By Eva Ehrlich
Who would have thought that Peace Lab '24 would go viral in Rwanda?! Certainly not me. But let me tell you the story of how it happened.
On our second-to-last day in Kigali we had the honor of meeting with the Ministry of Youth and Arts. We would not be meeting a delegation, no, we were meeting the Minister Dr. Jean Nepo Abdallah Utumatwishima himself. The meeting started with a presentation of the activities of the ministry, with all of us unaware of how significant this meeting would become. We were inspired by all the different events that the government organizes to involve the voices of young people. But also, the challenges for youth in Rwanda were mentioned: mental health, job opportunities, alcohol and drug abuse, and teen pregnancies.
When the floor was opened for discussion, I asked what kind of sexual health reproductive services were available to prevent teen pregnancies in Rwanda. Minister Dr. Utumatwishima answered by returning the question and asking us what was done in our countries to prevent teen pregnancies. I told him how I appreciate how in the Netherlands sex is something that is very openly talked about. 'For example, my mom gifted me condoms for my fifteen birthday', I said. For a second, the room went silent. 'Why did I just say that?', I thought. The minister's reaction took me by surprise. 'Write that down!', he said to his secretary. An open conversation started where we all shared both negative and positive personal experiences with sexual services and sex education; like making sure girls are well-informed about the side effects of contraception, or how boys should be taught that contraceptives are not only the woman's responsibility but a shared one. The minister listened openly and enthusiastically and told his secretary multiple times to write down our words.
I am used to politicians having lots of talk, but little action. Not this time though. The next day, the minister posted a tweet on X saying how a 20-year-old girl from Amsterdam had told him how in Amsterdam we receive contraceptives from our moms for our fifteenth birthdays. He added that he thinks this is a great idea for Rwanda. The tweet has sparked a discussion in Rwanda and now has over half a million (!!) views and you do not need to speak Kinyarwanda to understand that it is being heatedly discussed on X. It has even been posted in an online newspaper! The realization that we had gone viral really kicked in when we were recognized by a Rwandan passenger on our flight back to Brussels. In Anne's words: 'This is big!'
Maybe, just maybe, next year Peace Lab will return to a country where it has become a tradition for girls to be gifted condoms for their birthdays. What we know for sure is that we have started a discussion on using contraceptives as a teenager in a country where this is still considered taboo. It feels good to be able to leave something behind in Kigali as we have taken an incredible number of lessons from Rwanda with us back to Amsterdam.
The flight attendant translating the post for us (notice the disbelief on our faces).
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