In a refugee camp in war-torn Rwanda in 1994, an Australian peacekeeper handed a refugee boy a biscuit and an Australian flag.

Now, 23 years later, that boy, Theogene Ngamije, is a private in the Australian Army.

Private Theogene Ngamije joined the Australian Army to "pay back" the "beautiful nation, specifically the peacekeeping soldier that helped me." Credit:Karleen Minney

"No day was easy, it was hard. I was always scared, hungry and intimidated. I wished there was another planet on which I could make a living," Private Ngamije said in Canberra on Wednesday.

"On the good day, a day I can call being born again, a tall Australian soldier took a knee and offered me a piece of biscuit and Australian flag patch from his uniform.