Rwanda women’s rights

A Monumental Day Ahead

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The class of 2013 getting ready for a photo before the rain comes.

It’s 5am and the girls in my dorm are getting ready to see their peers accept diplomas: The first ever graduation of the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology here in Rwanda istoday. To understand why I feel like a balloon floating on euphoria you have to hear a little bit about how far these Gashora Academy girls have come.

Anocciat

Anocciat is highly appreciated by her teachers now, but it wasn’t always that way. After fleeing the genocide in Rwanda, Annociat’s mother gave birth to her in Uganda where they lived in a refugee camp. Just like food and water, education was a rarity. Very few were able to go to school but Anocciat was one of the few who attended. It took her 3 hours to walk to school and 3 hours back but she made the journey everyday. She soaked in what education she could but her teachers were keen on making things hard for her just because she was Rwandan. They beat her in front of her classmates, crossed out her right answers on exams and put in wrong ones, all the while saying things like “go back to Rwanda”. Through all of these difficulties, Annociat says “I still held on, worked hard because of true love and passion I had for education and learning. “

Enatha

In Enatha’s village, no girls ever go to school. Why? Because people assume girls just get pregnant at school. When Enatha was 7, she asked her father if she could go to school. He told her “Go ahead and try.” So she did. Everyday, she would walk the far distance to school in bare feet since her family could not afford shoes. She would get to school with bloody feet and the children would tease her and break her down but she continued to go because, in her words, “I went there having in mind that I have to do what others have failed.” In an attempt to stop her studies the villagers burnt down her family’s coffee plants, “which were our source of everything.” Her father was traumatized and her mother thought about committing suicide, not knowing how they were going to survive. “After this situation, everyone was telling me to go and practice prostitute in order to get the materials to go to school and I said no that is not my dream.  I struggled, but still working hard was my goal in order to get what I want to be.” Enatha says the experience has pushed her to attain good grades so that her parents will not give up. Although her village is still not happy with her going to school, Enatha says she still attends school because “I have to make a difference and support my community so that they can move from the darkness. Living in the dark, always push me to strive reaching in the light, and I will reach there. This I believe.”

Enatha is striving towards a career as a doctor.

To be a part, however small, of helping these inspirational young women achieve greatness is something I am grateful for. I can’t believe my luck in being able to volunteer for this school that has allowed girls like Enatha and Anocciat to flourish and pursue their goals. This is the school that has sent girls to the prestigious African Leadership Academy: the school that has had girls flourish from being non-English speakers, to receiving high marks on the English SAT section. This is the school that teaches 270 girls how to become physicists, biologists and doctors in a country where only a small percentage of women occupy these positions currently. The Gashora Girls Academy is an epicenter for positive change in Africa. Being a small part of the accomplishments here at this Academy is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Seeing these incredible girls accept their diplomas today will be like watching a new and refreshing history unfold and the beginning of something beautiful.

Positive Change is Like a Papaya

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Positive change is like a papaya. It starts with a seed and when planted, it grows, flourishes and takes shape. When the fruit is ingested, it benefits the whole body and mind with it’s nutritious qualities. Positive change is happening here at the Gashora Academy like a landscape full of papaya trees springing up into the sky. The sisterhood I see here is an unquestioned source of strength and unity that lingers palpably about the classrooms and dorms. This is a place where empowering women is the absolute norm; it is so a part of the daily life that I forget about it sometimes. So I often step back and think “wow, that student’s perspective on contraception is revolutionary” or “wow, that t-shirt says ‘End hunger, empower women farmers” “How cool is it that we show films like Half the Sky and Girl Rising?” 

All of these simple aspects add up to a school where girls learn to appreciate their full value. They learn to become well-rounded women seeking their own individual careers and identities through paths like politics, engineering and physics. And on the side, the school instills an understanding of women’s human rights issues that we face around the world and offers solutions on a day-to-day basis of how to end such problems. How great is that? News articles will be posted on the walls about current issues. For example, an article was taped up on the wall outside about obstetric fistulas. Obstetric fistulas are a devastatingly common health problem women face in giving childbirth, mainly in developing nations. Beneath the article a teacher had written “Want to be a doctor and eliminate this problem?” This school is where positive change is happening. Education really is the key. It is like planting papaya seeds and watching the trees sprout and flourish.

Rwanda Girls Initiative

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rwanda_girlsRwanda Girls Initiative is a nonprofit organization that assists in Rwanda’s growth and development in three ways: Educating girls in Rwanda, building sustainable schools and forming strong partnerships. Their school, The Gashora Girls Academy for Science and Technology is an upper-secondary boarding school that prepares young girls to be a part of their country’s social and economic development by teaching them the skills necessary to thrive and strengthen their communities.

1.) If you’d like to learn more, visit their website http://rwandagirlsinitiative.org/home/index 

2.) Or watch their inspirational video


 

(The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the writer and creator.)