RWANDA / GIRLS EDUCATION

In rural eastern Rwanda, cultural boundary lines are being erased every day through education policies that bring refugee and local children together - as at one school supported by UNHCR where community is being built, one friendship at a time. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:31
• Production Date: 7 March 2018
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; REFUGEES; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
• Geographic Subject: RWANDA
• MAMS Id: 2105496
• Parent Id: 2105496
• Alternate Title: unifeed180307b

Description

STORY: RWANDA / GIRLS EDUCATION
TRT: 3:31
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTION: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / KINYARWANDA / KIRUNDI

DATELINE: 19 - 20 FEBRUARY 2018, PAYSANNAT L SCHOOL AND MAHAMA CAMP, RWANDA

Shotlist

1.Close up, pull focus from Anethe to Bellaca
2.Various shots, Bellaca and Anethe
3. SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian Refugee:
"She is a good friend. Before we became really close, she used to tell me to come and study with her. At first I was worried, as I am a Burundian and she is Rwandan, but she kept telling me to come and study together. She would explain the lessons to me."
4.Wide shot, timelapse entrance to school
5.Wide shot, classroom
6.Close up, pull focus of students
7. Close up, girl
8. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Anethe Cyuzuzo, Rwandan student:
"At the school they really help us. When they provide school materials to the refugees, they also give the same to us. They don't discriminate. This is one of the reasons we feel that they are our real colleagues."
9.Wide shot, Bellaca and Anethe walking into Girls room
10. Wide shot, girls reading
11. Close up, sanitary pads
12. SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian Refugee:
"When we used to have our period we had to go back to the camp."
13.SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Anethe Cyuzuzo, Rwandan student:
"If this place didn't exist we would skip the morning lessons and we would only be able to come in the afternoon."
14.Wide shot, Mahama camp and Anethe and Bellaca walking in
15.Wide shot, Anethe and Bellaca walking into Bellaca's home
16.Wide shot, Anethe and Bellaca doing homework
17. SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Yolande Cimpaye, Bellaca's Mother:
"After attending the school my daughter told me that she has a friend called Anethe. When she told me this initially I was a bit worried, but then I found out we were praying in the same church as Anethe's parents. From the friendship of our children, we also became friends."
18. Wide shot, woman sorting corn
19. Wide shot, women in local community
20. SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Moses Ihangane, Anethe's uncle:
"The camp brought many people to our area but didn't bring any problems. We had water before, but after the camp was set up, the quantity of water increased."
21. Wide shot, Anethe and Bellaca at choir practice
22. SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian refugee:
"Since I arrived in Rwanda I have found that we as girls are respected. They take care of us and they want us to develop."
23. Wide shot, Anethe at choir practice
24. Med shot, Bellaca

Storyline

Meet Anethe… and her best friend Bellaca.

Both go to school in Rwanda and dream about becoming doctors.

But Bellaca isn't from here, She is a refugee from Burundi

SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian Refugee:
"She is a good friend. Before we became really close, she used to tell me to come and study with her. At first I was worried, as I am a Burundian and she is Rwandan, but she kept telling me to come and study together. She would explain the lessons to me."

The secondary school was built three years ago to accommodate thousands of children who had fled here from Burundi.

Now it provides a free education to youth in and around Mahama refugee camp.

These girls learn and grow together.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Anethe Cyuzuzo, Rwandan student:
"At the school they really help us. When they provide school materials to the refugees, they also give the same to us. They don't discriminate. This is one of the reasons we feel that they are our real colleagues."

The support goes beyond education.

There is also a special room for girls, where they can go for help and advice and get free sanitary pads

SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian Refugee:
"When we used to have our period we had to go back to the camp."

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Anethe Cyuzuzo, Rwandan student:
"If this place didn't exist we would skip the morning lessons and we would only be able to come in the afternoon."

Mahama camp is home to 57,000 Burundians. The arrivals have had a huge impact on the local community.

Friendships forged in school are helping everyone get along

SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Yolande Cimpaye, Bellaca's Mother:
"After attending the school my daughter told me that she has a friend called Anethe. When she told me this initially I was a bit worried, but then I found out we were praying in the same church as Anethe's parents. From the friendship of our children, we also became friends."

The area has also seen increased development, Bringing piped water and, soon, electricity.

SOUNDBITE (Kinyarwanda) Moses Ihangane, Anethe's uncle:
"The camp brought many people to our area but didn't bring any problems. We had water before, but after the camp was set up, the quantity of water increased."

Bellaca and Anethe are both thriving.

SOUNDBITE (Kirundi) Bellaca Irikungoma, Burundian Refugee:
"Since I arrived in Rwanda I have found that we as girls are respected. They take care of us and they want us to develop."

These friends, and thousands of others, are getting more than just an education.

They are building relationships and confidence to last a lifetime.

The Paysannat L School outside Mahama refugee camp in eastern Rwanda originally started as a small primary school in 1997, and was expanded in 2015 to accommodate thousands of Burundian children who arrived after the outbreak of war at home.
Since then, it has grown rapidly and now has 230 classrooms and a teaching staff of 300. Over 21,200 students, including Rwandans, receive free primary and secondary education here.

From the onset of the influx, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the government of Rwanda worked closely to develop an education model that would help integrate refugees into the national education system. Placing refugees and local students together in the same school and teaching them in English, Rwanda's official language of instruction, was a move that has paid off significantly, a few years later.

The school not only provides education to the students but also offers a safe space for them. There is a special room for girls in the school where they can get help and counselling - a vital source of support particularly for adolescent girls.