Gloire’s experience of overcoming brokenness has moulded him into a leader who is helping shape students, the next generation of leaders who will determine Burundi’s future.
At just nine years, Gloire experienced deep rejection when his parents separated, and his father abandoned the family. His mother’s physical disability made it difficult for her to care for him and his siblings, who were later placed in an orphanage. At a very young age, he turned to drug and alcohol use in an attempt to numb his pain.
While in secondary school, Gloire reconciled with his father, in the hope of reconnecting with his roots, but it was short-lived when his father died. That rekindled the trauma of his childhood pain. Feeling he had nothing left to lose, Gloire joined a Bible group; it was there that everything began to change. “They prayed for me, and I immediately felt transformed. I felt like a new person,” he recalls.
Once consumed by pain, Gloire discovered healing in Christ. The wounds he thought would define him became part of a testimony God would use far beyond what he had imagined.
“My past doesn’t define my destination.” That conviction shaped both his life and his leadership.
When Gloire first entered university, serving university students was not his dream. He was studying economics and imagined a future of professional and financial stability. But since joining UGBB, he has found a place to grow spiritually and encourage others, whilst wrestling with hardship.
Later, during a mission retreat in southern Burundi, he sensed God’s call and accepted a conviction to serve full-time in ministry. Seeing the burdens young people carried stirred a desire in him to bring them hope through the Gospel.
In 2018, just before the end of what he thought would be a short season of ministry, he was asked to lead UGBB as General Secretary. Though the assignment was weighty, the vision was clear: to help students know Christ, disciple young leaders, and see lives transformed in ways that would ultimately impact the Church and wider society.
As General Secretary, Gloire uses Bible studies and campus fellowships as a vehicle to ignite a wider movement, working toward a vision of seeing future leaders carry Christian values into every sphere of society. For him, discipleship must be holistic. “By transforming students, you are transforming the nation,” he says.
As a husband and father of three boys, Gloire hopes to instil these same values in his family. He aspires to be a present father, creating a foundation his children can build upon and aspire to.
