During the 2015 Emmy Awards, Viola Davis, a black American actress, gave one of the most outstanding speeches ever reeled off in a public of such glamour. She conspicuously ventilated her perception of the matter of opportunity: “the only thing that separates a woman of color from anyone else is opportunity.” Indeed, opportunity is what draws individuals, families, and nations apart. To a daughter or a son of Africa, a speech of that resonance could only spark off fathomless reflections on the fate of a young woman or a young man, somewhere in Rwanda, somewhere in Africa. Opportunity, essentially opportunity to access quality education, is what most of the young ones lack on this continent. We’ve been made to believe that opportunity is only found in the lands of the other side of the line. We are perpetually portrayed as inherently shaded nations. To Africa and to a nation like Rwanda, this has brought nothing but much unmerited ridicule. Since the days of colonisation to date, scads of families on this continent have been toiling to get their children to the West. And those who have been able to make it are the ones labeled “lucky” and “matchlessly blessed” – a sweet deceit to believe in! What could possibly be the cost for Africa to stop draining her endeared brains, leave alone the immense natural resources, to the West and elsewhere in a world as narcissistic as never before? Verily, quality education and training will transform Africa. But not when all young men from Africa have flocked to the West. Quality education has to be a homegrown but smart design that has every child in its frame reflecting on Africa’s most neglected and largely untapped inmost wealth. The changes Africa needs will and can only happen with a no wishy-washy but deeply and strongly opinioned leadership. Is Rwanda making a difference? We have been seeing our President, Paul Kagame, travelling to different parts of the world and the beauty of it is that unlike others we have seen, our President is not one who only basks in the glories that come with strolling on the red carpet, with the global powerful figures in tow. On the contrary, he has been to all these places seeking to create awareness and conversations about the fate of the people of Rwanda and, ultimately, build strategic alliances and strike deals that would see world class organisations coming to invest in the very people of Rwanda. Oklahoma Christian University happens to be one of the fruits to these efforts. A couple of years ago, OC – in partnership with government of Rwanda – came to Kigali and started an online MBA programme. I was one of the first Rwandans to sign up for the programme, which saw a lot more learners from private and government institutions enrolling to be schooled at this world class institution. Up to 121 have so far graduated from the university and out of 63 MBA graduates who graduated from the programme in December last year, 25 are Rwandans (not counting myself since mine was supposed to be in fall 2014). The Rwanda online OC MBA Alumni is made up of a pool of young Rwandan women and men whose lives have been spruced up by the very same top-notch skills, knowledge, and attitude OC is offering to an array of young Americans and others from different parts of the globe. All of this thanks to the visionary and exceptional leadership that is building the beauty of Rwanda out of mere ashes. Personal experience A young man born in central eastern Africa, I grew up deprived of the great sense of belonging having lost almost everything and everyone at a very tender age. I was left to discover on my own the bane and treasures our world can offer. For years, I lived in shackles of the past which tacitly shouted in my memory every other day in the midst of a disappearing present, while hope for the future could never be assured. What hope could have been mine? Measuring from one point to another, time was painfully elusive and adorned with unending anxiety. I could have stayed forever stuck down in the dumps. But Rwanda gave me one opportunity: access to education without having to necessarily cross our borders. Education and passion enkindled pathways towards the destiny that is mine now. Today, I’m basking in the fortune and twinge of serving giving back to my land. Plus, with the acquired competences and personal gifts, you could tell me where else in the world I couldn’t compete. What Rwanda needs George Sylvester Counts, a leading critic of progressive education who was affiliated to social re-constructionism in education, has challenged educators to press down with an agenda of social transformation. Rwanda needs pretty much of the same approach. Education in Rwanda was used to incite ethnical animosities, violence, and some sort of nationalism that was fatal enough to lead to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. In response to this, the battle to rebuild Rwanda must be painstakingly fought both inside and outside the school. Additionally, our educators and policy makers need to participate in larger social and economic systems and earnestly strive to build transformative schools. For a better future every Rwandan deserves, educators and all other actors in our education sector should consciously identify and act on deep changes in solidarity with other forces of socioeconomic reconstruction. The struggles of Rwanda today carry the seeds of continuing transformation chiefly when looked at through the eyes of Rwandans ourselves. Each nation is defined by true liberty which is never attained without the education and training of its own people and a steady improvement of lives of dignity. The writer is the Head of Training and Development at Private Sector Federation.
