by Len Lear

Despite living through the most gruesome, nightmarish experience any human being could possibly confront – and at a very early age – Emmanuel Nkundunkundiye (known as “Emma” by his friends), is relentlessly upbeat and hopeful, wearing a perpetual smile on his face. In fact, the only thing Emma now finds less than perfect in his life is “too much food – I overeat every day!”

Emma, a survivor of the holocaust in his native Rwanda in 1994, will share his experiences with an audience at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave., at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9, Emma thinks he is 24 years old.

“That is the best estimate my mother could give me,” he said last week. “I was not born in a hospital, and my mom is not educated to keep numbers straight other than reference to the genocide. She told me that I was learning how to walk when the genocide happened.”

(According to many historical accounts, beginning on April 6, 1994, tribal Hutus began slaughtering their rival Tutsis in Rwanda, a landlocked country in eastern equatorial Africa, adjacent to Uganda, Tanzania and Congo. As the mass murder continued, the world stood idly by. Lasting 100 days, the Rwandan Genocide left approximately 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead out of a population of about five million at the time.)

Emmanuel said his father was murdered during the genocide, and his mother was gang raped and beaten to the point where she has never been physically and mentally able to take care of him. After the genocide, he was sent to live with his grandmother Emertha in a hut with no running water or electricity.

Emertha tended a small plot of land and told Emmanuel that the only inheritance she could leave him was what she was teaching him. Emma eventually attended an overcrowded local village school made of mud bricks with no electricity, water or trained teachers.

In 2008 Emma's life changed dramatically when he was accepted into the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, a nonprofit residential community for Rwandan orphans.

The village, which includes a school at the top of a hill, was founded by Anne Heyman, a 1982 University of Pennsylvania alumna who was killed in January, 2014, in an equestrian accident at the age of 52. Heyman founded the village and school to care for and educate some of the 1.2 million children orphaned by the genocide. The school's first class graduated in 2013.

“Anne Heyman is among my heroes,” Emma said. “She left her job in New York City to come and provide shelter and education to orphans who would otherwise have ended up on the streets. She loved people and was selfless enough to give all she had to help people realize their dreams. She fought injustice all her life. The village she built that I was a part of lived by the following principle: 'If you see far, you will go far.'

“All the kids who graduated from that village continue to live by that principle. There are now 500 kids who are in universities or working after graduating from Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, which Anne Heyman built (www. asyv.org). She liked to say that 'one person with a good idea can change the world.' Well, she did change the world, and now it's our turn. Although Anne is no longer with us, her legacy lives forever in the lives she changed.”

At the school, Emma learned English and became a very accomplished painter. He said his proudest moment arrived when he was selected to be the valedictory speaker at his class graduation, at which Rwandan president Paul Kagame was in attendance. Emma gave Kagame one of his paintings, which now hangs in the presidential office.

Although Emma impressed everyone at the school with his diligence, intelligence and concern for others, he suffered an emotional setback when his grandmother, who had been everything to him for years, died. According to Emma, his grandmother was not able to afford medical treatment. “I was going to keep my grandmother proud,” he recalled. “When she died, I was hopeless.”

But Emma rebounded, worked even harder and was accepted into a program called Bridge2Rwanda, which helps exceptional Rwandan students apply to international colleges. Emma set his sights on the University of Pennsylvania because it was Anne Heyman’s alma mater.

Emma's first set of SAT scores did not qualify for admission to Penn, but he redoubled his efforts, slept only three hours a night to study for the SAT, increased his score by a remarkable 600 points and was accepted into Penn. He was only the second student Penn has accepted from Rwanda.

Emma, who expects to graduate in May of 2018, says he is getting “a great education, a lot of opportunities to grow professionally and a great community of smart people. I have friends from all races, various nationalities and backgrounds; everyday is just a unique life experience.”

After graduation, Emma, a business major, plans to return to Rwanda.

“My vision is to start businesses to create jobs and start academic institutions to educate the next generation,” he said. “My scholarship from Penn includes one flight ticket home each year, and I have been leveraging that generous offer on every occasion. I am so grateful! Being here taking a warm shower every morning and eating a nice meal three times a day, it's easy to disconnect with what is going on in my world. So, every time I go back to Rwanda, I am reminded of the reality. That keeps me focused on the right priorities.”

Emma's presentation on March 9 will take place in Widener Hall. Visitors may bring lunch. The presentation begins at 12:30 p.m., and dessert and coffee will be provided. A $5 donation is requested. For more information, call 215-247-4654 or email llefer@chestnuthillpres.org.

Len Lear can be reached at len@chestnuthilllocal.com