Herve Mashindora was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After living in a refugee camp in Burundi, Mashindora was granted asylum to the United States and moved to Boise, Idaho in 2007.
“There was genocide in Burundi,” Mashindora said. “I was in a refugee camp, and after that we just applied for asylum. From what I heard, they select where you go based on where you have relatives. We had a couple of relatives in Idaho, so I think that is the reason why we were brought to Boise.”
Mashindora started his college experience at Boise State University and eventually transferred to the University of Idaho his second year of college. Mashindora stated he originally transferred to UI because BSU didn’t have an international studies program. He said he also wanted to study law, which made UI his first choice.
After starting at UI, Mashindora felt connected with the Martin Institute. He stated it gave him a bond with the community and helped him find his way through college at UI.
Brianna Finnegan | Argonaut
“It feels like a home whenever I’m up here,” Mashindora said. “I could literally be having the worst day, and I just come up here and I always feel good because of all the positive energy.”
has plans to take a year off before going to law school and eventually working in immigration law.
Mashindora became interested in immigration law from his own experience with living in a refugee camp and immigrating to the United States.
“I just want to help people,” Mashindora said. “I’ve seen the whole immigration process and I realized that you need more lawyers like that to help immigrants and refugees. It’s a really hard process.”
While at UI, Mashindora has worked on projects connected with Africa. The project he’s most proud of is “End Corruption in Africa.” This project was a large research paper for his senior capstone class.
In the report, Mashindora researched the corruption in African countries. To Mashindora, the project was important to address not only for the community but for himself. Mashindora said he was very proud of his work and how much he put into it.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able write a research paper that much in depth,” Mashindora said. “Even going back and reading it now, it’s actually a really nice paper. It actually talks about something the African continent is struggling from.”
According to Mashindora, eight out of 10 countries listed for most corrupt countries in the world are in Africa. Mashindora said he has a passion to end corruption in Africa, despite how difficult this may be.
While Mashindora has a lot of drive behind his career choices and his education, he mentioned that it has not always been easy. The most important thing he wants incoming first-year students to remember is that they have to stay focused.
“There’s going to be a lot of distraction,” Mashindora said. “There’s going to be a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. It’s up to you to stay focused on what brought you here.”
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @BriannaFinnega8