Kigeme refugee students tipped on journalism skills

A group of 30 students from the Kigeme Refugee Camp and the surrounding communities in Nyamagabe District, that are part of a peace education project, came up with an idea of publishing a magazine that they called ‘Kigeme Iwacu’. The topics they cover revolve around peace and conflict resolution and how the community can live together peacefully. It’s in this regard that 15 students from the group, sponsored by a German development agency, GIZ, on Monday visited The New Times Publications head office in Kimihurura to learn about professional journalism. They were taken through a series of professional journalism aspects by the Education editor, Angel Musinguzi, who emphasised the need to tackle issues that impact their community. The editor also encouraged them to have the passion for writing and also urged them to involve more girls. Rafiki Mureramanzi, a senior five student from College Adventist de Gitwe, who participated in the study tour, said he had learnt a number of lessons. “I used to think that journalism is a mere job to earn a living but I have learnt that it is more than that. I have learnt that a journalist is actually the community’s voice and, therefore, plays a significant role in the development of society,” he said Michel Muhirwa, the refugee component leader at GIZ, explained that the study tour comes after the students had a five-day training on conflict sensitive journalism based on the students’ writing talent. “We have a project called ‘Peace Education in Refugee and Host Communities’, and conflict sensitive journalism is one of the tools we use to promote peace and conflict resolution. We want to prepare the refugees and young Rwandans living around the camp to become professional journalists to promote civil peace service,” he said.