A Place of Happiness

“That’s the reality in Zimbabwe. Everyone knows someone—or knows of someone—who disappears at the hands of ZANU-PF and is never seen or heard from again.”

At 18 years old, Tendai Kwaramba left nearly everything behind in Zimbabwe in 2008. Her mother had been threatened by ZANU-PF, the ruling political party in the country, which was responsible for countless human rights violations, and fled to the U.S. the year before.

A decade later, Kwaramba is pursuing her medical studies at Carolina. The hills around Chapel Hill and the lush green of the trees during the summertime remind her of Zimbabwe and the challenges she and her family went through. But UNC-Chapel Hill was also the antidote to those difficulty memories.

“I chose UNC because I knew I’d be happy here,” she said. “After living years of my life that weren’t so happy, and that were troubling, I wanted to be somewhere that emphasized the importance of being happy and that developed well-rounded physicians.”

Read the complete Carolina Story from UNC Health Care…Opens in new window