Isaline Utetiwabo is a student at Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) Kigali, in Construction Technology. She faced many challenges when she opted to study what was regarded as a man’s course but was firmly determined to change people’s thinking.

"When I was still in secondary school I wanted to do electronics at Advanced Level but when the results came out, I was sent to a school where there were no electronics courses. So I studied Public Work which I passed very well, getting me a scholarship to study at IPRC.”

"Many people couldn’t believe what I was doing because they believed what I was studying was for men only,” she says.

When the time came for her internship, she recalls how people doubted her capability to perform while others openly discouraged her saying, ‘women just want to waste our time and resources but they can never be good builders!’

"When I started my internship, the people that I worked with finally changed their wrong perception that certain jobs, such as construction are only done by men,” said Utetiwabo.

Utetiwabo urges the public to change their thinking because there is no job that should be based on gender.

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