Workshops and Presentations

Workshops

A Storytelling Workshop With Young Women in Rwanda

A introduction to the workshop from our co-founder, Mpho Seipubi:

In our effort to continue sharing stories and the learning that flows from them, we visited Kigali, Rwanda to facilitate a roundtable storytelling workshop for a group of young scholars at Bridge2Rwanda’s Isomo Academy.

We regard this storytelling workshop as an opportunity for young people to inform, educate and give insight on where Rwanda is as a country now and where it is going. 

The complexity regarding Africa’s past and how countries in the continent choose to continue to build from that past has always been of interest to me. As a collective we have all consciously and unconsciously contributed to narratives of the continent.

The realisation of how these assumptions about Rwanda and other African countries laid the foundation for my interactions with people from those countries led me to a journey of unlearning. This workshop was a true reminder of how this continued work on our ideas, thoughts and narratives of the African continent is still imperative and will always be.

In discussing where Rwanda is right now with the young women from Bridge2Rwanda’s Isomo Academy, there was deep renewed hope, healing and understanding of development. I was able to experience young people devoted to the well-being of their country, who saw the genocide as something that happened in Rwanda and not what defines Rwanda. I hope this workshop series is a reminder to keep our assumptions at the door and be aware that it’s always the story of Rwandans to tell despite the thousands of stories that have been told about them.

I am truly humbled to present this workshop series. This was a window of learning for me; a gentle reminder of the responsibilities we all have in the stories we tell and the beauty of a healing country that continues to surprise the rest of the world with its development and heart.

Whose Stories Will We Hear would like to further extend our gratitude to these brilliant young women for sharing their stories and to everyone who made this workshop possible, especially the team at Bridge2Rwanda’s Isomo Academy and Jackson Thomas.

Murakoze cyane!

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