Son of two Rwandan refugees raises £70,000 on GoFundMe to study law at Cambridge University - 40 years after his father turned down a place because he couldn't afford fees

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The son of two Rwandan refugees has raised £70,000 to study law at Cambridge University - 40 years after his father turned down a place.  

Aspiring barrister Dylan Kawende, 23, had to defer his offer from Oxbridge in October 2018 because he couldn't afford the fees and living costs.

But he now expects to begin studying at Cambridge's St Edmund's College this October after using GoFundMe to gather £70,000 in donations.

It comes almost four decades after his father Dieu-Donne, 60, was offered a place to study electrical engineering at the same university but was too poor to take it up.

Mr Kawende said he felt what happened 40 years ago 'was an unfair outcome on the part of my father' and he wanted 'to turn the tables.'

He said: 'It's a huge, huge relief. It's been a year in the making and I'm just really excited by the next chapter.

Aspiring barrister Dylan Kawende, 23, had to defer his offer from Oxbridge in October 2018 because he couldn't afford the fees and living costs

'I'm committed to a career at the bar. I want to be a barrister and I felt the conversion course would give me the appropriate level of learning and the quality of education that I need to be successful.

'Cambridge at present is the highest ranking law school in the country. That was very attractive to me. There is a lot of emphasis on research at Cambridge and I'm quite keen to do further studies to get a better understanding of academic law.'

Mr Kawende added: 'Dad was offered a place in electrical engineering when he'd just completed his undergraduate degree in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

'He just couldn't afford the fees. It was very disappointing. He met the academic requirements, the only thing that was missing was the money and so the fact that I was faced with the same predicament and have overcome it gives him a sense of joy.

'He's living vicariously through me and is so proud of me.'

Mr Kawende, from west London, is passionate about human rights law.

He was inspired to study law as a sixth former when he learned about the case of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager killed in Eltham in 1993.

His father and mother fled the Rwandan genocide in December 1994, where up to a million people were slaughtered by Hutu extremists

He took his undergraduate degree in history and philosophy at University College London.

Mr Kawende - a recipient of the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship and Gray's Inn David Karmel Scholarship - applied to do a law conversion course at Cambridge but was shocked by the cost.

He estimated that the two-year Senior Status (SSL) programme, a law course that allows those with degrees in other subjects to become lawyers, would cost at least £60,000 in tuition fees and living costs.

Unfortunately student finance for that course was not available, meaning anyone taking it has to find the fees themselves.

But he managed to secure a £6,000 scholarship from Cambridge.

His father and mother, Senga Seraphine Apatenao, 60, fled the Rwandan genocide in December 1994, where up to a million people were slaughtered by Hutu extremists.

They settled on the Harrow Road where Dylan was born three years later, but he makes no secret of the fact he grew up in a low income household.

It comes almost four decades after his father Dieu-Donne Kawende, 60, was offered a place to study electrical engineering at the same university but was too poor to take it up

He now hopes to inspire more young black men to set their sights on Britain's best universities.

'I am incredibly grateful to the people who supported my campaign and saw my potential and believe that my career will have a positive impact on the lives of those in the communities that I want to serve,' Mr Kawende said.

'I was shocked by just how much funding was required and I think it sheds light on some of the structural inequalities that exist at elite institutions like Cambridge.

'I think a conversation needs to be had across the entire university spectrum - the buck doesn't just stop with Cambridge.

'This conversation needs to be had way before admissions because there are so many ways to tackle this.

'Scholarships are fantastic but given their competitive nature I don't think they're sufficient. The absence of loans for postgraduate study is a nationwide problem.

'I don't want to play down the significance of the contribution made by Cambridge but realistically it wasn't enough and that's why I had to turn to crowdfunding as a last resort.'

Last year, Cambridge saw its highest admission of black students with the group making up three per cent of new undergraduates.

This increase was largely attributed to the 'Stormzy effect' after the rapper introduced a scholarship scheme.