The workshops

For this year’s celebrations, Rudi International co-hosted the Goma Web Activism Summit (GWAS) in April 2015 as a way to celebrate and mark the Girls in ICT day. The event was mainly a series of trainings on basic ICT skills, social media presence and blogging skills.

The event targeted young people, online activists from the DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya as they took part into a 3 days event in Goma, eastern Congo. The event was held in Yole!Africa’s facilities, being part of the sponsors. We are happy to have partnered with Yole, a cultural center based in Goma to support the event.

About 20 participants in total, including about 8 young women took part and had a lot to learn, committing to share back with their communities. Each one of them had the opportunity to create their own blogs and start expressing themselves on subjects they want. They had the opportunity to learn how they can benefit from the numerous opportunities offered to them by the Internet, such as introduction to social media sites.

“The DRC is a big country where connectivity is still a problem, so many people started going online mainly through mobile phones as access to cyber cafes requires money. There are more young men than women that’s why for over 3 years now, Rudi International is targeting women, helping them understand they can build career in ICT”, said Arsene Tungali, Co-founder and Executive Director of Rudi International who was one of the trainers.

We have been organizing Girls In ICT day celebrations for the past 3 years now, Rudi being the only one organization bringing ICT debates to young people in eastern Congo.

The topics we covered in previous events were such as: online security tips, managing online presence on social media sites, blogging skills, and online activism as a way to create more internet and ICT literate new generations. We have participated in several Internet Governance meetings on a national, regional and international level and we are committed to supporting access to affordable Internet. You can partner with us!!

Site visit

On the last day of the workshop, part of the delegation paid a visit to our beneficiaries in Lac Vert as they wanted to see first-hand the work we are doing with the communities.

It was a Sunday, the kids wanted to meet those young people coming from other countries to hear their stories.

At the school, our friends from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya had the opportunity to answer questions from the kids such as:

• What languages do you speak?
• What do you eat in your country?
• How is the weather there?
• Do you have motorbikes?
• How are your schools look like?

These questions led to a good debate. These kinds of activities are part of what we call “afterschool activities” which is a way for us at Rudi to help our beneficiaries learn what’s going on outside of their sphere and country. We are happy that most of our supporters believe this is a good way to create a new generation of global citizens. Thank you for your continuous support. Know that your kind donations are not only covering school fees but serve beyond that.

You too can donate to support our afterschool activities as we tend to develop more and more exciting activities for our sponsored kids. You have the choice of donating on a monthly basis the amount of your choice; you also have the possibility to share with us for what purpose you want your donation to be used for.