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Ontario student's journey from East Africa leads to being Canada's lone TED-Ed presenter

Ontario student's journey from East Africa leads to being Canada's lone TED-Ed presenter

Young people, from around the world, have been invited to speak at a TED-Ed event in New York City this weekend, but only one of the conference's 13 presenters will be Canadian.

Staecey-Merveille Ngabire, a 19-year-old University of Windsor student currently in her second year of civil engineering, found out she would be a TED-Ed presenter back in May when she received a phone call from one of her former high school teachers.

"She said, 'I just received an email that says that you were invited to come and say your TED Talk in November in front of an audience in New York City.' So they told me right away to apply because we had to submit that I accepted the invitation," said Ngabire.

School speech turned TED Talk

Ngabire said she first learned about TED Talks when she was a student at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in Windsor, Ont.

"Every week, we would watch a TED Talk that would motivate students to overachieve, step out of your boundaries, take the risk, face your challenges."

The school eventually ran a TED-like conference, which both Ngabire and her older sister signed up for. There were no restrictions on the subjects they could choose — just as long as it was engaging.

"It could be funny. It could be educational. It could cover all aspects, but I went into the motivating aspect."

From Burundi to Canada

Ngabire is a native of Burundi, a small country in East Africa. Her family fled to Windsor when she was eight years old, because of the dangers of surrounding conflicts.

Her TED Talk discusses the challenges and risks of moving from Burundi to Canada. She said the main message she wants audiences to come away with is that "self-determination will always be with you."

"Even though people are not on the same journey as I am, everyone has their own different journey," said Ngabire. "So then I tell them and I motivate them to take the risk, face the challenges."

Tap on the player below to watch a portion of Staecey-Merveille Ngabire's interview on the CBC's Windsor Morning:

Ngabire's family recently celebrated 11 years since first arriving in Canada. She, along with her mother and two sisters, became Canadian citizens two years ago and said that was the "best day of our lives."

"We ultimately felt safe. We ultimately felt like we belong to Canada because it has provided so much for us," she said, adding she has no desire to return to Burundi "at the moment" because of ongoing tensions.

"I will stay in Canada, get my education, give back to the community and then, after that, I will come back to Burundi and help them out."