Author: b_igi_adm1n

A deep survey into the quality of Hotels by the Guardian has classified Rwanda’s Inside Africa Hotel among the best 7 Boutique Hotels in Africa depending on its particularity.

A hotel is named Boutique after taking wasted items or ignored places and turn them into the best Hotel.

Inside Africa, located in Kiyovu, was made from the collection of different rejected materials around the country which is among the criteria that gives it the rank.

The hotel was built from the idea of the 2 young men who are Maurice Bagaragaza and Ghislain Ibariza and it now contain Rwandan ornaments.

Bagaragaza said that particularity of the Inside Africa Boutique Hotel is that it contains items particular to Rwanda and uses talented artists.

He said, “the place is mostly loved by white people due to the strange artistic ornaments and a building as well which they don’t have in their countries of origin.”

Apart from Inside Hotel from Rwanda, the Guardian also highlighted Villa Margherita (Swakopmund, Namibia), Cape Cadogan (Cape Town, South Africa), Mashariki Palace (Stone Town, Zanzibar), Souimanga Lodge (Fimela, Senegal), AfroChic (Diani Beach, Kenya) and Benguerra Lodge (Mozambique).

The Inside Hotel started in June 2011 at Kiyovu in Kigali City at Rue du Lac Mpanga street. It has 9 rooms and they expect to expand it to have a big hall.

Tharcisse Shamakokera a member of Rwanda Parliament of the Chamber of Deputies has died of lung disease on this Wednesday 22nd February 2012.

According to a communiqué from the parliament, Shamakokera,68, was being treated at King Faisal Hospital and got to his last hour around 9AM this morning.

Shamakokera was in the commission in charge of Education, Technology, culture and Youth in the Rwanda parliament, chamber of Deputies.

He performed many activities before arriving in the parliament including teaching while in Uganda and Burundi and different others.

He started working in the parliament since 2008 when RPF-Inkotanyi in which he was employed, asked him to submit his candidacy.

He was in charge of social affairs in the office of the President, in office of the prime minister and then worked in the secretariat of RPF-Inkotanyi.

He has been resident at Kimironko sector Gasabo District in Kigali city and is survived by a family including wife and four children: 2 sons and 2 daughters.

IGIHE.com will update you on any new information about the burial arrangements.

PART 1

The Frequently Asked Questions about US Scholarships

Can I win a University Scholarship to the US?

It’s very difficult to win a scholarship to study at a university in the US. You need to be an outstanding student, both at school and with high marks on the necessary international exams (TOEFL and SAT, for students finishing secondary school; or TOEFL and GRE or GMAT, for most master’s degree programs in the US).

To get a great score on the international exams, your English needs to be excellent. And not only that, you need to make your way through an application process that is unfamiliar to you and very complicated!

But the good news is, if you ARE a truly outstanding student, IGIHE.com and Bridge2Rwanda Scholars want to help you win the best scholarship you are qualified for. We will do this by giving you as much information and advice as we can about what you will need to do to succeed.

There are already hundreds of Rwandans who study in the U.S. and we want to add more, to help Rwanda develop its economy and provide its best students with the quality of education they deserve.

If you are an outstanding student – one of the best students in your school, with great English as well – it is possible to win a scholarship to the US. Here is our first set of frequently asked questions and answers on how you can succeed:

1. How do I need to prepare to apply to universities in the US?

This is a very important question, and to help us give you the most complete information possible, we will make this the subject of next week’s column.

2. What difference does financial ability to pay make?

It is easier to gain admission to a university in the US if you can pay something each year. But this should not discourage you, if you are brilliant and hard-working, because if you can get into the best schools in the US, these schools guarantee that they will give you the scholarship you need.

However, as you will see, it is not easy to qualify and apply to these schools! But if you can qualify (through great English and grades) and show you are qualified by writing the applications correctly, then you may be able to win a scholarship regardless of your ability to pay.

Please check back next week for more information on what you will need to do to show schools you are qualified.

3. I want to apply to a school that will give me a full scholarship. What are the most important steps in this process?

By far, the most important step is the first one: you have to be qualified to study in the program you are applying to. Very few Rwandans study in the US, because very few Rwandans show the universities they are qualified in terms of great English, great international test scores and completing the applications correctly.

Different schools and programs have different requirements which you can see on their websites (click on “Admissions” and then “International Students”), but in general US universities want to see that the student applying from Rwanda is ready to come into the same classes as their American students.

This means that you have to speak, read and write English almost perfectly, as measured by a score of 550 or 600 or more on the TOEFL exam and a decent score on the verbal sections of tests which are written for native speakers of English (SAT, GRE, GMAT). For the SAT, for example, the best schools want you to score around 600 out of 800 on the test’s Critical Reading section.

This is a very difficult mark for most students to attain, but if you can get at least a 500 or 550 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT, you should be a competitive applicant.

By the way, if you already have outstanding test scores – an official TOEFL of more than 605 and an SAT of more than 1650 – you should contact Bridge2Rwanda Scholars for a free college counseling appointment, to make sure you succeed at your university applications.

If you are close to these scores, check back on this page next week for more advice on how to attain them!

4. How are university applications and scholarships organized in the US?

Before you can start to apply, you need to understand the process you are trying to win a scholarship from. But this is really a series of questions:

5. Do public or private universities have more scholarship money for international students?

In the U.S., students apply to public or private universities, depending on the students’ grades, SAT (or GRE or GMAT) scores and ability to pay. For Americans, public universities (such as the University of Colorado) are usually less expensive, but for international students they often cost similar amounts as private universities (such as Harvard or Columbia University).

But there is one important difference between public and private universities that will help international students. Public universities have very little scholarship money for students from outside their region. Private universities, on the other hand, determine their own budgets and give much more scholarship funding to international students.

This means that the best 30 to 60 private colleges and universities in the U.S. can give generous and even full scholarships to students who apply and whom the universities decide to accept. To be clear: in the U.S., it is the individual universities that give students their scholarships.

Before a student can get a scholarship, they have to show the university they are so good the university should accept them and invite them to come to their school!

What does this mean in practice?

If you need a full scholarship, you will also need to have some of the best marks in the country on the TOEFL and SAT. In other words, in order to be a good applicant for the schools that give full scholarships to the best qualified international students, you need to be one of the best Rwandan students who applies.

6. How do universities decide which students to admit?

If you want to apply to the universities in the US which can give you a great scholarship, you should know that the best schools don’t take everyone. Most of the best private colleges and universities will accept between 10 and 30 percent of the students who apply.

Therefore, in order to get in, you have to 1) have the grades and exam results that show you are qualified, and 2) you have to write the applications for each school correctly, so that the universities where you are applying can see you are qualified.

7. What is the timeline for applying to university in the U.S.?

Please check our column next week for more information on this subject.

8. What is the importance of showing universities that I am a qualified student?

This is a very important part of the process of applying to universities in the US, along with making sure you are well-prepared by the time you apply. If the school cannot see you are qualified, they are unlikely to admit you to their university, and even less likely to offer you a scholarship.

The private universities which give great scholarships only need to accept 20 or 30 percent of the students who apply. If it is not clear to them that a student is qualified, then that student is unlikely to be part of the 20 percent who they will accept. And this is especially true for international students, whose qualifications, preparation and credentials are harder for schools to evaluate.

9. So what does it mean to be a qualified student?

It depends on the school. Different schools all have their own standards. But to apply to the best schools, students will usually need to have very good secondary grades and exam results, plus great English as measured by a score of more than 600 on the TOEFL and as high a score as possible on the SAT.

We will give you more information on this subject in part 2 of this FAQ.

10. I attended a technical school, such as mechanics or electricity. Can I apply to universities in the U.S.?

We’re sorry, but it is not possible for students who attended technical secondary schools to apply to universities in the U.S. The American university system does not permit this.

11. I’ve already started university at an undergraduate or master’s degree level. Can I leave the program I am in and go to the US?

That will be very difficult to do. Once you have started a program, you are considered a transfer student at similar programs in the US, and international transfer students usually can’t receive scholarships or financial aid. So you will be expected to pay the full cost of the program, if you get in.

The best solution is to finish the degree you are already working on, and at the same time prepare for the next degree you want to apply for in the U.S., so you can show you are well-qualified. This will make you more likely to get into the program you want to attend and to get in with a scholarship!

12. I’m 22 years old or more. Can I still do my undergraduate in the US?

The older you get, the harder it becomes to study as an undergraduate in the U.S. When you are older than 22, it becomes unlikely that an elite school will take you for an undergraduate program, because most of the other students in your first year of the program will be only 18 years old.

However, universities sometimes make exceptions and accept older students.
What will be easier is to do your undergraduate university in Rwanda, and then do a master’s degree at an international school. If you are 25 and have not started university, it’s unlikely you will be able to do your undergraduate in the US.

If you finish your undergraduate degree in Africa, though, you will be 29 or 30 – and most students in master’s degree programs range from 22 to 35 years old!

13. Okay, I will get a TOEFL exam score of more than 600 and an SAT score of 1700 or higher. What are ten schools where I can apply in the U.S.?

If you get these scores, you won’t need to choose among ten schools in the U.S. – there are about 60 schools where you can apply that will give you a scholarship, if they decide to admit you.

But here are ten schools you could look at to start – schools that guarantee that if they admit you, they will give international undergraduate students as much scholarship as they need: Colby, Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, MIT, CalTech.

Don’t see an answer to your question?
Send us your question and we’ll ask our U.S. University Counselor! Each week, if you send us your questions, we will respond with a few answers and give you the information or advice you need.

Links to consult:

Three university scholarships you should know about:
http://en.igihe.com/business/three-university-scholarship-opportunities-you.html

Website with up to date news of partial scholarship offers to universities in the U.S. – note that these are usually not to the same private schools that offer full scholarships:
http://www.educationusa.info/financial-aid

Great site with resources for African students who want to apply to the U.S.:
http://www.helpforafricanstudents.org/english/index.php

MTN Rwanda has announced that it has sourced from other different service providers to address network disruptions caused by fibre cable cuts.

During the press conference held at MTN Head Ofice this Tuesday 21st February 2012, KhaledMikkawi, the MTN Chief Executive Officer revealed that they have doubled their bandwidth and increased 3G sites by over 30%.

He said, “As a growing telecommunication company we are doing all our best to expand infrastructures and better serve our customers and increasing 3G sites.”

He added that once they are conducting tests and optimization exercise, clients and subscribers are to be affected as they want to keep them on-line while optimizing.

“It’s like upgrading the road to make it wider without interfering with the traffic,” said Khaled.

Khaled Mikkawi revealed that not only the upgrading process but also MTN has faced the challenge of the EASSy fibre cable between Djibouti and Port Sudan which was cut and affected all the telecom operators depending on EASSY cable mainly in the sub-Saharan region.

Khaled said, “We have currently re-routed all our traffic through TEAMs and have sourced for additional capacity from different providers.”

He added that according to the test conducted, the full network is expected within this week.

The CEO encouraged subscribers with 3G handsets to set their network to automatic to avoid interruptions in voice quality as the headset will select the signal with regard to the customer’s location.

He said that MTN ambition is to remain on top with regard to better service delivery, the reason why the process has been reported to the Rwanda Utilities and Regulatory Agency (RURA).

“We consider competition as a challenge not as a threat, that’s why we are improving our services to remain on top of the other competitors,” Khaled explained.

MTN Rwanda fibre cable depends on two cables for the international capacity which are EASSy where MTN drives 80% through undersea cable and TEAMs through which it gets 20%.

As the EASSY cable was cut, MTN remained with only 20% from TEAMs of its international bandwidth capacity.

MTN Management promised to handle the blackBerry network problems like e-mails and security which happened about 3-4 weeks ago by adding capacity in its connectivity though it is not a property of MTN 100% but to a Canadian based company called Research In Motion (RIM).

MTN thanks all their clients and subscribers for their patience and their good collaboration promising them all the best MTN can to be sure they are enjoying good and quality services.

The Minister of Sports and Culture Protais Mitali has said that Rwanda has established a Culture and Kinyarwanda language academy. 40 million people can hear and understand Kinyarwanda language in the Great lakes region.

Mitali announced on 20th February 2012 towards celebration of 21st February an International Day that honours Mother Language.

Mitali insists on the act of mixing up languages as one of the factors of killing the culture. He says, “It’s really bad for the culture loses.” Adding that his ministry is planning to see how Kinyarwanda can be instructed in a particular way as it is done for foreign languages.

The minister further said that Rwanda is trying to promote Kinyarwanda as its language and wishes to encourage parents to talk to their children about Kinyarwanda language.

“Foreign languages have to be used in the proper time not to mix up in away to show the level of modernity.”

He added that Rwanda has established the Kinyarwanda and culture academy to strengthen both of them.

Gregoire Mbonankira, the head of department of Modern languages at the National University of Rwanda says that Kinyarwanda is spoken and understood by many people in this region due to the partition and scramble for Africa.

“During the monarch period, Rwanda’s territory was bigger but after partition, some parts were given away to neighbouring countries like Masaka in Uganda, Masisi in DRC and Buha in Tanzania,” Said Mbonankira.

Mbonankira requests many people especially authorities who deliver their speeches in foreign languages to cease because not everyone is able to fully understand them.

“Public officials should speak Kinyarwanda language while addressing the citizens for their speech is supposed to reach every Rwandan and person living in Rwanda,” says Mbonankira.

People confirm that some of the people mix up languages to show that they are civilized.

United Nations for Education Science and Culture (UNESCO) set 21st February as a date of valuing and sustaining Mother Tongue in each country.

They emphasize that peace culture is to be based on the free use of a mother tongue in each country.

In a two day meeting aimed at addressing cross-border crimes, Rwanda and Uganda have agreed on joint efforts in stopping human organ trafficking. The meeting took place on 21st February 2012.

Chief supt. Elias Kabera, the director of international cooperation at Rwanda National Police noted that Drug and Human trafficking and terrorism are the main crimes evident across the borders between Rwanda and Uganda.
Such crimes allegedly spoil security of the two countries.

He said, “the human organ trafficking is the most worrying problem though it has been ignored.” Adding that 13 children have been registered by the CID as victims of human organ trafficking.

Supt. Kabera indentified four drug fraud lines including; Rusizi, Nyagatare, Rubavu and Kirehe. He further requested the collaboration, trainings and information exchange between the countries to better assume the security.

Statistics from criminal investigations showed that 2.5 tons of illicit drugs valued at 199 million have been confiscated and 2402 involved people have been arrested.

To solve the problem, the two governments’ representatives agreed on regular meetings between police and military chiefs working at borders and the deep sensitization in a way to make local leaders of cross border crimes and be able to fight them.

The participants appreciated solutions and agreements from the meeting.

James Musoni, the Rwandan Minister of local governance said that the two countries want the good collaboration in action form. “We want to strengthen our security; and this will be achieved through fighting against drugs like Kanyanga (potent gin) and many other cross boarder crimes.”

The meeting was attended by various authorities from the two countries including James Musoni, the minister of local government in Rwanda and his counterpart Adolph Twesigye and Musa Fazil Harerimana the Internal Security Minister and his mate Mururi Mukasa.

There were also other government officials as well as military and police officials from both countries.

Rwanda’s Capital Market Authority held a competition between students of Gitwa University and students of Kigali institute of technology. The competition aims at getting students more interested in the financial activities

The competition has been rated by students across Kigali as a success and hope that the government alongside other sponsors would be able to have such challenges for various faculties.

Students from different faculties have said they would like such challenges for different institutions to be created as well.

The students’ competition was broadcast on Television. It is the first educational competition that truly aims at attracting students of Rwanda to become more involved in the country’s happenings.

Students from different universities and faculties have said that they think that other government ministries should be more involved in sponsoring events that would not only benefit the students but the
nations development as well.

Uwimana Eloise is a student of Butare in the faculty of agriculture who was present for the competition; she said she was very impressed. “If they could sponsor a challenge between Agricutlure students, it would not only boost their education but would also be great fun”.

Sebabive Jacques a student at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology said the CMA University challenges were excellent. He wishes that all his classes could be conducted just like the competitions “I gained financial knowledge from the competition.”

The sponsors of the CMA university challenge include RDB, BNR, the Ministry of finance and economic planning, BCR, BRD, and Bank of Kigali among others.

The spokesperson for RDB on the night of the event said the idea is to get the student not only to get more interested in the financial activities but this will also increase financial literacy.

RDB is also hoping that through these CMA challenges, they will be an increase in investment in Rwanda from different investors.

The former Rwandan Minister of Planning Augustin Ngirabatware being prosecuted before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has been separated from his lead attorney while the defense is coming to conclusion.

“The clerk was designated as lead counsel for the accused,” said Canadian Mylène Dimitri, who was previously Assistant Counsel in the defense team of former minister.

Following the hearing that was devoted to hearing the next to last defense witness, failed to learn more about the reasons for the departure of the first lead counsel, Peter Herbert Columbia.
Sources familiar with the matter, however, indicate that the accused himself had asked to separate from the lawyer.

When questioned, the spokesman for the tribunal, Roland Amoussouga, indicated that the replacement of Mr. Herbert had been announced by the Registry “in a confidential decision.”

Designated by the code name, DWAN 114, the witness of the day, who testified via videoconference from Vienna, Austria, presented himself as a former observer of the UN Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1994.

At the end of the day, it was not yet come into the merits of the charges against Ngirabatware. He will continue his testimony Tuesday.

Prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity, the former minister, who has already 31 defense witnesses, is accused of being the main instigator of the massacres of ethnic Tutsis in his hometown North Nyamyumba.

Ph.D. in economics from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Ngirabatware was in his country, teaching at the National University of Rwanda (1986-1994) and Minister of Planning (1990-1994).

During his exile from July 1994, he worked in various research institutes in Gabon and France.

Arrested in Germany on 17 September 2007, it is in the hands of the ICTR since October 8, 2008.

The United States Embassy in Rwanda has launched a library at Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC) at its branch in Rubavu district. The library is valued at US$ 50,000.

The US Ambassador Donal Koran highlighted that the library will also be known as the American corner, meaning it will also serve as a centre for cultural exchange between Rwandans and Americans.

The library has computers connected with internet and books covering several domains related to Information Technology, tourism, grammar, American culture among others.

Koran called upon the public to utilize the library since it was not only meant for RTUC students only.

“Everyone is invited to use the library since we want to share with you the American culture. We also intend to provide materials which will improve academic knowledge through the use of computers and books to improve reading culture,” he explained.

Some of the programs in the pipeline include, children story books, campaign to promote reading culture, film screening and discussions of American civil rights amongst others.

According to the RTUC rector Callixte Kabera, the library will facilitate learning of courses related to IT at the same time improve students grammar which in the long run will help them express themselves better.

He also thanked the continued support from the Kigali based US embassy. “I remember you gave us books worth USD 10,000 that have since improved the performance of our students,” he commended.

Commenting on the advantages of the American Corner, Innocent Kurayija a 3rd year student at RTUC pursuing a course in Business Information Technology noted that the library would improve his research activities through books and internet,” he said.

Issa Hategekimana also a student noted, “For those studying Technology Tourism Management like me, ought to familiarize with the outside culture through reading the books and I believe our communication skills will improve.”