Wageningen naar Rwanda
Who are we?
We are 17 girls from Wageningen who enjoy playing football. In July 2007 we will be visiting Rwanda and through our common interest, football, we will meet Rwandan girls of the same age. We are very interested to discover what it is like to grow up in Rwanda and though we will differ in many aspects and experiences, we are sure we will also have much in common. Through our project we would like to contribute to further development of girls football in Rwanda. Together with Rwandan players we plan to have fun, make contact, see some of the country and most of all: get some hard work done! Such as jointly organise the first international girls football tournament of Rwanda; organise a tournament for street children in Kigali; and do voluntary work in an orphanage.We will be making a video diary of our trip so that on our return to Holland we can share our experiences with others. We will visit schools, football tournaments, pop festivals, and also contact newspapers and magazines in order to raise awareness. Our project costs money and we need funding. We are partly subsidised by “Xplore”, which is a programme aimed at fostering contact between young people from Holland and young people from third world countries, but the remainder of our funding we must find ourselves and we are looking for sponsors.
Why Rwanda?
Rwanda is a beautiful country with a pleasant climate and nice, self-contained people. However, in 1994 the country suffered a terrible civil war during which, in a three-month period, Hutu extremists murdered a million Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s. This genocide transformed the whole country into chaos, but since then a great deal has happened to reorganise the country. In general, when thinking of Rwanda, people (outsiders), remember this genocide, but few of them know that at present it is the safest country in Africa, that there is hardly any corruption, that the country has the highest percentage of women representatives in parliament (50%) and that Rwanda is a country where everyone is fully engaged in building up a future. Of course there are still many problems. Almost everyone has been affected directly by the genocide and it’s after effects. Women especially have been abused and many are still traumatised. There are an enormous amount of orphans who lost their parents during the civil war, or through AIDS. Throughout the country tribunals are sill being held to determine the role of people during the genocide. Rwandan people, however, also realise that working together is the only way to build a future.Girls football in Rwanda
Roughly five years ago, with Dutch support, the women/girls football foundation AKWOF was set up in Rwanda. Ms Felicite Rwena is the current chairperson and she has been involved with the project from the beginning. Felicite is a powerful and inspiring lady who has been able to channel energy and resources into ladies football in Rwanda and, together with female coaches, has successfully managed to get it off the ground. Football is traditionally a men’s sport in Rwanda. This, and the suppressed position of women made it very difficult to get women’s football started. But it has happened and with great results! By playing football girls show that they can choose for themselves, that they can break with traditions and walk a new path. So football is contributing to the emerging of a new generation of emancipated women in Rwanda. Playing football together helps to improve the relations and mutual understanding between Hutu and Tutsi peoples, so essential for the future. Besides football training, the football coaches organise workshops about ‘personal development’ and ‘leadership’. They educate the girls about health issues and AIDS prevention, and they help the traumatised footballers to come to terms with the past. Many children have had terrible experiences in 1994. Parents and relatives have been killed, or have murdered. The safe environment of a football team allows these difficult and emotional subjects come out into the open. Currently there are about 15 girls teams from different schools who play in a league.Xplore
Xplore is a subsidised programme for young people aged 12 to 30. Through Xplore young people can set up exchanges and do work experience in third world countries.This helps them to experience the situation first hand and understand why development programmes are important, so they can spread this message to other Dutch people. Participants are obliged to share their experiences, once back in Holland. Xplore is a program from the Ministry of foreign affairs and run by “Nederlands Jeugdinsituut” together with Plan Nederland.
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