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  • Nyabihu: Measures taken to promote healthy eating

    To maintain hygiene and eat balanced foods, a program to promote health sector was established and measures to prevent malnutrition and poor hygiene related diseases were taken.

    Residents have been sensitized to have kitchen gardens and health officials were trained to better protect the lives of residents.

    A school “agakono k’umudugudu” throughout 473 sectors of Nyabihu was set up where parents learn how to prepare balanced diet, explains Pierre Dusenge in charge of health in Nyabihu district.

    Dusenge reveals that 316 kitchen gardens were made to help parents get fresh vegetables rich in vitamins to prepare balanced foods and fight malnutrition.

    On children development program, children in 12 sectors of the district are weighed to record the weight and their physical growth is monitored by 1792 community health workers, Dusenge denotes

    Pierre Dusenge adds that Directors of health centre and Nyabihu district administration signed performance contracts to care about the health of the residents and to do their work efficiently.

  • Ruhango: Government Requested for More Support on Health Insurance

    The local mediators that work in Ruhango sector in Ruhango district asked the government to increase the number of cards for their medical insurance (Mituelle de santé) .

    These mediators say that the government had agreed to give them the insurance for 5 people and now they find that 5 are not enough because sometimes one mediator has a family of more than 5 people as Yohana Nyaminani a mediator in Gikoma cell said.

    They say that sometimes when their family members fall sick, they fail to go to the health centers yet the government had agreed to give them medical insurance. They spend the whole time solving people’s cases which are many and especially about inheritance and land and fail to work for themselves.

    “we don’t get enough time to care our for our family issues and much less to work for money to buy medical insurances for our our families.” said yo Bahoneza

    Innocent Habimana a worker in the Ministry of Justice that connects mediators and the local people in Ruhango district said that mediators are given cards for 3 children and their parents and they usually come on time.

    He promised to advocate for these mediators so as to be given more medical insurance cards so that they continue doing their work which is as i9mportant in solving people’s problems.

  • Cyamburara Residents Cry Out for Health Support

    Residents from Cyamburara cell, Murundi sector in Kayonza district complain to have no toilets due to water from underground that fills their houses and toilets causing destruction.

    Kalisa, Cyamburara resident revealed to us: “When you want to visit the toilet, you sit near the toilet and after use a stick to push them into the water.”

    Kalisa explains that doing their business near the toilet is due to the fear that it might collapse and claim the life of the one using it. However, some residents dig shallow holes to use as toilets and cover them after.

    They have been given water purifier Sur’Eau, and are asked to use it and clean water so as to prevent poor hygiene diseases.

    Although residents confirm that they use water from the dams for home use and drinking, it is worrying is that; underground water which fills toilets and houses flow to the dams which they say is very dangerous to their health.

    Residents request the local leadership to try and shift them to a safe place and leave the Cyamburara for agricultural activities.

    Claude Murekezi, executive secretary for Murundi sector, says that advocacy was made but the final decision is waited upon from the higher authorities.

  • Club Tuseme fights against poor eating habits in Musaza sector

    Kirehe District based Club namely “Tuseme club” has fought against poor eating habits in Gasarambwayi cell in Musaza sector through kitchen gardens for the residents and making people understand the importance of these gardens.

    Vincent de Paul the executive secretary of Gasarambwayi cell said that now people understand the importance of the garden kitchen and thanks to Tuseme club which sensitized people about them and built for those who didn’t have them.

    He went on to say that with the help of health advisors, Tuseme club taught people on how to make a nutritious meal in a way of fighting poor eating habits in this cell.

    Vincent de Paul said that there were about 23 children who were suffering from malnutrition but because of Tuseme club and health advisors who taught people on how to prepare well a meal, these children are well and there is no more malnutrition in this cell.

    He said that they have goats which are milked for these children so as to feed them well. The district gave financial support to Tuseme club with Rwf500, 000 so as to continue fighting against poor eating habits in Musaza sector.

  • Bharti Airtel builds environmentally friendly mobile network

    An Indian Telecommunication company (Bharti Airtel) has announced significant milestones in its endeavour to build a ‘green’ environment friendly mobile network (wind power) intending to reduce its carbon footprint in Africa.

    As part of its commitment to the environment, the company has undertaken a series of initiatives that are starting to deliver tangible results in conserving environment while developing technology in communications.

    The Company revealed that over last one year, it has reduced the number of telecom sites running solely on diesel by more than 50 percent by overcoming the challenge of lack of grid connectivity through use of innovative models such as Hybrid Battery Bank.

    By 2013, the Company aims to completely eradicate the constant use of diesel to power its network. This means no telecom site of the company will rely solely on diesel power 24 hours a day.

    Hybrid Battery Banks collect the excess energy produced by the diesel powered generator in a battery that powers the site once the generator is switched off. This has helped reduce the use of diesel by up to 14 hours a day. Close to 60percent of Bharti Airtel’s telecom sites in Africa are now powered using the Hybrid model resulting in major reduction in emissions and also operating costs for the company.

    The Company is targeting over 70percent of all its sites to be powered by the Hybrid model by end of 2013. It added that, the work is targeting on increasing the use of solar and wind power to power its telecom sites.

  • Kagame is an Advocate of Social Media Use for Efficient Governance

    Whereas most people in their over 40 years of age have often found difficulty coping with Internet’s social media,Rwandan President Paul Kagame has gone beyond utilizing them to encouraging his team in utilizing the media for efficient governance.

    “In the case of Rwanda, we have instituted policies where our citizens can utilize social media to access their leaders.” President Kagame said at the Broadband Commission’s Youth forum in Kigali late last year 2011.

    If you have always wished to express your views to the president of the republic of Rwanda and you have never had the chance to, then through his actual Facebook and Twitter accounts, you should be rest assured that your message will get to him.

    Some of the beneficiaries of such head of state’s presence on facebook and twitter includes Rwandan university students who posed their monthly stipend questions and received answers through it, not to mention Arsenal football fans’ clarifications from the President’s Twitter account about the Sun’s article titled “Rwanda Leader: Wenger must go”.

    Subsequently we have seen each district of Rwanda create a webpage with links to the social media not to mention the minister of health Dr. Agnes Binagwaho’s “Monday’s with the minister on twitter”.

  • Uganda Voted the Best Place to Visit in 2012

    Uganda Voted the Best Place to Visit in 2012

    The Lonely Planet has voted the little known Uganda as the number one travel destination to visit in 2012. Uganda that emerged the top among the Best 10 Travel Destinations to be visited in 2012 is home to more than half of the few remaining mountain gorillas in the world. The country that was in the past known with the past dicatorship of Idi Amin Dada, is a growing tourism destination with much to see and do. From gorilla safaris that feature gorilla tracking in the natural tropical rainforests of Bwindi and Mgahinga to  wildlife tours in its national parks, this beautiful and natural country has much to see!

    The Lonely Planet which is the one of the best and largest World travel guide and media publisher in the world, voted Uganda over many other travel destinations that included Myanmar, Ukraine, Jordan, Denmark, Bhutan, Cuba, New Caledonia, Taiwan and Switzerland that followed in that order.

    On the criteria of choosing the top travel destinations for 2012, a team from Lonely Planet together with other bloggers and expert travelers came up with this list of the top ten countries to be visited by tourists for the year 2012. In choosing the best destinations, many factors were considered that include attractiveness, topicality, excitement, value and that special X-factor etc.

    For more information about Uganda and its tourist attractions visit the Uganda Tourism Info, a portal with all the best places and things to see in the country.

  • Rwanda to offer Hollywood like Multimedia Lessons

    Glittering Macintosh desktops, Nikon cameras and many other electronic systems are some of the materials you will see at Kigali’s new multimedia institution called Africa Digital Multimedia Academy (ADMA) located in Kigali town.

    According to Christopher Marler, ADMA’s Project Manager, he says that “Given a planning period of about 2 years, the government of Rwanda in partnership with multimedia Experts from USA, they have managed to gather high quality equipment necessary to provide products of the Hollywood standard.”

    Marler who is a senior vice president of a California based multimedia company named PixelCorps, says that ADMA is to offer as far as five different levels of multimedia professional courses.
    “We have an intake of 20 students who are on level 1 given the fact they are people who have been exercising a profession in the multimedia industry.” Explains the Multimedia Expert Marler
    “Rwanda government has for the past years invested in development of ICT as evidenced by fibre optic cables inter-linking all Rwandan districts, thus given the ICT infrastructure and ADMA’s experts, this school guarantees high quality multimedia skills” said the Director General of Workforce Development Authority WDA Gasana Jerome.

    The school is expected to begin offering studies on 5th March 2012, with 20 students enrolled who will later be joined by another bunch of 30students continuously every 3 months till a total of 100 students is reached required academic year.

  • No Strings attached to CMU-R Scholarships, says Kayonga William

    No Strings attached to CMU-R Scholarships, says Kayonga William

    The morning of 02 March 2012 brought good news to East Africans who are technology savvy as the government of Rwanda officially announced its offer of a 50% scholarship for tuition fees to all EAC students eligible of studying at Carnegie Mellon University- Rwanda.

    Following this program’s unusualness as regards most of African settings’ systems, skeptics questioned how an African government like Rwanda’s would be willing to offer 50% scholarship without attached strings (like signing side contracts with beneficiaries of the scholarships to work in Rwanda for a number of years before being free) .

    “There are no strings are attached, the government of Rwanda will only sponsor the 50% tuition fee whereas Carnegie Mellon University-Rwanda will handle admission, registration, graduation and all the other processes as their Pittsburg main campus does.” Said the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of East African Community, Ambassador William Kayonga at a press conference.

    Professor Bruce Krogh, Director of Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda assured that CMU-R is to offer a learning environment and academic qualifications similar to those offered by the CMU main campus in Pittsburg.

    “We are convinced that the technological breakthroughs that are going to be the foundations of the ICT industry in Africa will come from inventors and entrepreneurs who work in Africa and understand the technological challenges and needs that are unique to Africa.” Said Professor Krogh

    Government of Rwanda continues to heavily invest in education especially in the ICT sector as evidenced by the current scholarships of master’s in communication at KIST and Hollywood like Multimedia Lessons at Africa Digital Multimedia Academy.

  • Kitoko Performs at Ange Kagame’s Birthday Party

    Renowned Rwandan Afro-beat singer Kitoko, performed at Ange Kagame’s birthday party. The party, which was held as a private event, had an elite guest list, comprising of the who’s who in Rwanda.Kitoko’s performance was the highlight of the event. The singer stole the show with him crooning many of his  hit numbers, including his popular ‘You’. The audience were enthralled by his performance.The crooner who shot to fame with his recent performances, is also billed to steal the show at the Rwanda Day 2011.