Community Newspaper: Phase II

The translated stories finally arrived, and the wait was definitely worth it. Finally being able to read them was like opening a present I carried around in wrapping for a long time, always wondering what it was. Well, I found out what it was, finally, and it was packed full of little insights into the lives, hearts, and minds of children in Rwanda.

I found the stories to be quite… diverse… which is perhaps why I am having such a hard time describing them to you as one large group. Some spoke about the hardships of their lives and the great opportunity the chance to attend school was. Others spoke about their experiences while at school- different teaching methods they’d encountered, their participation in extra-curricular activities, like clubs and sports. And still others were messages and calls to action for their fellow sisters, reminding them of the importance of women in society, their duty to make their parents proud, and their role in building their country… all possible because of their success in school.

I learned a lot about the struggles that children in Rwanda, specifically girls, face in their lives and school. Of course, I knew that poverty caused many children to have difficulty paying for school fees and necessary uniforms and materials. But, the authors of these stories unpacked it further, giving a frank and eye-opening assessment of the reasons behind the poverty of their families- things like the loss of their parent/s, too many children, lack of land, unemployment and sickness.

In school, girls face the problem of being propositioned by their teachers and male peers for sex in exchange for items. There is a huge “sugar daddy” and “sugar mommy” culture here, in which adults coerce children into having sex, taking advantage of their vulnerability in age and poverty, with money and other items. It is so common that the Rwandan government launched a public campaign against the “sugar daddies” and “sugar mommies” with large billboards depicting a child rejecting money from a sugar parent, denouncing the practice.

Although the girls wrote to offer encouragement to their sisters, there was an underlying plea to the stories. The girls asked for guidance and support to make good decisions in their lives, so they could succeed in education and careers, and achieve their goals. Not only did they speak about a society in which women have equal opportunity, they spoke of one that catered to the specific needs of the women in it. It was pretty forward-thinking for a group of girls in the equivalent of 10th grade in America! I was very impressed.

Now that the stories were translated, I had to read through them in order to select the best ones. What a difficult task! How do you compare one child’s ideas to those of another when they are all impressive, like I mentioned, but also containing a similar mix of great statements and entertaining inconsistencies? It’s like comparing apples and oranges, which I am told can’t be done. Plus, if I had it my way, every child would get the space necessary for their voice, regardless of what that voice was saying, so the whole selection process worked against my natural inclination.

In the end, I read and re-read the stories, taking note of their message. I established a sort of criteria in my head based on the aim of the newspaper. From my understanding, the newspaper was meant to be a vehicle of exchange for girls attending school. I felt that, as such, the stories should contain positive messages that the girls wanted to share, some sort of direction or encouraging thought. I read the stories again, with this aim and criteria in mind, facilitating the difficult selection process, and selected the final stores that would eventually make up the newspaper.

Although the most difficult step was complete, I was far from being done. I read through the translated stories again, this time with the purpose of editing them. The translator did a great job translating them, but there were still some mistakes in English and sentences or paragraphs that didn’t make sense, but from which I could get the general idea. I corrected the mistakes, and took a strong hand to shaping the sentences and paragraphs into understandable and meaningful ideas while still maintaining the original touch of the author. Again, not an easy task, because how much of the original text, mistakes and all, do you sacrifice in the name of proper English and understanding? Especially when the publication in question is a newspaper for youth, by youth. In retrospect, I believe I did the job well. I retained the natural voice of the authors in the final version of the articles that were free of mistakes and easy to understand.

Now, we are moving into the final phase of the project. We have collected the stories, translated and edited them. We have already returned to the schools and helped students take pictures to accompany their selected stores. Now, all we need to do is format the stories and pictures into the final product- the newspaper. We are hoping to also involve youth in this process, so some youth get valuable computer formatting experience. I’m not sure if this is still the plan or how it will work out, but that’s the idea- a newspaper for youth, written and formatted by the youth themselves.