Rwanda Children’s Books Organization (RCBO) has awarded 20 winners of the primary school children’s writing contest.
The contest was organized by RCBO in partnership with Save the Children project ‘Mureke Dusome’ involving 49 primary school children countrywide, through ‘Karame magazine’ initiative.
Each winner was awarded with one volume of the special Karame magazine and 10 different books provided by RCBO, while every winner’s school will, respectively, be granted with 200 copies of the special Karame magazine.
Speaking to the media amid the awarding ceremony which took place on June 18 in Rulindo District, Isaïe Micomyiza, the Chairperson of RCBO said “This is the first competition which is just like a trial, but we are considering how to make it a regular and broader contest. We urge parents to encourage their children to develop their writing aptitude and be able to participate in the possible next writing competitions”.
Rulindo District was chosen to host the awarding ceremony because it’s school ‘GS Shagasha’ is ranked first in terms of the number of participants and winners. GS Shagasha has had 29 participants in total, including 12 winners.
“We are glad to have benefited from this initiative, because reading and writing are fundamental for children in education. We are grateful to these partners in education, they contribute much to District’s effort towards having a well-developed education,” said Jean Denys Nuwayo, Education Officer of Rulindo District.
The winners express their appreciation
Neema Bizera is a P5 student at GS Shagasha. He expressed his gratefulness to the organizers, uttering his readiness to keep on improving his writing ability.
“I wrote a story called ‘Umuturanyi mubi’ (the bad neighbor). I was filled with joy when I was told that I am among the winners. I thank RCBO and my school for having given me such a golden chance to express my writing ability. I will use this basic experience to go on pushing my writing aptitude,” he said.
According to Emerance Ishimwe, a P5 student at GS Shagasha, this contest was helpful and will improve her writing capability.
“I am the author of ‘Inkoko za Mugisha’ (Mugisha’s Chickens). I described how the chickens are very productive and raising them can be a profitable business. I am very glad that I am among the winners of the competition, and I am now inspired to keep writing interesting stories,” she said.
The management of RCBO assures that amid the follow-up procedure, more writing competitions will be organized until the ‘Karame Magazine’ is fully published with content generated by the children themselves. The magazine includes a variety of content such as children’s poems, short stories, comic strips, folktales, puzzles, quizzes and simple experiments among others.
Event pictorial