Disillusionment

Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
– Nelson Mandela

It takes courage to pursue your passion, especially when youth unemployment remains a big challenge in Burundi. Burundian parents consequently encourage their children to enroll in facilities they believe will offer better employment opportunities- for example medicine, civil engineer or statistics. As a young person, studying what you love isn’t therefore always a choice to consider. The most important thing is to get a well-paying and respectable job once graduated.

But is getting enrolled in one of the most prestigious academic education in Burundi – medicine – always guarantee a high-paying job?

Students mostly urged to take a degree that will get them a job 

Choosing what to study at university is one of the biggest decisions a young person has to make. Young people in Burundi are usually urged to choose an academic education with more secure job opportunities in the future. If you tell your parents for example, that you want to be a draftsman, an athlete or a designer, you will be considered as someone who does not know anything about life. Instead you will be asked if their diplomas have value in Burundi. That’s one of the reasons why burundian students often fail to pursue their passions. They pick instead a degree that hopefully will give monetary rewarding. This is regardless of the requirements (high marks), their talent and the passion about it.

A medical degree doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a high-paying job

I will never urge my children to study medicine for money

Francine (anonymous name) is a young burundian woman who studied abroad and got a medical degree from a university in East Africa. She spent seven years in the university and graduated with good marks. Francine chose to study medicine first of all because of her interest in medical studies. Furthermore her choice was also seen as an ultimate choice in her social sphere, with considerable chances of obtaining a high paying job in the future.

Francine’s dream has always been to return and exercise her profession as a qualified and sought-after doctor in her native country Burundi. Once arrived home, Francine had to face numerous challenges that contributed to a feeling of failure.

Firstly, Francine had to deal with a long period of unemployment. This really hurt her because she was convinced that she would get hired immediately. Secondly, Francine’s own expectations were somehow in contradiction to the job, she finally managed to find in the countryside. She was chocked by the state of the hospital, she was working in. Last but not least, the salary was lower than expected, which she found very disappointing. In her opinion, a qualified and sought- after doctor should be better paid. “I will never urge my children to study medicine for money”, she said. Because you put great efforts into learning, but the rewarding is unfortunately low.

Passion is important

Your passion will help you keep going even when things around you are falling apart.

Francine argues that her passion for medicine helped her a lot to adapt to her new and challenging situation. In order to overcome disappointment, Francine had to train her mind to see things in a new light. She stopped seeing herself as “a qualified and sought-after doctor” and instead started considering herself as “ an ordinary doctor”. This mindset shift gave her strength enough to stay and try to do a good job despite the circumstances, she was going through. She had learned that this was essentiel even if it was very difficult to admit.

Francine’ best advice today is that: doing what you love is very important. Because your passion will help you keep going even when things around you are falling apart. Pursuing your passion is not only a thing for white people, because they are rich. Even for us who are poor, doing what you are passionate about will give you positive energy, keep you motivated and thus increase your chance of achieving financial success in the future.

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Ornella Dusenge

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