From Novotel, we headed for Gikondo and we were blessed by Tim Wright’s presence since he had been ill but he managed to go with us.

In Gikondo, at the conference hall people were praising and worshiping and it was almost Lunch time and for the first time I interviewed someone,guess who?..Gaylord…..Thomas who is the ELCA African Secretary

We had lunch and were told to go back to the hall as the Rwanda youth`conference was to be opened at 2:00pm but it slightly went beyond this.Our MC then was Gaylord who welcomed the Director for National Peace and Reconciliation, Mr.Frank Ukobukyeye who was to teach us the Youth about Peace and Reconciliation.He started by introducing himself and also the topic, he gave us good examples of People(those living and dead) e.g Mahatma Gandi and His Excellency Paul Kagame ,etc how they are a good example of Peace and reconciliation advocates this was a success by use power point presentation and this was also better as it didn’t take a long time,people were attentive through out and also images were seen.Very much was taught and he concluded by telling the roles of the youth in Peace and Reconciliation and after Mr.Frank’s teachings the Bishop’s Speech followed.

Bishop Kalisa welcomed the visitors from the Great lakes region s, Namibia and United states, he thanked the youth that came for their time, then conveyed his message and also concluded by telling the youth that they are the future and the ones to make a difference.

I was disappointed though that the minister of the youth who was supposed to come didn’t show up as I had targeted on interviewing him. Then after this praising and worshiping prevailed.

(Genevieve)

In the early morning of 27th,March 2008, I got a phone call from one of my Media team colleagues(Florence) who informed me that we were to meet at Novotel a hotel in Kigali where one of our experts on the team(Alycia Wright) and her father(Pastor Tim Wright ) were staying, and here we were to be taught how to create a blog since this area had convenient Internet connection as compared to the Conference Venue in Gikondo, a place in Kigali where the Conference was held. I prepared myself hurriedly and hit the road towards Novotel………

At Novotel, I met Alycia and since the rest of the media team had not yet arrived we decided to chat,we had a lot to share since it had been Year and two months since we had last seen each other.Before we had gone further with our conversation,the rest of the team joined us,(George,Florence and Dorice). Alycia showed us her father’s blog,so as for us to understand it even better and revealed to us the username and password of the (Rwandayouthgathering’s Weblog) and we were told to write posts,upload pictures and also Videos if we had any,and we were excited to get started.Alycia and her father were very kind and hosted us in their room as we did our work and they shared cookies and water with us,our thanks goes to Alycia and Tim Wright.Because of you we acquired the Blogging skills and not forgeting our brother George Arende for teaching and sharing with us his Journalist skills.We salute you all!

(Genevieve)

GREAT LAKES YOUTH GATHERING IN KIGALI, RWANDA

27^th March, 2008 Kigali, Rwanda- The Rwanda Youth Gathering opened today in a colorful ceremony presided over by Bishop George Kalisa of the Lutheran Church in Rwanda, at the Presbyterian centre Itito Isano.

Bishop Kalisa in his opening speech stressed the importance of the gathering since it brought together other youth from other countries. Bishop thanked the conveners who made it possible for the conference to be held in Rwanda. He went further to say -‘the youth are the art of the World’, and urged ELCA to hold such meeting/ conference annually noting that such conference offered opportunity for youth growth.

The head of the Lutheran Church in Rwanda recognized the presence of other youth from Catholic, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Islam who had been invited in the conference. He sighted the conference as inter-faith youth gathering geared towards finding a lasting solution to peace and reconciliation.

Youth can transform the World….

‘This conference presents an opportunity to learn, share thoughts and ideas on how to change the World by becoming peaceful…enhance forgiveness’- said the Bishop. In the opening speech Bishop reiterated the need to forgive our enemies. He urged all the youth participants to visit the Rwanda genocide museum as a constant remembrance of need for peace and co-existence among brothers and sisters.

Bishop Kalisa concluded that all humanity looks upon the youth to help in transforming the World into a better place. He added that this was only possible if -‘young people use God’s gifts to distinguish between good and evil…. And make choices for peace’.

Mr. Frank Kobukyeye- Director Peace Building and Conflict Management (NURC) presented at the youth conference the strategies used by Rwanda after the genocide to restore peace and promote national healing and unity. Frank said that ‘genocide isn’t only about approving death penalty but is based on respect for law and human rights’.

NURC Director underlined poverty as an huge hindrance to successive reconciliation. For reconciliation to succeed – ‘it (reconciliation) has to address the economic issues’, Frank concluded.

The Lutheran Church of Rwanda (LCR), in partnership with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is hosting a conference on youth leadership here in Kigali, Rwanda. More than 80-100 youth, including international and regional participants are streaming into Rwanda beginning today to discuss ecumenism, reconciliation, and poverty alleviation. The conference has three components: dialogue with church leaders and small group discussions; genocide memorial visit and reconciliation workshops; launching and building capacity of youth-led income generation projects.

The media training started on wednesday at Presbyterian centre, and it was intresting because,we met George and Alysia and they were able to share with us about blogs,how to upload photos,and how to use flip videos.and at  the end of the day,we managed to take some photos and videos,and we found it intresting.The same training continued to the following day at the Novotel hotel (because we had no internet access at our venue) ,but this time,we tried to do it in our own,which was fun.

 Mutesi Florence- youth from Rwanda