Kenyan Refugee and Columbia University Grad Prepares for a Career at the UN

“I always wanted an education, because that was my ticket out of my experiences. Education literally saved my life,” Simbi said.

Her journey to Columbia began more than a decade ago, when she fled Kenya to escape the cultural practices of female genital mutilation and wife inheritance. Wife inheritance is a cultural practice that requires a widow to marry a relative of her deceased husband, and has been connected to the transmission of HIV. Simbi and her four-year-old daughter were granted asylum in the US after spending three years in Uganda.

Simbi started taking classes at American River College in Sacramento, California in 2012, where she worked three campus jobs while completing more than 20 credits each semester. She graduated with four associate degrees and an honors certificate in 2013. She was subsequently selected as a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar and a PALS scholar, and received financial support from both programs that was critical in her transition to GS.

At GS, Simbi is participating in the highly-selective Five-Year Dual Degree Program with the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and will graduate with a Master of International Affairs degree next year. She interns 40 hours per week while maintaining an impressive GPA, splitting her time between two internships—one at Goldman Sachs and one at the UN, where her accomplishments include working in the executive office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

“GS saw potential in me that nobody in my country saw. Sometimes you just need somebody to believe in you, especially when you have no voice. Now it is my turn to be somebody else’s voice. That’s why my work with the UN is so important,” Simbi said.

After her graduation from SIPA, Simbi plans to continue her involvement at the UN, where she will fight to empower marginalized women.

“I can’t change the whole world. But if I can change just one life, I will have succeeded,” Simbi said.

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About the Columbia University School of General Studies
The Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the premier liberal arts college in the United States for nontraditional students seeking a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League undergraduate education. GS students take the same courses, study with the same faculty, and earn the same degree as all other undergraduates at Columbia University.

About the Program for Academic Leadership and Service
The Program for Academic Leadership and Service (PALS) is a scholarship designed to provide access to an Ivy League education at the School of General Studies to students who might otherwise not be able to attend. As part of the program, PALS scholars complete 30 hours of leadership or service work each year. Students may not apply for PALS.

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