The Redeemer University student experience aims to develop the whole student, and recent grad Feben Alemayehu ’24, who was granted a BA in social work, says that she has experienced Christ’s redemption in all areas of life through her studies.
Although social work is characterized by human brokenness, Alemayehu says that the Christian perspective and Scripture in her courses gave her great hope. She explains that she felt the Lord speaking to her through her class notes and understood her lectures to be life lessons just as much as they were vocational lessons.
“I’m walking away knowing I’m doing the best that I can as a social worker, and that I can leave it to God. He is going to restore everything … I am just a vessel. It wasn’t until this year that it really dawned on me that I have so much hope and gratitude that I serve a God who cares more than even I do. He loves more than I do. He knows everyone’s context.”
I’m walking away knowing I’m doing the best that I can as a social worker, and that I can leave it to God. He is going to restore everything … I am just a vessel.
While she grew up in Christian community, Alemayehu struggled to develop a personal faith. During her first year of university, she began experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts and in her second year moved home in the middle of fall term. Back home in British Columbia during her second and third years, she says that God found her in her lowest moments. When she returned to in-person classes in her fourth year, she experienced God’s comfort and presence like never before. She shares that she “could not stop” talking about Christ in her classes and also got involved on campus as a campus culture assistant with student life. She found joy in all of her work, even cleaning the Recreation Centre. “At the end of the school year, that is the thing I miss the most. It’s crazy. [It’s] because it was a time alone with the Lord.”
When asked to describe her student experience in three words, Alemayehu said her time at Redeemer was edifying, joyful and resilience-building. Alemayehu is one of two recipients of the 2024 Student Life Award.