Peace through Poetry: Rwandan Youth Poetry Slam

The hosts of Urungano speak about the upcoming poetry slam.

To celebrate the International Day of the African Child, SFCG Rwanda is bringing together some of Nyanza District’s most talented young poets for a Youth Poetry Slam Contest.  The top 20 youth slam poets will meet on the grounds of the College St. Esprit in Nyanza on Saturday, June 25, 2011 to perform in a final head-to-head competition.  Each of the selected poets, ages 14 to 19, will be given a chance to perform their work before a live audience and judged by an esteemed jury of Rwandan artists and radio talents.  Prizes will be awarded to the top five contestants.

Poets from seven different secondary schools will be competing to create a 50 line poem promoting the culture of peace among youth.  Dozens of submissions have already been judged for this Grand Slam final round by Rwandan poets and educators who will select the poems that best speak to the theme of youth-lead peace movements.  SFCG is promoting a diverse group of Rwandan youth in Nyanza to express themselves through poetry with their contest, Imbaraga z’urubyiruko ni inkingi y’amahoro (Together Young People are a Force for Peace). We hope this festival will encourage students in secondary school to work together to bring about peace in their own communities.  By promoting peaceful personal expression Rwandan youth can then work for peaceful collaboration with others.

The event will be covered by SFCG’s popular radio program Urungano which is the first youth radio program in Rwanda hosted entirely by girls under the age of 18. Designed to ensure that girls get their fair share of time on air, the team represents the diversity of youth in the capital, with a range of backgrounds and life experiences.

Urungano is broadcast on both Kigali’s Contact FM and Radio Salus in Butare on Saturdays at 5pm (GMT+2), and can be heard online at the same time on: www.contactfm.rw.

We’ll be following up with highlights from the event next week!

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