Photo By Staff Sgt. Rachel White | 1st Lt. Ariane Hakizimana, a medical service corps officer assigned to Company B,...... read more read more
1st Lt. Ariane Hakizimana, a medical service corps officer assigned to Company B, 248th Aviation Support Battalion, 67th Troop Command, Iowa National Guard enlisted in 2019 and commissioned in 2021. This was the start of her military career, but her journey of getting here started in the country of Rwanda in 1994.
The Rwanda genocide resulted in about 800,000 Rwandans killed in the span of 100 days. In a Congo refugee camp, Hakizimana was born. Hakizimana lived in Rwanda the first nine years of her life with relatives and her mother. Amongst the war and terror, she lost her father and would not meet him until she was 13.
“We tried to move from Rwanda to [the United States] because we were still not safe. We started the whole process and we found out that I couldn’t go with her because I was so young. The trip we were going to take wasn’t going to be safe” said Hakizimana.
She and her mother and stepfather found themselves amongst the cornfields in 2013. Hakizimana had earned herself a bachelor's degree in Health Promotion and Education with emphasis in Global Health and Women's Health. In pursuing her master’s degree, she joined the Guard as a unit supply specialist to pay for college. Her AIT instructor influenced her to go to ROTC.
“I think my biggest challenge was going through ROTC. I was older than all of the other students–I was one of the two oldest in the class. And then being from another country, we didn’t share some of the same experiences,” said Hakizimana. “When people tell you things and you don’t react right away, they think you’re slow. So then you stay in your shell and you don’t open up. You end up believing that you’re slow.”
“I almost quit the first two months of ROTC. I was on the phone with my mom, and I was like, ‘I can’t do this. This is too hard,’” said Hakizimana.
Her mother encouraged her to stick it out through the semester. If it seemed to be too much, she could quit then.
Hakizimana did not quit and she lived up to her stepdad’s father’s name. He was in the Rwanda Army and was one of her biggest supporters when joining.
“It felt like, being in the states, being a woman, being short, being of color, having an accent… people don’t respect you,” said Hakizimana. The Guard was her way of having an advantage in the US.
| Date Taken: | 02.27.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.27.2024 16:54 |
| Story ID: | 464815 |
| Location: | JOHNSTON, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 193 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Rwanda Refugee to Soldier Spotlight, by SSG Rachel White, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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