Seventeen years after he saw nine members of his family murdered, Faustin Munyazikwiye obtained a master's degree to honour his kin.
Munyazikwiye, a survivor of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal this week in a subject he hopes will help prevent similar conflicts from happening there.
His professor, Urmilla Bob, said she "broke down in tears" when she read the 30-year-old's thesis in environmental management, in which he revealed his history and journey to SA.
He is working for the Rwandan government's environment agency and is now pursuing a doctorate, in which he hopes to map out the impact of climate change on Rwanda' s rural areas.
His journey began at the age of 13 with his escape from the bloodbath in his family's living room, followed by hiding in a nearby swamp with his only surviving brother .
He later won entry to a Rwandan university and then a scholarship to study towards his master's in SA.
Bob - now his stand-in "mother" - said the quiet and religious Munyazikwiye was driven to "incredible levels" of hard work and focus by his past.
Munyazikwiye - who Bob said "does not know how not to smile" - said he was driven by the goal of honouring his parents, and by old-fashioned anger.
"I have to stand for my family. I want the perpetrators to know we were not defeated. Their objective was to exterminate us; they failed," he said.
He said that it was critical that natural resources in Rwanda, Africa's most densely populated nation, were managed properly to avert future conflicts as the population grew.