New to the Parish: A difficult journey from Rwanda to direct provision

Boris Iduhayeneza (18) was at boarding school the day his mother was killed. He remembers getting a call saying he needed to return home immediately, but when he got there his father and sister had already fled across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 16-year-old Rwandan teenager felt very alone and vulnerable when he learned that his father had made arrangements for him to travel to Europe.

"There was some trouble back in my home country," he says. "My father used to be a soldier and was hunted by the current government in Rwanda. My mother is dead now. They managed to get my mum."

Iduhayeneza turns his gaze to the view through the window overlooking the river Lee in Cork city. He pauses and takes a deep breath before bringing his attention back to the room.

The fifth-year student describes the initial days and weeks after his arrival in Ireland. "It was so tough when I got here. Mentally I was thinking about my family, and my mother, who had just passed away. When I got here I was put in a refugee centre, which felt like a prison to me."

Iduhayeneza’s father had arranged for his son to fly to Amsterdam. He arrived in Dublin in October 2013.

When Iduhayeneza told the Irish authorities he was only 16, they did not believe him. “Maybe it was the way I looked. It was only a week after I arrived here and my hair was messy. Maybe I looked older.”

After two months in Dublin he was sent to a direct provision centre in Cork. “The youngest people there were 28, and the rest were older. There were a few people my age but they were living with their parents. In the reception centre I was the youngest.”

Iduhayeneza had learned basic English at boarding school but was the only person in the centre who spoke Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s national language. “My English was terrible when I arrived. A person could figure out what I was trying to say but it was tough.”

Initial rejection

After his first application for refugee status was rejected in early 2014, Iduhayeneza appealed the decision and began to focus his energies on settling into life in Ireland. He was forced to wait nearly a year before starting school.

He began hanging out at the YMCA in Cork, where he made friends and played music. “A lot of people who went there were interested in music, so it was easy to relate to them and I ended up learning how to produce music. I’ve loved music since I was little. Everything about it: making beats, rapping, everything. It helps to clear my mind and brings back a lot of memories.”

He got in touch with the Irish Immigrant Support Centre (Nasc), which arranged for the teen to go back to school. In September 2014 he began transition year, which he describes as the best school year of his whole life.

“It didn’t take me too long to adapt. Some of the students were friendly but there were a few who mocked me because of the way I was talking with my accent and because my English was bad. They’re everywhere; you find haters everywhere.”

Iduhayeneza was delighted to discover one of the teachers at the school had lived in Rwanda for five years. "It was very nice to be able to talk about it. He spoke Swahili because he also lived in Kenya for nine years. His Swahili was better than mine, which was kind of embarrassing."

Iduhayeneza gradually settled into life at the all-boys school in Cork city. “At the beginning it wasn’t easy because everything seemed strange, but it became easier. It was good there were no girls there to make me feel shy.

“I started feeling like everybody else, at least for a little bit at the times when I wasn’t in the hostel.”

As part of the school’s transition-year activities, Iduhayeneza and his classmates went on tours around Ireland and did drama and school plays. However, unlike his peers, Iduhayeneza did not have the luxury of going home to his family for dinner every night. He continued to live in the direct-provision centre and spoke to his father and aunts using Viber.

In January 2016, nearly two years after his initial application was refused, Iduhayeneza was granted refugee status and permission to stay in Ireland.

“I was so delighted, really happy. I just felt free. I felt like everybody else. I felt like I was finally being treated as a human being.”

For the first time since leaving Rwanda, he has begun making plans for the future. He wants to sit his Leaving Cert next year and hopes to get enough points to study chemical engineering at university. “I would like to work as a chemical engineer and a part-time music producer,” he says with a smile.

The search for a home

Last summer he spent two months working on an internship with an electrical- engineering company in Cork and he continues to help out during midterm breaks from school. He has also begun looking for a home outside the direct-provision centre with support and guidance from Nasc.

He misses his father and sisters and plans to apply for family reunification. He still thinks about his mother every day but is optimistic about beginning a new life in Ireland outside the “prison” of direct provision.

“The worst thing about coming to Ireland has been direct provision. Also staying away from my parents at a really young age and being rejected for asylum because my age was refused. The best things about coming here have been learning English, meeting new people, getting back to education and learning about a different country.”

• We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past five years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com. @newtotheparish