“With hard work and effort, everything is possible”

Guest article by Nina Meghji

In 2010, Anita and Isaro* were among the first intake of students for a Hospitality and Tourism Management diploma course at Rwanda’s first college for women — the Akilah Institute. Akilah’s pioneering approach created a meaningful sense of empowerment and fostered confidence and ambition among the young women and their peers. A decade on, the two former students reflect on their lives and careers, the status of women in Rwanda, and their hopes for the future. Their stories illustrate the life-changing impact of progressive education, and offer inspiration to young women in Rwanda and beyond.

Anita

Anita was working as a receptionist at her uncle’s office in Kigali when she heard about Akilah from a friend. The institute was offering scholarships for the first year of study. Keen to return to education, but with little knowledge of the tourism industry, Anita took a chance and secured a place. “Rwanda promotes women’s leadership and it seemed like a good opportunity for training,” she said. Her late father had been a university graduate and although Anita believes he would have wanted his children to benefit from a higher education, hospitality seemed like an unconventional career choice. “At that time, mostly foreigners held leadership positions in Rwanda’s tourism sector and there were no hospitality training schools… The tourism industry is male-dominated, and… historically, in Rwandan culture, it hasn’t been a typical career path for women,” she explained.

Throughout the course, Anita worked full-time — as a housekeeper and receptionist at a local hotel and night auditor at Rwanda’s famous Hôtel des Mille Collines, where over a 1,000 people sought refuge during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Long and unsociable hours were a challenge, but Anita believes the workplace internship approach was worthwhile: “Training on-the-job enables you to learn on a daily basis and up-skill. I believe my ability to handle difficult situations fostered trust in my bosses and resulted in new roles and promotions. I learnt that with hard work and effort, everything is possible.”

Since graduating, Anita has worked in many of Rwanda’s top hotels and now manages one of the country’s leading safari tour companies. She is grateful to Akilah for the skills, knowledge, and confidence she gained during her course, and to the Rwandan government for its commitment to women’s rights, which has helped to pave the way for the successful career she enjoys today. “[Rwanda] has shown the world that women and men are both capable of performing well in the same jobs with the necessary skills and training. Our President [Paul Kagame] has given women a platform and provided support for them in all sectors and, as a result, many institutions now value women in the workplace… As for Akilah, it prepared us for the industry and encouraged us to create our own opportunities and for that we are grateful,” she said.

In the past decade, Anita has witnessed a shift in the hospitality industry, and efforts to promote women’s progression have continued. “The journey is long,” she said, “but there has been a tremendous change over the past few years, and women have gained the confidence to step up.”

Tourism is now Rwanda’s greatest source of foreign exchange income, but at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic travel to Rwanda fell by 70% and the industry suffered a loss of more than US $40 million, with a catastrophic impact on jobs. Anita has been fortunate. Her workplace reopened after six months, she retained her job, and business is slowly resuming. It will take time to get back to normal, but she’s optimistic for the future: “Rwanda is one of the safest countries in Africa and that means employees in the tourism sector, guests and the local community are well protected.”

Working for an established company, Anita is in a “good position.” But she is ambitious for the future and plans to develop her own all-inclusive luxury travel enterprise. Like the path to post-pandemic recovery, the journey to gender equality is long. Anita advises young women starting out in the profession to “take your chance, pursue your dream, be passionate, dedicated, and ready to learn.” Proudly Rwandan, she is glad to be part of a developing tourism sector: “We have a beautiful country and I want to promote it,” she said.

Isaro

At the age of 11, Isaro was working as a house maid for a family in Kigali until a neighbor encouraged her return to school. The family paid her school fees, became her parental guardians, and hosted her for the next 10 years: “My ‘host father’ was a pastor and role model for me and many others in the community. The family always encouraged my education and my [biological] mother worked hard to support me and my siblings,” she said. After secondary school, Isaro worked as an office messenger, receiving and delivering messages for a local company. Joining Akilah was life-changing: “Akilah had a teaching model that was totally different from other schools in Rwanda. They were focusing on small skills…and the courses — public speaking, community leadership, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and many others — were phenomenal.”

These ‘small skills,’ however, were sizeable obstacles to overcome. For Isaro, public speaking — a core aspect of Akilah’s development curriculum — was incongruent with cultural, social, and gender norms: “I was a very shy girl growing up in accordance with Rwandan culture. It wasn’t considered appropriate for a girl or a woman to appear in public and talk loudly, and give suggestions or voice opinions.” But Isaro “cherished the opportunity” to study at the women’s institute: “It was very helpful in terms of improving our confidence… we could focus on women’s excellence in isolation from men and their role in our daily lives,” she explained.

Now a business development project manager and budding entrepreneur, Isaro attributes her career success and ambition to Akilah’s unique academic model: “The education we received was outstanding and it helped us to present ourselves as confident, hard working women and leaders.” She agrees education must be leveraged to advance gender equality, but believes efforts should begin in early childhood: “There are so many challenges for women in the world of work. Sexual harassment is still a problem; and gender stereotypes often undermine women’s [opportunities for] leadership… Everyone needs to enforce measures to end gender violence and make sure that the girl child has the same equal opportunities as the boy from her early years.” Reflecting on the future of her young son she is resolute: “the best thing I can do for him is to give him a quality education, and that’s what I’m striving for.”

Davis College and Akilah

Despite progressive gender equality policies instituted by the Rwandan government, a disjuncture remains between equal opportunities in the public sphere and expectations for women to perform traditional gender roles in their private lives. But ten years on, Akilah’s founders are attempting to remedy the disconnect. In April 2020, they launched Davis College — a co-educational learning environment for male and female students. Like Akilah, women’s leadership underpins the college’s academic approach, and the inclusion of men — as ‘allies’ — is a strategic response to the youth employment skills gap and an attempt to dismantle ingrained gender bias. The college’s motto, ‘Educating East Africa’s Future Leaders,’ and its commitment to ‘Preparing Students for 21st Century Careers,’ are particularly relevant against the backdrop of the pandemic. If anyone can build a gender transformative future post Covid-19, it will be the graduates of Davis College and Akilah.

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*Interviewee’s name has been changed as she asked to remain anonymous.

Nina Meghji is a freelance international development researcher, writer and editor. She taught English at Akilah in 2010.

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