HEY! student writer Eunice Sng was among budding reporters from NTU who went to Rwanda, an East African nation, to cover stories ranging from athletes’ dreams to the rising fashion industry. She writes about the experience

by Eunice Sng

The land of 1,000 hills. Mountain gorillas. Genocide. This is what comes to mind when one thinks of Rwanda – a small African country when compared to its neighbours, but much larger than Singapore, rich with wildlife, minerals and a dark past.

It was the destination for 13 journalism students taking the Going Overseas for Advanced Reporting module at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, who went with their tutors to the Rwandan capital Kigali for almost two weeks. 

The budding reporters worked on stories, photographs and videos on fintech, fashion, coffee, hospitals, kung fu, football and more. 

Photo: Samuel He

Chong Xin Wei and Bernadette Toh (far right), with Mr Yu Qing Hong and his 10-year-old daughter, Umugwaneza Ange Lana Teta. The newsmakers feature in another classmate’s story on interracial families. 

ON THE GROUND

Final-year student reporter Bryan Kow, 24, says: “I was given a lot of freedom to work on my stories. I think being thrown into the deep end really taught me how to be resilient and what it means to be a journalist.”

For most students, it was their first time reporting overseas, and they had to navigate language barriers, cultural differences and working with people from less privileged backgrounds.

“I learnt more about the ethics of journalism. We couldn’t just photograph something as it was, but we had to think carefully about the impact of showing certain sides of their life,” says visuals editor Ryan Chiong, who photographed farmers and their families in the rural villages outside Kigali. 

Ivy Chok (left) filming an interview with a cobbler at the Kimisagara neighbourhood in Kigali for her documentary.

Photo: Samuel He

RWANDA ON THE RISE

Rwanda was chosen as this year’s destination by journalism tutors Hedwig Alfred and Samuel He after hearing more than one speech by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was in Rwanda last year, calling on Singapore-based businesses to consider setting up shop there. 

The 1994 genocide of the Tutsis, which claimed more than half a million lives, is remembered everywhere in Rwanda. Its people cannot forget that painful part of their history but have gone on to rebuild a new home for all. 

The country has moved from strength to strength economically and politically, and though small compared to its neighbours, is markedly clean and safe. Some people describe Rwanda as the Singapore of Africa.

ALMOST STRANDED

The journalism students had to get used to travelling long distances to get to people they wanted to interview in the highlands and farmlands of Rwanda. 

Ivy Chok, 22, got stuck at night near the Volcanoes National Park while working on a story about farmers living near wildlife. The driver’s car key broke in the ignition.

“We were in the middle of nowhere. My phone did not have data, it was getting colder and pitch black, and we did not know what to do,” she says.

Eventually, a passing truck gave them a mechanic’s number. The man arrived to fix the lock and Ivy returned safely to Kigali by 11pm, two hours later than planned.

ADAPT AND LEARN

The students also had to learn to work with translators. A few newsmakers could only speak Kinyarwanda, one of Rwanda’s national languages, so translators had to accompany the students for interviews. 

Aditi Bharade, 22, said students are spoilt in Singapore because they can easily reach people through email and text messages.

“But being there really taught me to go back to the basics of journalism, such as finding people on the ground rather than relying on social media to get information I needed.”

Every night, the students met with the tutors to discuss their progress and to plan the next day’s activities. The tutors often joined the students on their assignments too.

Ms Alfred, the school’s journalism department lead, said the students did well in their new environment.

“I was impressed at how they adapted to the way things work in Kigali and its outskirts, how they jumped on motorcycles to get from place to place and got Rwandans to talk to the foreigners from Singapore,” she says.

Now back home, the students’ stories are completed and some have been published in The Straits Times, The Business Times, tabla! and South China Morning Post. 

Print editor Ervin Ang, 24, says: “Although we were delivering only two to three articles each, there was a lot of work behind the scenes. But on the good side, the experience you get is once in a lifetime.”

The class treated newsmakers to a hearty dinner at Khana Khazana Kiyovu, an Indian restaurant, on the second last night of the trip. 

Photo: Ryan Chiong

This story was published in the Sep-Oct 2023 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.