Four young Rwandan women have won scholarships with the help Open A Door (OAD) to pursue further studies in the United States of America. They will be starting school in August under OAD’s second year programme. The young women include; Patricie Uwase who is to pursue a Masters degree at University of California Berkeley, Nadege Sesonga is to attend Michigan State University in East Lansing, Sheilla Rukundo is headed to attend Lehigh University for an undergraduate degree in Arts and Engineering while Flavia Umulisa is going to attend Lafayette College.Patricie and Nadege won highly coveted scholarships through the MasterCard Foundation. According to Barbara Bylenga Founder of Open A Door, the program involves a strict vetting process to find the best and brightest young women.“After selecting the girls, Open A Door provides them with SAT and TOEFL training preparation classes and then matches them with US mentors who help them navigate the college application and financial aid process,” Bylenga reveals. She further said that the mentors also negotiate scholarships and provide emotional support when the students are in the US. Open A Door (OAD) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping talented young women from Rwanda gain access to university scholarship opportunities in the US, and then return home to impact cultural, political, and economic change in Rwanda. During OAD‘s pilot year program in 2012 four girls won the scholarship and have now finished their first year of college. Rina Ntagozera of Haverford College, Sharon Damas Batamuriza is at Bennington College, Denyse Niwenshuti is also at Lehigh University, and Charlotte Mugisha attends at Whitman College.The organisation is composed of 70 volunteers and there will be nine scholars from Rwanda and two scholars from Afghanistan enrolled in school this fall.OAD has also accepted a third class of Rwandan women into the program who will apply for the 2014 school year.
