In honor of International Women’s Day, we celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, the pioneers who paved the way, and the strength and determination of young women like IGIHOZO Kauthar Sabrina, a Mastercard Foundation Scholar at EARTH University (Class of 2029, Rwanda), who are the hope for the future.
For Sabrina, studying and bettering herself has always been a way of life. From a family of five children and with a strong mother as her guide, she doesn’t remember a time she didn’t think about her future and know that her life path and taking the steps to get there would be up to her, even in a world where people sometimes thought girls were not capable of doing the same things as boys. “I always had a dream to go to university,” she shares. “I always liked to study. For me, I found studying to be one of the pillars for my future. Even in primary school I thought about what I wanted to do in life. No one in my family ever made me feel I couldn’t do what I wanted.”
In 2022, when Sabrina finished high school, she was suffering from an illness and couldn’t attend university right away. In Rwanda, university education is paid for, but not when you don’t start directly after high school. “It was hard,” she says. “I often felt, ‘Why am I not at school?’” But the obstacles seem to have only made her stronger. With this attitude, barriers were just bumps in the road, not roadblocks. She waited patiently as her body began to recover.
“As I began to feel better, I started to search for a scholarship.” It was during that time that she found out about EARTH while researching degree programs on the internet. Sabrina had always been interested in the various fields of engineering and sciences. As a young girl, she watched her grandparents raise cattle and grow a garden plot on their land, producing maize, potatoes, and beans. As she learned more about EARTH and the Agricultural Sciences degree, she realized the program could be a step toward a career that could make a difference. When the news came in 2025 that she had been selected as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, she knew this was the path she was meant to walk.
At the age of 23, Sabrina is a little older than the average EARTH student. Her maturity and clear-headed focus are evident when she speaks about going through an illness, about moving to another continent to study, and about entering into the multicultural environment of EARTH. “When I came to Costa Rica in October, it was kind of strange at first. It wasn’t my first time leaving Rwanda, but it was my first time leaving the continent of Africa. And the trip took so long. It was all new to me. But I knew that coming here was an opportunity— to learn Spanish, to live with a Costa Rican family, and to begin my studies. The multicultural aspect wasn’t strange as the city I was living in has many people from different cultures and countries. This, along with the kindness of my Costa Rican family made the transition okay for me.”
Sabrina points to her mother as the biggest influence in her life and the lives of her siblings. Her mother never pushed her children into traditional gender roles. “She wanted us to make sure we were working for our future. She encouraged us to choose the work that we liked to do. My older sister studied civil engineering. My brother is a chef. My mother has always encouraged us to do what we love and what we are good at. She taught us that each step of our lives adds something to that goal.”
As we remember those who advanced opportunities for women, we do so in celebration, but we also remember that more work is needed to achieve true gender equality. With young women like Sabrina at the forefront, the future looks bright.
When Sabrina is asked what she would say to younger people, she thinks quietly for a moment, and then the answer comes out strong and with great clarity: “What I would say to young girls is that the first step can feel hard. Focus on thinking about what you will be remembered for and on what you want to leave to this world. I know we are not made to do everything at the same time. But we need to make sure every step we take is adding something. Life’s obstacles can stop us, but we can’t accept them—we can’t let them steal the nutrients for our crops—for the future we hope to create.”