Congolese politician-turned-businessman Eugene Serufuli had a vision that all of his children would attend university abroad, living together and looking out for each other as they earned a degree that would set them up for life.
Dating back to 2018, eight of his nine children have travelled the 10,000 kilometres to Canada from the Democratic Republic of Congo to attend York University. Three of the Serufuli siblings are graduating this spring from Glendon College. Two sisters have already graduated, and three more siblings are part-way through their degrees.
“My dad always wanted all of us together in one place, one university, one house – just to live together, help each other out and watch out for each other,” says Jean-Luc Serufuli, 25, who graduated on June 12 along with his brother Salomon, 24, and sister Diane, 30. All three have earned a degree in political science.
After the first Serufuli sibling attended another Ontario university, it became a family tradition to attend York. It began with two of the eldest sisters, Isabelle and Florine, who enrolled at the Keele Campus in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Florine earned an economics degree in 2018 and Isabelle convocated from information technology in 2024.
The next set of siblings, including Diane and her twin sister Nadia, all chose York’s Glendon College. Fluent in Swahili and French, they were attracted to studying in French while also developing fluency in English. They gravitated toward the business economics and political sciences courses that they felt could set them up for careers back home or in Canada. They liked the intimate environment of Glendon’s smaller campus and its picturesque location close to Toronto’s vibrant downtown.
Only the maverick Jean-Luc thought about bucking the tradition and setting his own course somewhere else.
“I wanted my own lonely life, I guess,” Jean-Luc says with a chuckle. “My dad was like, ‘No!’ Then my appendix ruptured and my dad was staying with me in hospital and he said, ‘You see? What if something like this happened and you were on your own? You can see why you should be with your brothers and sisters.’ And I could.”
Currently, seven of the Serufuli children are sharing a home off campus. They don’t know a way of life without each other in reach, and say that coming to Canada and attending the same university has strengthened their bond.
“Growing up, you think that every single person in the world has eight siblings – you think it’s normal,” says Salomon. “It’s so fun going home. You have eight different stories at the end of the day and maybe more with the parents around.”
Salomon and Jean-Luc say their father couldn’t have helped them make a better decision.
“The supports, the programs – Glendon has all the tools you need to succeed in whatever you want to go into,” says Jean-Luc. “It was one of the best choices that I made, to be honest.”
They are thinking through their next steps, what field they want to go into and which end of the world they want to start their careers.
One option is to join their parents in the family businesses that deal in real estate, agriculture and oil and are run from their home in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital.
But, one thing is certain; if they decide to return home, they will continue to live as one big family, at least in the short term.
“As always, my dad doesn't like us to be separated,” says Jean-Luc. “The tradition is that we all live together until we get married. If you don’t get married, you’re not moving out. So, we’re going to stick together until we find someone.”
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