Jonathan Kleiman, Media and Marketing
Last weekend’s opening ceremony marked the official start of the Foundation Year Program, and what a thrilling start it was. Students and their families, the Akilah staff and its supporters gathered at our newly opened campus in Kibagabaga to inaugurate the program. We were honored to share the celebration with the American Ambassador, the Deputy CEO of Tourism in Rwanda, representatives from the Workforce Development Authority in Rwanda and other valued and distinguished guests.
The afternoon was full of poignant moments, but perhaps none was as poignant, at least to sappy old me, as the speech given by student Valentine Kamanyana on behalf of the Akilah student body. In reading it, you’ll get a sense, I expect, of Valentine’s passion and power, but you sadly won’t know how poised she was in delivering it.
On behalf of my fellow students and on my own behalf, I am honored to welcome you to the Akilah official opening ceremony.
We as pioneer students of Akilah have been given the opportunity to be empowered as future women leaders with competence and accountability to our community through Akilah leadership International program.
We have also been inspired by the invaluable opportunity we have been given to develop our skills in hospitality. Indeed there is still a big gap in this field for improved service delivery in Rwanda, we hope the skills we acquire in this field will enable us to put our country at competitive level within East African Community and even International level.
We are further motivated by the knowledge and skills we shall acquire in the specialized field of Tourism. Tourism is indeed a fast growing sector in Rwanda but we still need innovative ways of exploiting and utilizing our beautiful landscape, wildlife and cultural heritage. We also hope Akilah will be a link for us to develop International partnerships in this field to learn from others but also to market our tourist attractions.
Improved tourist services will contribute to poverty reduction, create more employment opportunities and lead to better utilization of our natural resources.
As young women, who have been given the opportunity to attend Akilah and acquire the diversified skills in Tourism, Hospitality and leadership, we are committed to act as role models for other women, and prove that when given the opportunity, women can make it and the sky is the limit in what they can achieve for their personal development and contribution to National development.
I take this opportunity to thank each one of you who has supported and contributed to the Establishment of Akilah in one way or another and I hope we shall bear the fruits of your effort sooner than later.
I have no doubt that your support for Akilah Institute will continue as we join hands in this journey of National development through women empowerment as future leaders, job creators and service providers.
I thank you all.
[...] Kamanya, one of the Akilah students, spoke on behalf of the student body. (Read her full speech in another blog post here.) The American Ambassador addresses Valentine, an Akilah [...]
Valentine’s speech is very beautiful. I wish all of the students best of luck in reaching their goals.
I’am really flattered with Valentine’s speech she’s a woman who can stand fore leadership and I think all founders and staff of Akilah for their job. youre doing well.