The Power of Opportunity: Justus Uwayesu

Justus Uwayesu’s journey is a powerful reflection of what can happen when resilience is met with opportunity.

Born in Rwanda around 1991, Justus lost his parents during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. As a young child, he lived in Red Cross orphanages alongside thousands of other children who had lost their families and homes.

“I felt afraid every time in that period as a child because you didn’t know what tomorrow was going to look like,” he shared during a recent episode of The Oasis Podcast.

After leaving the orphanage, Justus and his siblings faced hunger, instability, and abandonment. Eventually, he made his way to the capital city of Kigali and spent approximately a year and a half living in a garbage dump, searching for food and learning how to survive on his own.

“You realize there’s no one else to help you,” he said. “You rely on yourself to survive. And that’s something you learn as an orphan quickly.”

A Turning Point

One Sunday, a woman named Clare Effiong visited the dump and asked the children what she could do to help.

Justus had seen visitors before, and he had reasons to be skeptical. But when Clare asked what he wanted, he told her he wanted to go to school.

“I thought it was the only thing that would make me like other kids that I was seeing on the street,” he said. “They seemed happy. They seemed safe.”

Clare asked if he would come with her if she could place him in school.

Justus said yes.

That decision changed the direction of his life.

“I grabbed on to school,” he shared. “I was very hardworking and said, education is going to get me there.”

Justus went on to graduate from Harvard University with a degree in economics and became a Schwarzman Scholar, pursuing graduate studies in global affairs at Tsinghua University, one of the top universities in China. Today, he works in international development and impact investing, helping direct resources toward companies that create positive change for communities and the planet.

Creating the Conditions for Potential to Thrive

Justus’s story reflects the purpose at the heart of Oasis Academy.

The young people Oasis exists to serve already possess extraordinary resilience. What they often need is the environment where that resilience can become a foundation for growth, belonging, and leadership.

As Justus explained:

“Our potential is not any different from any other child, really. It’s just that we happen to have less of a lot of what other people have.”

A safe home can create space to heal. A mentor can help rebuild trust. A classroom can reveal possibilities a young person has never been able to imagine. A community can become an extended family.

“That opportunity to be in a safe place, safe environment, provide mentors, provide friends, a family, a new family structure, that is priceless in itself,” Justus said.

His journey shows what becomes possible when a young person is given a genuine opportunity and the support to fully embrace it.

There are extraordinary young people around the world whose brilliance has not yet been recognized. There are future leaders, reformers, artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries waiting for the chance to discover what they can become.

At Oasis Academy, we believe resilience matched with opportunity creates transformational success.

Watch or listen to the full conversation with Justus Uwayesu on The Oasis Podcast at https://www.theoasisacademy.org/podcast.