Youth challenged to be peacemakers

A three-day mobile art exhibition depicting poetry, paintings and featuring stories of peacemakers is currently underway in the Car Free Zone in Kigali. The event is part of the ongoing Peace-Week. The exhibition, which ends today, was organised to inspire and challenge the youth to become peacemakers in their communities. This is another of the joint effort between the Rwandan Peace Education Programme (RPEP) and different stakeholders within and outside the country. Didier Rutagungira, the communications officer at Aegis Trust, one of the stakeholders, told The New Times that the aim of the exhibition is to showcase peace stories and messages from different people from across Rwanda on a wider and more accessed platform. “We have been collecting stories from over all Rwanda and Kigali is the perfect place to highlight them. The stories primarily focus on individuals who initiated projects that fostered peace after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and still continue to do so,” he said. Students from various secondary schools were invited to attend the exhibition where they are also given the opportunity to meet and engage in dialogues with peace makers. As an illustration of how art can help bring peace, Musekeweya, a popular radio soap, was acted and testimonies on how it has helped harness peace followed shortly after. Immaculee Mujawamungu testified that she managed to return home (Rwanda) after years of exile in DR Congo as a result of listening to Musekeweya over the years. She narrated to those in attendance how she came a long way (from exile) with her family to becoming a peace leader in her own community. “I left Rwanda in 1994. I followed the Musekeweya soap on radio right from its beginning. It made me yearn to be home. Little by little, I understood that the country was on the road to reconstruction and I wanted to be a part of that journey. It gives me great joy to share with young people my story with hope that they learn that the peace and stability they enjoy today was born out of the will of Rwandans to unite,” she said. Rutagungira added that they targeted the youth during the entire Peace-Week and at the exhibition because they believe it is their turn to embrace and preach peace. They conducted peace dialogues and debates in schools to engage young people in peace discussions. The artworks, stories and poems on display at the exhibition are done by young people from all over the country, illustrating their stand and beliefs on peace. Credia Umuhire, a student at Colege Saint Andre and one of the students who attended the exhibition, said she learned that peace is the bedrock of any socio-economic development. “We have been told stories of young people who have registered significant steps in peace building, which challenged me to think of ways to advance peace and unity in my own community. My generation has many examples of heroism and a peace minded leadership to emulate.” she said. Apart from the exhibition, the Peace-Week campaign also included the Ubumuntu International Youth Conference, which took place at Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi. The conference brought together about 100 young peace-builders from 16 countries across the world, to learn about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, its effects, and post-Genocide reconstruction. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Youth challenged to be peacemakers