered this option before, and despite a competitive process, Stephen was selected for one of the three places offered by KU Leuven. Thanks to the support from UNHCR in Egypt and partner Catholic Relief Services (CRS) throughout the application process, Stephen arrived in Belgium in September 2023, along with two other refugees from Cairo, to pursue a master’s degree at KU Leuven.
Belgium wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to Stephen. “I’m a football fan, I follow the Belgian Red Devils,” he laughs. He immediately felt comfortable in his new home. “Leuven is a beautiful place. The streets are empty, it’s quiet, and the buildings are beautiful. It’s very different from Cairo, where there are so many people. Here, I feel at home.”
Continue reading under the photo :
Continue reading under the photo :
Tuur, Stephen’s buddy, on the Ladeuze square in Leuven © Caritas/Céline Jalil
At KU Leuven, Stephen is pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology. It was an obvious choice for him after graduating as a nurse. “My nursing studies in Cairo were practical, whereas in Leuven, I’m taking theoretical courses,” he explains. “I have always been interested in working with people from different backgrounds, like migrants or refugees. Studying anthropology will give me more knowledge and skills to better understand people, and to be able to work with people from different cultures. That’s what I want to do later on.”
Stephen also volunteers in Belgium. Every morning, he takes the train to Pacheco 44 in Brussels, the first registration point for people seeking international protection in Belgium. “With fellow volunteers from Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen (Refugee Work Flanders), we provide refugees with information and answer their questions,” he explains. “I like helping people in need. And I practice my Dutch with the other students who volunteer there.” At the same time, Stephen hopes to expand his circle of friends. “In Egypt, I made a lot of friends through volunteering. We were one big family,” he says. “Now I’m going to create a new family here, just like I did in Egypt.”
Stephen was one of the first students to have arrived in Belgium through the education pathway, and UNHCR in Belgium continues to support the partners of EU Passworld to ensure that this opportunity can be offered to as many refugee students as possible. In 2024, three new universities have decided to join the project, giving a growing number of young refugees the chance to continue their studies in Belgium and offering various actors in Belgian society the opportunity to create a welcoming host community.
Become a buddy by joining an initiative in your neigboorhoud
This text is an edited version of the original article published by Caritas International (author: Bénédicte Van Paeschen) as part of a collaboration between UNHCR and Caritas International.
Partager sur Facebook Partager sur Twitter