Rumuri Nahimana possesses deep histories from Africa

Rumuri Nahiman possesses deep affiliation to the African countries of Ethopia, Burandi and Cameroon.

Nahimana, a freshman majoring in international business was born in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is one of the only two countries that were not colonized by the Europeans during the scramble and partition of Africa in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the other one being Liberia. Under the rule of Emperor Menelik II, the Ethiopian military was able to defeat Italian forces in the battle of Adowa in 1896 and thus maintain their independence. Despite being born and spending more than half of his life in Ethiopia,

Nahimana claims Burundian nationality, because his parents are Burundian, and he has deep roots in Burundi.

Burundi is an 11,000 square mile country in eastern Africa and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, Rwanda to the north and Tanzania to the east. However, most people know Burundi as the country where more than 100,000 people lost their lives during the 1993 through 1995 Burundi genocide.

Nahimana spent his teen years in Younde, Cameroon. Cameroon has its own place in African history as the first African nation to advance to the quarterfinals of the soccer world cup, A feat it achieved in 1990.

Nahimana chose to attend Georgia College & State University because it is relatively cheap compared to other American colleges. GC&SU also offered him a scholarship to enroll here. The large international student body also greatly appealed to Nahimana.

Nahimana, who is a die-hard soccer fan, still hasn’t become accustomed to any American sports. He has, however, a liking for basketball and is eagerly waiting for the upcoming college and NBA season.

Nahimana attended a French school in Ethiopia and then lived in a
French speaking country for the rest of his life. Therefore, it was very difficult for him to get used to speaking and writing the English language.
However, given that he only started speaking English 14 months ago, his
English has grown leaps and bounds, and it is hard to differentiate it from any other international student who has studied English his whole life. Nahimana is now proficient in the Amharic, French, English and Kirundi languages.

Nahimana particularly enjoys the nightlife, “The nightlife in Milledgeville is incomparable to the nightlife in Younde for two reasons: One, unlike in the United States, there is no legal drinking age in Cameroon. As a result, the only limitation to the amount of drinks one can have is what one has in his pockets,” he said.

Secondly, in Younde, Nahimana’s hometown, nightclubs do not close at designated times, they wait until the last person leaves the club.

Though only a college freshman, Nahimana has lived in some of the world’s most turbulent countries. He now hopes that his chance to study in a peaceful country will be a wholesome experience for him.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 4 2002. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry