On July 22, during the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Republic of Rwanda, Samuel Abikunda, who had studied at TJU, worked as the translator for Mr. Kagame, the President of Rwanda. He played an important role as a bridge for the visit by translating for the heads of the two countries and their wives during the entire process of exchange and dialogue.

From September 2007 to July 2008, Samuel studied in TJU's preparatory class. He had always been interested and enthusiastic about learning the Chinese language. His natural talent, serious attitude and learning methods laid a solid foundation, not only for his Chinese learning, but also for the mathematics and physics and chemistry he studied.

During his studies at TJU, Samuel worked hard and actively communicated with teachers and classmates. He not only maintained an attendance rate of 100%, his performance was always at the top of the class. In the first semester of the 2007-2008 school year, Samuel scored 100 points in the comprehensive course, and 95.6 in the final exam, ranking him in the top three in the class.

Samuel loves China and Chinese culture. While studying hard, he actively participated in the activity “To Know China, To Know Tianjin” organized by the university. He integrated into the campus cultural life, and participated in the various cultural and athletic activities on campus. Samuel also won the first prize in a speech contest organized by the TJU School of International Education for his excellent performance.

The lively and cheerful character of Samuel enabled him to get along well with every classmate. On December 28, 2007, Samuel with four classmates performed a singing and dancing program at the university’s New Year’s party. Samuel has a deep affection for the Chinese people and takes the initiative to help others when they are in need. After the “5.12” Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, Samuel and other international students raised funds for the Chinese people affected by the disaster. Samuel finished his pre-university study at TJU with a good comprehensive quality and excellent academics performance, and finally won the first prize of “Excellent Preparatory Students”.

After completing the preparatory course at TJU, Samuel entered the North China Electric Power University and obtained a master's degree there. He has returned to Tianjin University to visit teachers and classmates many times, missing the time spent at TJU, he expressed his thanks to his alma mater. He still keeps in touch with former teachers and classmates at TJU.

Samuel is currently serving as the Economic Commissioner at the Rwandan Embassy in China. He will continue to make positive contributions to the friendly exchanges between China and Rwanda.