Meet Akarikumutima, a teacher and crusader for reproductive health

Regina Akarikumutima is a professional teacher and the founder of the newspaper Angels ubuto n’ubukuru. She is also a radio presenter and has used her skills as a teacher and media personality to sensitise the public on reproductive health, and unity among families. She spoke to Women Today’s Sharon Kantengwa about the inspiration behind her work and the challenges she faces in trying to educate the nation. Tell us about yourself I am 36 years old and a teacher by profession. I teach languages in secondary school, mainly French, English and Kinyarwanda. I am also a trainer in Global Health Initiative where we train teachers and head teachers how to help children cope with and prevent trauma, stress and violence, especially in secondary school. I also own a newspaper called Angels ubuto nubukuru which talks about family issues, children and reproductive health. I am also a radio presenter where I host a show called Umutima wu’rugo that talks about family issues and love matters, to help couples resolve their conflicts. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Education in Literature and Human Sciences. You seem to have a lot of things going on at the same time. What is behind the choice of your assorted career? When I was still a student at the university, I realised that there was need for the Rwandan community to learn more about resolving conflicts and maintain happiness in families. After pursuing my degree in Education, I decided to look out for short courses in related fields and that is how I found out that Global Health Initiative was educating teachers on how to cope with trauma stress and violence. I needed to have the knowledge so as to put my passion into practice. That’s how I started to present on radio and talk about love stories and conflicts amongst families. I have presented the show on radio for four years now and it gave me the experience and chance to learn more and inform people. I started by producing stories about families, and that is when the idea of setting up my own newspaper came up. I then started the registration process which was a long journey that ended in 2014. My newspaper has English, French and Kinyarwanda versions and therefore attracts different kinds of people. What challenges do you face? Being a teacher, master trainer during holidays and a journalist all together is hard work. My work is tiring. I go to bed at 1:00 most of the time and wake up at 6:00 am in the morning. I, however, try so hard to manage my time because I love what I do. My other challenge is that reading is not yet a culture for the Rwandan people. I try to advertise my online version so that people can get to understand the concept but I am sometimes discouraged by their poor reading culture and they don’t buy papers to read, which lowers my sales. I however plan to market the company further so that it creates something relevant. My editorial line is reproductive health, love and peace in families; because I want people to know more about their bodies and I believe reading will help them learn a lot. My focus is now on writing and publicising and sales will come later. What are you aiming at exactly? I want to focus on community studies in journalism and I want Angels to be known countrywide to provide knowledge to people. What are some of the lessons that you have learnt? I have learnt that there is a lot that a girl should know before getting married. She needs counselling from parents or guardians and the same applies to boys. If basic marital knowledge is provided prior to their marriage, couples would be ready before committing themselves, and I believe that divorce would be at a low rate. Journalism plays a big role in providing people with information and it is the role of journalists to inform the community and educate it so as to not to lag behind. What is your philosophy? Whatever you set your mind to will definitely come your way because where there is a will, there is a way. Any advice you’d like to pass on? Women should know that they have the potential and are able to succeed in any area of life. We all have hidden potential but we just have to let it out fearlessly. Rwandan women also have to know that men cannot solely depend on themselves and therefore we need to work with them to develop the nation. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Meet Akarikumutima, a teacher and crusader for reproductive health