Etienne Ségda is a student at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. He comes from a small country in West Africa called Burkina Faso. It ranks only 206th in terms of GDP, although it is a major exporter of gold, marble and manganese. Natural resource extraction is done mostly by foreigners.
In recent years, the "Land of Honest Men," as the name of the state is translated, has been shaken by military coups. The last one took place in September 2022. As a result, Captain Ibrahim Traoré of the Special Forces came to power, who became the interim head of Burkina Faso and declared the need to withdraw the French contingent from the Republic. In his opinion, which was supported by the overwhelming majority of the population, the Europeans, although nominally fighting terrorism, are not really interested in restoring stability throughout the country.
It is, by the way, landlocked and has no full-flowing rivers. It is always hot there, with a minimum temperature of +25°. Almost the entire population is engaged in subsistence farming. So the acclimatization of Etienne Szegda, who arrived in St. Petersburg in October 2017 to become a mining specialist, certainly took more than one day.
"When I landed, it was only +6° outside. I immediately went to get a jacket and was worried about it for a long time. I thought I would have to wear it all the time. It took me almost a year to get used to the weather in St. Petersburg. Another shock for me was the snow. In my homeland, they told me that water changes state. But that was just a theory," recalls Etienne Segda.
The cold was by no means the most difficult ordeal he had to endure. When he arrived in the city on the Neva, he didn't even know how to say hello. The language barrier had to be overcome at the intensive Russian courses that Mining University organizes for all its foreign students.
"My very first study day at the university looked like this: the teacher read a lecture in Russian and translated it into English. And I didn't understand anything at all. My homeland, Burkina Faso, was a French colony for a long time, and education there is still conducted in a language alien to us. In order not to get kicked out of university, I plunged headlong into learning Russian. To be honest, I still don't understand how I managed to master it," says Etienne.
Burkina Faso law provides for free primary and secondary education for children 6-16 years old. In reality, parents or the community have to pay for it. The government lacks the money to build enough schools and equip them with the necessary equipment. Therefore, often large families can afford to send only one child to school. As a result, less than half of the country's population can read and write. For education, the boy moved from Kombembogo to another town, Kiugu Kandaga, to stay with his uncle. The other children - five brothers and a sister - have stayed in their small homeland; they work harvesting coffee and cocoa beans.
"In Burkina Faso, there is primary, secondary and tertiary education. The first level takes six years, the second four or seven. After the tenth grade, a student obtains a Certificate of Completion of the first cycle of secondary education, and after the thirteenth grade, a bachelor's certificate and the opportunity to enter higher education. After school I spent three years studying to be a civil engineer. But I had to abandon my studies, I could no longer pay for them. I got a job as an assistant. And then I got a chance to get a high-level engineering education at Mining University. For this I applied for a scholarship to study in the Russian Federation. Luckily, I was selected and I didn't hesitate to fly to St. Petersburg," Etienne continues.
In St. Petersburg, he developed warm relationships with almost everyone around him. With his classmates, regardless of their nationality, with his teachers, and with his mentor. It was the same in the north, where the young man had two internships.
"Murmansk left a lasting impression. Firstly, I was struck by the cordiality of the locals, and I even managed to make friends with some of them. Secondly, I saw the northern lights. Thirdly, I crossed the polar circle. With the group I went to Teriberka, to the shore of the Barents Sea. I am no longer afraid of the cold, so I decided that one day I will go on a trip to Yakutia and Baikal. I want to meet people and see the local natural color," Etienne shared his plans for the future.
The country's first technical university helps the countries of the African continent to "quench" the human resources and technological "hunger". And Mining University's latest initiative - the creation of the "Subsoil of Africa" consortium of universities last December - allows for full-scale joint work in a variety of areas. For example, to engage in mineral exploration on the continent, assessing the level of raw material reserves at certain deposits, scientific support for the construction of processing plants, development and testing of model laws in the field of subsoil use management.
"I personally have high hopes for the Subsoil of Africa consortium. Implementation of partnership programs will help all countries of our continent to move from the agrarian model of economy to the industrial one. We can become more independent from foreigners. Western "partners" are siphoning off our resources and pocketing the profits. I will definitely return to Burkina Faso, because our country needs competent engineers. I will definitely become a high-level specialist, thanks, first of all, to St. Petersburg Mining University," summarized Etienne.
However, immediately after graduation he plans to stay in Russia to gain experience. Several companies are offering him a job. But in a few years, the young man is going to return to his homeland to, as he says himself, "help bring its economy and the average standard of living to new heights".
