Editor,

In modern society, museums enrich the education process by exposing children and the public in general to the pride of their own culture, and see history with a positive thought. 

Having no idea of one’s own identity and heritage has proven to be detrimental to the youth today. Knowing who you are and where you come from is a very important element and critical to our young generation. 

Today, education has become a global issue at the turn of the century and the museums have become a veritable institution in the learning process that should be fully accessible.

However, over the last few years, many schools have eliminated or cut back on museum trips, partly because of tight budgets that make it hard to pay for a bus and museum admission. 

To make up for the decline in visits, Rwanda Museums is taking the campaign to the classroom, through traveling(outreach) programmes to cover a wider perspective of the public to disseminate information on our cultural values and heritage to champion peace, unity and reconciliation. 

The outreach campaign is to let the youth feed on facts about the past to enrich their life styles. 

The age and time of silent museums is gone and we should reflect on the mode of our modern society with our activities in the museums that have gotten traditional/cultural menu to enrich the power of self-identity.

We can no longer afford to continue ignoring the role played by the youth in our society as they too are part of our collective humanity. 

We do feel that our youth should be given a voice in museums; special educational and cultural programmes should be developed for them and they should be involved in discussing and implementing programmes that are made for them, as they do have ideas that will enhance and promote such programmes if given priority to contribute and speak out.

Perhaps one effective way of ensuring the interests of youth is for the museums in Rwanda to continuously establish a special holiday programme for them in various cultural institutions across the country. It is through these educational programmes that we would be able to bring some youthful enthusiasm into our museums that will bring some warmth and excitement in our museums and the country at large.

Let’s join our hands together – well-wishers, NGO’s and other cultural institutions within and outside Rwanda – and support outreach programmes as we continue to search for our identity and heritage.

David Nkusi, Rwanda