A flavour of Rwanda for Northern Ireland
Thursday, 1 March 2007
David Rugaaju, Concern's Education Programme Manager in Rwanda, visited the Northern Ireland office over three busy days in February.
David has been touring the UK following a visit to Concern Scotland's Positive Lives programme at Parliament buildings in Edinburgh. He has spoken to staff in each office, relating his personal stories of the successes of Concern projects in Rwanda.
David met pupils and staff at Lagan College in Belfast, giving a talk on some of the issues facing the developing world, and hearing about how Northern Irish schools have been working to fundraise and campaign with Concern.
After a tour of Belfast, David met with the Global Dimension unit at St Mary's teacher training college, to discuss some of the similarities and differences between the education systems here and in Rwanda. The group at St Mary's, who aim to promote development education and global citizenship to a new generation of primary school teachers, were surprised (and even slightly envious!) of some of the progressive policies implemented by Concern in Rwanda, including promoting pupils on school boards, as well as innovative schemes to promote health and community development.
The highlight of David's trip was a Pub Quiz Night, organised by Movie House Cinemas in aid of Concern. As well as the quiz, the evening included spot prizes, a Dutch auction and a disco, and was a unique insight for David into how funds are raised by Concern supporters in Northern Ireland.
