Nancy Hirwe from Gashora Girls emerged top of other Rwandan students in the 2014 East African Essay writing competition.

Before the end of this month, this daughter of Cyprien Habimana and Bernadette Mukamana will join winners from other East African countries in Nairobi, Kenya for the finals.

During the competition which attracted 101 schools from 27 districts in Rwanda, 309 essays were received. According to the organizers, 280 essays were in English, 17 in French and 12 in Swahili.

How the process works

Schools encourage all their learners to participate in the competition by writing. The schools then select the five best essays from all entries and then send them to Rwanda Education Board and the Ministry of Education for further scrutiny. After critically reading all the essays, these government bodies then forward the best five essays to the East African Community.