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This comes to support Girinka Program also known as ‘One Cow Per Poor Family’.

The program initiated in 2016 by the Government of Rwanda, seeks to among other things, tackle poverty and malnutrition by giving cows to the poorest families in the community.

While handing-over the cows, Ambassador of Israel to Rwanda, Dr. Ron Adam applauded the good and special relations between Israel and Rwanda, and went on to say that the initiative of donating cows aims at improving the welfare of the most vulnerable.

“The State of Israel is happy to support this good program of Girinka, initiated by the Government of Rwanda. Burera is the fourth District where we have donated 20 cows respectively, and we are glad that these cows are helping beneficiaries to improve their standards of living,” he said.

He added: “This is a good and sustainable way of eradicating poverty among the less privileged, because the benefits of these cows are cross-cutting. Moreover, many other families end up benefitting as well.”

According to Girinka Program, a poor family receives a heifer, raises it and when she gives birth, the first female calf is given to another poor family and the process continues.

So far, the Embassy of Israel in Rwanda has donated a total of 80 cows in four districts, namely Nyamasheke, Gisagara, Rulindo and Burera districts.

Meanwhile, according to Marie Chantal Uwanyirigira, the Mayor of Burera District, the 20 cows come to complement to existing government efforts to improve citizens’ social welfare.

“We appreciate this support from Israel. This complements different initiatives we have put in place to eradicate poverty and fight malnutrition among children. We shall make sure that the beneficiaries take good care of the cows, and give first female calves to their neighbors who are also in need of them,” she explained.

Burera District is one of the districts whose economy mainly relies on agriculture. So far, under the Girinka Program, around 18,000 families in Burera district received cows.

{{Beneficiaries hail the support}}

Yvonne Dukuzumuremyi, a mother of two children who is among the 20 families that benefitted from the donation, appreciated the support.

“I am very grateful for this cow. Going forward, my two children will get milk whenever they want, and I will also have manure and therefore increase my harvest,” she said.

This was also emphasized by one Emmanuel Mfukuye, a father of five.

He said: “I was struggling to pay health insurance and school fees for my children, but with this cow I will get milk for my family and sell part of it to get money that will help me and my family to make a better living.”

GasMeth Energy Ltd is a local Rwandan company which will run the gas extraction and processing project worth US$530 million.

It was awarded a 25-year Concession Agreement by the Government of Rwanda to extract methane gas from the deep, Methane-rich waters of Lake Kivu in Karongi district, Western Province.

The plant will be built in Bwishyura Sector of Karongi District, Eastern Province.

The groundbreaking ceremony held on Thursday 18th August 2022, was also attended by the CEO of GasMeth Ltd, Stephen Tierney along with government officials including the Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Ernest Nsabimana; the Minister of Local Government, Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi and the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) among others.

The plant is expected to address shortages of cooking gas which has become an issue of global concern.

The project which kicked off today aims to provide a long-term, environmentally friendly, affordable source of domestically produced gas.

It includes producing the gas (held in solution in the water), processing it on barges tethered in the lake, piping it to shore, compressing it, and distributing it as Compressed Natural Gas (“CNG”) within Rwanda.

The CNG will replace other fuels on the market such as; gasoline, diesel fuel, peat, coal, wood and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The gas will be used primarily in Rwanda’s transportation, industrial, household, and power generation sectors and, eventually, for export.

Commenting on the start of the construction phase, Gasmeth CEO Stephen Tierney said expressed delight for the project’s progress and considered the ground-breaking ceremony as a step closer to realizing the company’s plans ‘for supply of a cleaner self-sufficient energy source for Rwandans’.

In his remarks, Premier Ngirente commended Gasmeth for partnering with the Government of Rwanda in undertaking the important project for Rwanda.

In order to get the value stored in the methane gas, Premier Ngirente revealed, the Government of Rwanda welcomed Gasmeth project aimed at extracting natural gas directly from Lake Kivu, process and distribute it throughout Rwanda.

He underscored that the ‘strategic project’ will create a level of energy independence for Rwanda removing the dependency on imported energy sources.

“Indeed, projects and partnerships like these play an important role in our journey towards domestic energy security,” he noted.

In Rwanda, the total access to electricity stands at 71.92%, whereby 50.61% of all households are connected to the national grid, as of May 2022.

This plant is expected to provide a new energy source for domestic use, which will bring Rwanda closer to the goal of 100% access to energy by 2024.

Among others, Premier Ngirente revealed that the use of natural gas will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by releasing less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than other fossil fuels, in line with the country’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience Programme.

“This new source of energy will help reduce usage of firewood where national dependency level is over 85% despite strong efforts to reduce this. It will also improve the health and safety dangers related to possible gas eruptions,” he stated.

“The Government of Rwanda welcomes the fact that developers of this project wish to use the gas to replace fuel in vehicles, cooking in schools and other government institutions. This will address the issue of availability and affordability of gas in Rwanda,” added Dr. Ngirente.

The groundbreaking is seen as a testament to the enabling environment, the Government of Rwanda has put in place to encourage investments and private sector participation.

The latter includes incentives and encouraging initiatives put in place to promote investment in the renewable energies.

Premier Ngirente has also thanked all of the people who played a role in putting the project together from the Gasmeth side, the local communities, public sector among others and reiterated Rwanda’s commitment to collaborating with Gasmeth for implementation of the project.

Speaking at the event, RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi said that Rwanda is on a journey of transformation and prosperity ‘and looking for investments that are inclusive, sustainable and of good quality’.

She also welcomed the launch of the project expected to fulfil all these objectives.

{{About Gasmeth Energy Ltd}}

Gasmeth Energy Ltd is a Rwandan company focused on the processing and delivery of the Lake Kivu compressed natural gas(CNG) project. This project is expected to provide an abundant source of domestically produced gas to transform the Rwandan economy, breaking the dependence on importation of fuels. It will form the basis for attracting all new inward investment and a large step towards a green affordable future.

His death has been confirmed to IGIHE by Junior, the brother of the deceased who is also a movie interpreter. “He died around 11:30 a.m. in South Africa where he has been receiving treatment,” he said.

His death is announced in less than a day following the demise of singer Yvan Buravan who breathed the last in India.

Yanga went to South Africa in April this year. At the time, he was accompanying his children to visit their mother who works there.

Arriving in the country, he caught a disease that his life deteriorated until he breathed the last on 17th August 2022.

Yanga started his career as a film interpreter at the age of 17 while he was a secondary school student.

He once told IGIHE that he drew inspiration at early age from neighbours who forced their meal upon the job when his family lived in Uganda.

Interpreting movies into Kinyarwanda earned him huge returns and popularity.

He however retired from the business between 2012-2013 realizing that movie interpretation was no longer lucrative enough.

Yanga will be remembered as one of pioneers of film interpretation in Rwanda.

In 2018, Yanga was diagnosed with a stomach abscess which resulted into cancer. After learning about his critical condition, Yanga felt shocked and leaned on God.

He sought assistance from pastors to pray for him and later announced that he miraculously healed from stomach cancer without undergoing surgery.

Since then, he committed to serve God for the rest of his life. Yanga had established a movie hall dubbed ‘The One Film Production’.