By Julia Sisler
Upon entering the doors of CMU, it quickly becomes evident that the student body is culturally diverse.
With students arriving everywhere from the United States, to Kenya, to Paraguay, it raises the question: What drives students to travel such a great distance to move to Winnipeg, and more specifically, to attend CMU?
The majority of CMU students come from the Canadian prairies. Since they are just a few hours away from their hometown, they usually have the chance to visit home at least a few times during the year.
For many international students however, returning home more than once to visit family is unrealistic.
There are many sacrifices international students make in order to leave home and move to a new country, but perhaps the sacrifice is worth the overall gain.
Thinkgrace Ndlovu, a third-year social sciences student, knows exactly what it means to leave one’s family, life, and community behind in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and travel over 14,000 km. to start a new life in Winnipeg at CMU.
Ndlovu originally moved to England upon graduating high school, where she initially planned to go to school. These plans changed in August of 2010 when her father, the president of the Mennonite World Conference, visited CMU as part of his travels.
He was impressed with the university and suggested it to Ndlovu. She adamantly refused.
However, over several days she re-thought the idea.
“My dad told me if I came to Canada, there would be more opportunities,” Ndlovu says.
Relying on God for guidance, she realized that CMU was where she needed to be.
Moving to Winnipeg for more opportunities has had its downfalls for Ndlovu. She has not been able to visit her home or family in nearly four years. However, she plans to do so upon graduating in April 2014.
The holidays are an especially difficult time for Ndlovu and other international students, who get to watch a majority of students return to their families.
“If only my family was here, I could just go home,” Ndlovu says.
But through similar experiences, Ndlovu describes the family that she has formed with her fellow international students since joining the CMU community. They spend holidays and summers. It’s a bond that few people will experience in their lives.
There are currently 18 international students at CMU. That being said, Sandra Loeppky, the coordinator for international students explains that there is some grey area in terms of defining an “international student.”
According to CMU, an international student is defined as a student who is on a study visa and who pays international fees.
Loeppky explains that there is a whole other group of students who are not international students by CMU’s definition, but are either Canadian citizens who grew up in a different country, or students who have received their Canadian citizenship upon arriving to Winnipeg. These students are also in need of the resources that CMU has to offer.
Ndlovu is looking forward to the day when she will finally return to Bulawoya and visit her family.
Until then, she remains content to be in Winnipeg with her friends, who have given her a second definition for the word family.
Julia Sisler is a student at CMU. This article was written as part of her coursework.