Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase was still an infant, his father was arrested and spent a number of years in and out of detention without having been charged or trailed for political reasons, he later passed on in 1989 when Pie-Pacifique was just 9 years old.

In 1994, the increasing political tensions resulted in the Rwandan Genocide which Pie-Pacifique and his family lived through, narrowly surviving several attempts to kill them.

Following the imprisonment of his mother in a military camp in Kigali (Rwanda’s capital city) at age 14 Pie-Pacifique became his family’s bread-winner.

Pie-Pacifique found his way back to school where he realized his talent and passion for science.

Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase | Showcase

Notwithstanding the challenges, some of which include the massacres that ended the lives of some of his relatives including his brother in 1998;Pie-Pacifique completed his A-levels with distinction.

In 2001, Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase left his country for exile and ended up in South Africa where he started off as a car guard in the bustling streets of Durban’s Beachfront.

Against the odds, he managed to enroll at the then University of Natal, where he finished his Physics Degree in 2006, whilst he was also an active member of student leadership organizations.

He was twice nominated for the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Award (in 2008 & 2009), he has also received several Honours, including being voted one of 2005 Brightest Young Minds for the BYM conference, and in 2006 he was a Nelson Mandela Rhodes Scholar.

His 2007 essay titled “Youth, Democracy and Citizenship” was one of the winning essays in a global contest headed by the Centre for International and Private Enterprise based in Washington D.C. In 2010 he was featured in the Mail and Guardian as one of 200 “Top South African’s”.

In his free time, Pie-Pacifique Kabalira works on several initiatives that work at enhancing the lives of refugees in South Africa, especially women and young people.

Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase is also a motivational speaker, and has worked at ABSA’s Procurement Division in the Business Performance Management Team office for three years.

In June 2012, he was named Trainer Candidate by the Trainer Body of the Kairos More-to-Life Foundation, an organization which offers highly acclaimed life skills training programs in a number of countries throughout the globe.

Today, Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase resides in Bloemfontein, he works as an Account Executive at Avocado Vision, a prime training and enterprise development company which provides corporate training programs and manages projects which take important life skills to disadvantaged communities and small businesses across South Africa.

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