500 attend Imbuto holiday camp

The youth have been urged to espouse discipline, self-confidence and aim for academic excellence so that they can ably serve the nation in the near future.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Some of the youth at the annual holiday camp. The New Times / T. Kisambira.

The youth have been urged to espouse discipline, self-confidence and aim for academic excellence so that they can ably serve the nation in the near future.The call was made by Imbuto Foundation Director General, Radegonde Ndejuru, while opening a three-day annual holiday camp supported by the Foundation.Ndejuru stated that while it is vital to offer the youth scholarships, it was equally pivotal to counsel and listen to their issues."We meet with these students every year to discuss issues that affect them, encourage them to work hard, stay focused and maximise their potential. We also want to give them psycho-social support especially to those who had dropped out of school for different reasons,” she explained.She pointed out that, every year, Imbuto Foundation solicits for scholarships to support 1,000 students with good grades but who are disciplined and cannot afford tuition. MTN Foundation Manager, Yvonne Mubirigi, advised students to put more efforts in their studies and remain focused.MTN has a scholarship fund of Rwf 90 million and presently supports 100 of such students. Cynthia Mutoni, a Senior Two student at Lycee de Zaza and a beneficiary of the scholarship programme, noted that the holiday camp had taught her a lot beyond classroom learning."Different speakers have been teaching us many things and giving us counsel on a number of issues and life skills that we don’t learn in school. They have given me the zeal to work even harder in school,” she said.She added that she hopes to be equipped with more core values among other skills.Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth, Rosemary Mbabazi, also urged the students to be result oriented, responsible and work towards excellence.She further advised them not to always expect everything from their parents but to also be innovative by engaging in small income generating activities like gardening and rearing of chicken among others.