{Some women from Gikonko sector, Gisagara district have expressed concern over continued domestic violence visited upon them by their husbands, precipitated by abuse of illicit brews and other drugs.}
This was revealed by women that IGIHE met in Gikonko center.
“My husband started beating me with a big stick when he returned home recently at dusk. He was drunk. He asked me when food would be cooked and kept beating me until neighbors intervened,” said Mukarugina.
“Husbands’ wrongdoing is a result of taking illicit brews. For instance, many women in our village are used to be beaten whenever men return home drunk,” added another woman called Musabe.
The drug abuse also breeds insecurity.
The executive secretary of Gikonko sector, Ignace Kayumba said that they mobilize citizens to keep away from drug abuse even though the matter has not yet been solved. “Illicit brews and gins are not yet eradicated as we want. Else the matter of domestic violence exists among households. We have been requesting spouses to peacefully resolve family conflicts,” he said.
{Mukamana Laurence, a 58-year old woman from Karihira village, Gihembe cell, of Kageyo sector from Gicumbi district has two stories to her life; a story of hopelessness and swimming into sweeping poverty and another story of progress and living a dignified life . She has had a hard life. Now she has a good life. She has been living with HIV/AIDS and as a widow since 1994. Mukamana has three children of who one has completed secondary school.}
She lived a life of pauperism as she could hardly find decent means of fending for her family.
But she kept on hoping against hope. That little flicker of hope got nurtured when she was selected among beneficiaries of Girinka program in 2006.
“Whoever has the time-honoured trait of determination is bound to succeed and attain the goals of her aspirations. I remember hard conditions I experienced in the past. After getting ARV therapy, I would go to beg, to be able to get a bite, simply for life’s survival. However, the situation has changed. When I got the cow, I started drinking milk in good and satisfactory portions. As a sickly person who was formerly frail and waiting to die, I regained strength, a good physical appearance and above all a flooding amount of hope. It was then that I started thinking of a project from which I could earn and support my family survival,” she narrates with a burning glow of confidence splashed over her aging face.
With the use of cow droppings as manure, she explains, the yields from her not so expansive garden increased. And with drinking milk on a regular basis and in desired quantities, her health sprouted and her formerly emaciated body blossomed into a new state. The worries about HIV/AIDS were subdued. She was now in company of a good income from the milk and the garden, and a proud woman affording a balanced diet.
Mukamana can now earn Rwf 15,000 every week from her garden selling fruits and vegetables. She says she preferred growing fruits and vegetables to other crops that would not take her much strength as a person living with HIV/AIDS.
She has exploited her garden in which she planted to the extent that she has managed to build a beautiful house of three bedrooms and a sitting room worth Rwf 2,000,000.
Mukamana explains that she, as usual, takes anti retroviral drugs and is able to feed and support her children.
Talking to IGIHE, ,Mukamana said that she wants to meet President Paul Kagame face to face to voice her appreciation over his good leadership that has recognized the vulnerable and supported them from the abyss of death to becoming millionaires like her.
“I have been hearing president Kagame on radio but I want to meet him. His Girinka program uplifted me from poverty, hopelessness and near death. I would have died but you can see how healthy I am. No one can tell from mere looking that I am HIV positive,” narrates Mukamana.
{{Girinka, the silver bullet }}
The Girinka Munyarwanda program was launched in 2006 by President Paul Kagame as an effort to support poor families get out of extreme poverty and hunger. The program is expected to be completed in 2017 where 350,000 poor families will have got cows.
A survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources in 2014/2015 indicates that Rwandese livelihoods were transformed through Girinka program.
Milk production has increased between 2009-2010 to 333,727 liters, a 20% increase from the previous period before the program.
Farmyard manure in Ngoma district is said to have increased crop production of Girinka beneficiaries by 90%. Others have used cow dung to construct biogas facilities, eliminated nutritional deficiencies, fed into unity and reconciliation as well as improved access to medical insurance and education.
{Rwanda is among countries committed to reduce the number of malaria deaths through prevention mechanisms including the mobilization of citizens to use mosquito nets among other strategies.}
The government of Rwanda has revealed a plan to launch an industry manufacturing mosquito nets inside the country as a move to cut prices spent on mosquito nets imports.
In an interview with IGIHE, Ruzibiza Alex the Director General in charge of Industry SMEs Development at MINICOM said that establishing a mosquito net manufacturing plant is embedded in the government’s wide plan of promoting local products to cut imports expenses.
“It is a general idea going beyond the manufacture of mosquito nets since we want to develop other Made in Rwanda products like construction materials among others. There is no need to keep importing products that we would be able to make in Rwanda,” he said.
He explained that they are seeking through announcements an investor equipped with all requirements who can partner with Rwanda to build the mosquito net industry within a short time.
Ruzibiza assures that the construction of the mosquito net plant has no correlation with Malaria increase adding that the introduction of this plant anticipates increased job opportunities among Rwandans.
The study undertaken by MINICOM indicated that from 2009 to 2013 Rwanda released USD 18,000,000 million on yearly mosquito nets imports.
{Residents of various villages of Karihira, Mayanjye and Nyirabadodo from Kageyo sector of Gicumbi district say that it is three years since Rwanda Energy Group took electricity poles in their vicinities, laid them in heaps but have not yet got electricit}y.
Residents in villages in the vicinity of Gicumbi town say the electricity poles are laid alongside roads and are starting to get wasted since they have been covered by small bushes while small insects continue to gnaw onto them.
“These electricity posts may be stolen. They have been laid alongside roads for long. We have carried these posts from Kageyo road where the truck deposited them hoping to connect electricity to the network. We are disappointed. You can see how they are covered by grasses over staying by road sides for long,” said one resident, Kagimbangabo Aloys.
Another resident who requested anonymity said “We had contributed Rwf 15000 for each household. Our money should have been spent for other purposes.”
Talking to IGIHE, the director of REG in Gicumbi district, Nkundabakuze Fulgence said that the delay of connecting electricity resulted from other projects they were completing.
“We are aware of the matter but the delay is attributed to the fact that we decided to complete other long projects we had already started. I think that in collaboration with the district these villages will be on the list of people to get electricity in 2016/2017 budget,” he said.
{Eight people were been injured in a car accident that took place in Kigina sector of Kirehe district when a truck from Kigali collided with a coaster carrying passengers from Rusumo. They were taken to Kirehe hospital.}
The incident took place around 5:00 pm yesterday when a track driven by Ahamis collided with the Coaster.
The executive secretary of Kigina sector, Iragaba Felix said that seven passengers were injured but the driver was seriously injured. He however said that no one died.
“Even though people from the two trucks which collided were injured, there was no case of death,” he said.
Iragaba said that the car collision resulted from high speed of the track driven by Tanzanian.
He appealed to citizens to be cautious while crossing roads and advised drivers to avoid high speed.
The road from Rusumo to Kigali often experiences accidents mainly resulting from inattention or fatigued drivers.
{Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) has requested civil society organizations which have accessed donations meant to boost their performance to make good use of them for better services and efficiency spelt out in their mandate.}
The call was made yesterday during the opening ceremony of a two-day training of members from 19 civil society organizations.
The CEO of RGB, Prof Shyaka Anastase shared noted that the support delivered to civil society organizations is meant to foster good management of wealth and implementation of projects.
“We want civil society organizations to properly manage the projects under their mandate. Even though they are undergoing restructuring, they have to maximize benefits derived from their activities,” he said.
The 2013 report on performance of civil society organizations indicated that mismanagement and sluggishness are among the challenges faced in implementation of projects and resulted in failure to effectively accomplish duties including advocacy and mobilization.
Some representatives of civil society organizations also attributed the gap in performance to inadequate financial means.
Darius Rutaganira, the coordinator of the Monitoring Implementation of Public Projects in Collectif des Ligues et Association de Défense des Droits de l’Homme au Rwanda (CLADHO) said that they recently received a fund to increase awareness among citizens on their rights unlike the past where they would face financial obstacles.
{Bones of a suspected victim of 1994 genocide against Tutsi have been found in Gataramo village of Rusambu cell in Nyakarenzo sector of Rusizi district.}
The skeleton was found as residents were digging a water canal. Information from Nyakarenzo sector indicates that the bones were found on Sunday March 13th, 2016 around 10:00 am.
“They retrieved bones of a human skeleton while digging a water canal. It is suspected that the retrieved bones are of a genocide victim based on where he was located,” said the executive secretary of Nyakarenzo sector, Nyirangendahimana Matilde.
Matilde explained that residents who suspect that the dead body is of their relative killed during the genocide have been called at Karangiro police station to provide information.
My name is Maureen Ruettgers. I have the honour of being the first Chair of Friends of Imbuto Foundation, an organization established in Boston, Massachusetts, with a mission to support the vision of Imbuto Foundation through networking and fundraising initiatives.
With the 15-year anniversary in full swing, I am excited to reflect on how my family and I became interested in Rwanda, this little country lodged in the heart of Africa, and involved with Imbuto Foundation a few years into its launchby Her Excellency, the First Lady of Rwanda, Mrs. Jeannette Kagame.
From the onset, like so many others, our family knew Rwandans just simply, as special people. Committed, resilient, visionary and dignified, even while facing the immense and daunting task of nation-building. I still vividly remember my first encounter with Rwandan women in 2001, at a Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government forum called Women Waging Peace. A short few years only after the genocide, the extent of their responsibilities and range of expertise, were impressive – Girl Scout leader, hotel owner, health worker, Minister of Gender, journalist, judge and Mayor. In ensuing years, I would reach the same conclusion when working with the Rwandan First Lady and her team.
On her end, my daughter Polly Ruettgers Fields also echoed these thoughts. She had been working in Rwanda with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative and Partners in Health, in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda and the First Lady’s Protection and Care of Families against HIV/AIDS program. Polly often marvelled at Rwanda’s vision and vanguard touch in leading such a comprehensive family health approach, which saved countless lives from the AIDS epidemic.
The beginning of our family’s more than a decade long friendship with the First Lady and Imbuto Foundation, started when she hosted the first meeting of the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) many years ago. As a founding member and then President, her Excellency worked diligently to mobilize resources and gain consensus on priorities.
At the same time, OAFLA’s continental campaign “Treat every child as your own” had picked upmomentum, and the First Lady was advocating for countries to have it customized to their national contexts. As a family, we embraced this initiative and saw an opportunity to support a cause that resonated with us. This opened the door to an enduring and warm relationship that quickly extended to other Imbuto and Rwandan initiatives.
Frequently, I have been asked, “What is Jeannette Kagame really like?” My answer has always been the same: “she is first and foremost a thoughtful and terrific wife and mother. And she never relents on her intent to value the importance of respecting and supporting each and every child as your very own.”
These 15 years are a testament to the unwavering leadership of Mrs Jeannette Kagame. In her role as First Lady, she has shown not only to her country but the world at large, that she is an exemplary leader. As the Chairperson of Imbuto Foundation, she has marked her organization with a spirit of dedication and excellence, which set the tone for the strong and fruitful relationship Imbuto Foundation and Friends of Imbuto have enjoyed over the past few years. As a matter of fact, last year Friends of Imbuto was excited to fund more than 300 scholarships and equip 40 houses built by AVEGA Agahozo for widows and families survivors of the genocide.
The work of Imbuto spans a variety of needs: health, youth empowerment, and the promotion of education, which has become the trademark of Imbuto Foundation and holds a special place in my heart. Over time, more than 6,000 secondary school students have benefited from scholarshipsand over 4,000 girls have been awarded for doing exceedingly well in national examinations. In this month where we celebrate women worldwide, I find it particularly fitting to praise these young girls and Imbuto Foundation’s annual campaigns that value and reward their achievements.
With this message, I wish all of the Imbuto team a happy anniversary for 15 years of incredibly meaningful work. Partnerships and a community of support are critical for Imbuto to meet its goals and continue to expand its mission and reach, so we are happy to have been part of its journey. As a family, we are proud of Imbuto’s role in building a brighter future for Rwanda. It has been a terrific investment and it is my hope that others will be inspired to lend support. We all have the power to initiate positive change.
{Madam Jeannette Kagame will on March 19th, 2016 join Rwandans living in United States in a meeting which will discuss the Diaspora role in Rwanda’s development.}
The meeting is part of celebrations of International Women’s Day organized by Rwandan Diaspora in US (USRD) in collaboration with Rwandan Embassy in Washington DC and the international Rwandans Diaspora.
The meeting was organized after realizing the role of women involvement in governance of Rwanda and USA. It will be an opportunity of sharing ideas on women’ needs about job opportunities, seeking together how to address obstacles affecting them and how to promote women through education while keeping norms of Rwandan culture.
The meeting will also discuss achievements in governance and identify gaps that need to be purged.
{21-year-old gets 15-year punishment after allegedly trying to steal propaganda poster from his hotel.}
North Korea’s highest court has sentenced an American tourist who allegedly attempted to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel to 15 years of hard labour in prison.
Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial Wednesday morning at the North’s Supreme Court. He was charged with subversion.
No further details were immediately available.
Warmbier was arrested in early January as he tried to leave the country after visiting as a tourist with a New Year’s tour group.
In a statement made before his trial, he told a gathering of reporters in Pyongyang he wanted the banner “as a trophy” for the mother of a friend.
North Korea regularly accuses Washington and Seoul of sending spies to overthrow its government to enable the US-backed South Korean government to control the Korean peninsula.
Warmbier was arrested while visiting the country with Young Pioneer Tours, an agency specialising in travel to the North, which is strongly discouraged by the US State Department.
He had been staying at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, which is located on an island on a river that runs through Pyongyang.
