Uwamahoro Muhorakeye – a/k/a “Peace” – spent 17 years of her life in a refugee camp after the Rwanda Genocide in 1994.

Thanks to a wonderful blog reader named Kathleen and the Army Of Good, Peace’s next year will be bright and almost miraculous: she will spend it at Bishop Maginn polishing up her English language skills and applying to colleges.

And wow, does she appreciate it.

Today, she would not be able to come to the United States, she would have to spend more years in the crowded and impoverished refugee camp, where there was barely enough food for everyone.

Peace is a soccer whiz and hopes to get some scholarship money, she means to be a doctor and help other people heal as doctors tried to help her and her family.

Yesterday, I asked for help in raising the $4,000 special refugee tuition for Bishop Maginn.

By morning, we had the money. A small act of enormous kindness.

Principal Mike Tolan, who has the heart of an angel, admitted Peace even though the family couldn’t pay for tuition. Her father, a successful farmer in Rwanda, cleans floors at Dunkin Donuts.

He says he is fortunate to have Peace in his school, she is a remarkable woman.

She and her family have great pride, she was uncomfortable being at the school without paying  – she had some rough times at the public high school – and was thrilled and grateful to learn her full tuition will be paid through the year.

She’s a senior, she will only be at the school for one year.

My heart is full this morning, thank you Kathleen and anyone else who sent money to the school to pay for Peace’s tuition. I will be meeting with Peace next week and follow her through the process of getting into the right school.

In a school of remarkably brave and resilient young refugees, Peace stands out as charismatic, intelligent and determined to succeed. What a gift for our country she is.

In her brief time at Albany High School, she was an honors students and a member of the elite Leadership Academy.

And this was before she even had a chance to master English.

But she struggled with the fighting and crowding and lack of individual attention in the public schools. A lot of violence around her.

She heard that Bishop Maginn was a safe and nurturing place and applied.  She knew what she needed. She was amazed that she was admitted despite the family’s financial difficulties.

This tuition support will send her a strong message. She is loved here in America, supported and welcomed.

I have no doubt she will one day be treating sick people and helping them get well, which is her dream. I’ll be writing about her frequently. I’m sure she needs some support in other ways.

I love what I do, I can’t imagine doing anything else, or anything more important. I am grateful to Peace and Mike Tolan and Sue Silverstein for letting me and supporting this work. Life is good when you can do some good. It’s really that simple. Thanks.