Gabiro, 05 August 2018
President Kagame today presided over the official closing of the 11th edition of Itorero Indangamirwa, a civic training programme for youth.
Held at the Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro, Indangamirwa XI started on 29 June 2018 and brought together 569 trainees of whom 138 came from the Rwandan Community Abroad. The remainder of participants are Rwandan residents.
Addressing Indangamirwa graduates, President Kagame pointed out that the essence of Itorero comes from Rwandan cultural traditions whereby the country invests in every citizen to ensure that they become useful members of the society.
“The training you received to work together in harmony was not only about military drills but it is also about your daily tasks and your mindset. You see the good and the bad in different places where you live. We want you to take the good and use it to build yourself and your nation. Learn from the bad to protect yourself and your country from it,” President Kagame said.
Trainees from the Rwandan Community Abroad came from 20 countries across the world, namely Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, DRC, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mauritius, Poland, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, UK, USA, and Denmark.
Over the course of five weeks, Indangamirwa XI trainees learned basic military training, intelligence and counterterrorism, and received political education where they studied the country’s history and discussed the National Strategy for Transformation. The trainees also conducted study tours to different places across the country.
Since 2008, Itorero Indangamirwa has seen 2,601 youths trained. The current intake raises the number of Indangamirwa graduates to 3,169.