{Winnie Rugamba, 18, from Kigali, is the winner of the U.S. Embassy’s Inaugural 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence Campaign Poetry Contest, U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda Donald Koran announced Tuesday. }
He made the announcement at a poetry reading hosted by the U.S. Embassy at Rwanda Library Services in Kacyiru.
Embassy officials organized the event in commemoration of the 16 Days Campaign and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Rwandan youth were invited to submit 10-line poems on the theme “GBV – We Can Make It Stop!” The Embassy published one poem per day during the 16 Days Campaign and culminated the Campaign with the poetry reading at Rwanda Library Services.
Young Rwanda writers whose poems were selected for the reading as well as youth from around the country were invited to the event. Ambassador Koran noted that two important goals – promoting English as well as fighting GBV – were on display that day.
“The creative minds of these young people can help those throughout Rwanda better understand the important mental and emotional anguish associated with GBV and the resilience and support expressed by those willing to stand up and Make It Stop,” he said.
The event also featured testimony from Jacqueline Niyonsaba, a young Rwandan woman who shared her GBV story with the assembled students. She’s worked with the USAID Rwanda Family Health Project since her incident some years ago.
The U.S. Embassy in Kigali will print Rugamba’s poem, entitled “GBV – We Can Make It Stop”, and distribute copies of the poster to schools and youth centers in Rwanda in a continuing effort to help raise awareness of gender based violence and the role young Rwandans can play to help fight GBV.
All 16 poems selected for the contest can be read on the U.S. Embassy’s website: http://rwanda.usembassy.gov/16days_poetry_contest.html
{{angedelavictoire@igihe.com}}
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