YVES SHEMA Kigali → Copenhagen · 20 Aug 2026
Self-destructs

Private farewell gathering Thu 20 August 2026 Remera, Kigali

Two hundred and twelve doors.
One that opened.

Yves Shema is leaving Kigali for Copenhagen. Before the gate closes, there is a courtyard in Remera, a long evening, and everyone who stood nearby while he kept knocking.

Tell him you’re coming → The evening
Yves Shema standing beside a large strangler fig in a Rwandan forest, holding a walking staff.
In the field · Rwanda

Date

Thursday 20 August
2026

Doors

17:00 onward
drop in anytime

Place

KK 271 St, Remera
Open in maps ↗

RSVP by

Tuesday 18 August
2026

Yves Shema standing in a forest stream in heavy green undergrowth, wearing a red field jacket.
Field survey · the work behind the record Rwanda · 01°57′S 30°03′E

A note from YvesKigali, August 2026

From “no” to a new chapter

212 schools said no. 59 international universities said yes, but never with full funding. Between 2018 and 2023 I kept knocking on doors. Eventually I made it to Germany with 65% funding. In 2025 I tried again — this time with a single application — and secured a fully funded Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree, a prestigious EU-backed scholarship with a global acceptance rate of just 3% to 5%.

The journey was not exactly smooth. I tried to quit my job twice. I started a company that is still under construction. I questioned my decisions more times than I can count, and somehow kept going.

And now, after all the applications, the rejections, the attempts and the plot twists, I’m moving from KGL to CPH. Not forever — but long enough to begin a new chapter.

The lesson? Life is too short not to try. If you win, great. If you lose, you gain a story, an experience, and probably a few good reasons to laugh about it later.

So come, grab a beer, and cheers to trying, failing, learning, growing, and trying again.

— Yves

The arithmetic of persistence2018 — 2025

He knocked two hundred and seventy-one times.
Then once more.

A seed lot is judged on germination rate. Most of what you sow does not come up — you sow anyway, and you keep good records. Here are his.

272 applications in total: 212 rejections, 59 offers without full funding, and one fully funded Erasmus Mundus scholarship in 2025.

212Said no
59Said yes,
without full funding
1Said yes, in full
Erasmus Mundus · 2025

The recordWhat stays behind

He is not leaving empty-handed.
Neither is Rwanda.

Learning

  • Master’s in Project Management — IU International University of Applied Sciences, Germany
  • Erasmus Mundus Scholarship — prestigious EU-funded Joint Master’s (~3–5% acceptance rate)
  • Climate Law & Governance specialisation certificate, University of Cambridge, 2024
  • Module co-designer for Rwanda Polytechnic, Applied Forestry

Leading

  • Founder & CEO of GHA — environmental sustainability, tree planting and ecosystem restoration
  • CIFOR-ICRAF Rwanda Best Employee of the Year, December 2025, for work in tree seed systems
  • Alumnus, AWF / UNEP Young African Policy Fellows programme, 2024 cohort

Research & policy

  • Co-led research policy side events at SBSTTA-28 in Nairobi on Digital Sequence Information and the Cali Fund
  • Co-authored a preprint on DSI governance
  • Published research on carbon farming, Cameroon, AISC 2025
  • Review team for “Urban Forests and Green Spaces in Africa”, launched at the World Urban Forum, Baku

In the field

  • Managed seed procurement, tree improvement and nursery operations across Rwanda
  • Six million trees raised from those seed lots
  • Targeting over three million tonnes of CO₂ sequestration

6,000,000

Trees raised from
seed he procured

3,000,000 t

CO₂ sequestration
targeted

6,600 km

Kigali to Copenhagen
one way, for now

Yves Shema with a large tree-planting team seated and standing on a green hillside under a blue sky.
Planting day · the people behind six million trees Rwanda

With thanks

“My excellent, selfless brother, who offered advice throughout this journey and supported me whenever I needed it. And special thanks to my parents and every member of my family, who are always the first ones ready to celebrate me.”

— Yves, on Gedeon Niyonkuru ↗

The eveningRemera · 01°57′S 30°06′E

Come when you can.
Stay as long as you like.

There is no programme and no seating chart. Drop in from five, find him in the crowd, and say the thing you’d regret not saying.

Date

Thursday 20 August 2026

Doors

17:00 onwardDrop in anytime from 5:00 PM to send your best wishes.

Venue

KK 271 Street, Remera, KigaliOpen in Google Maps ↗

Dress

Come as you areIt’s a courtyard, not a ceremony.

Bring

Your favourite drinkOptional, and warmly encouraged.

Ends

At the airport, 23rd at 23:00The celebration carries on until we drive him to departures.

RSVPBy Tue 18 August

Will you be there?

Two minutes. We’ll send a confirmation to your email with a link, in case anything changes.

Are you coming?

You’re on the list.

See you in Remera on the 20th.

Proud Sponsors

Expired23 August 2026, 23:00 Kigali

This page is gone.

It existed for one evening — 20 August 2026, Remera, Kigali — and then deleted itself, as planned.