Bahoneza – Kinyarwanda, Rwanda Welfare, Social Welfare, Rwanda People, Nutrition and Diet, Rwanda Habitat, Living in Kigali

Parents have to take the first step in eliminating kwashiorkor in their children by minding their children’s nutrition, the governor of Northern Province of Rwanda Aime Bosenibamwe said.

The governor took time to have a discussion with local people after joining them in the community work on Tuesday the 12^th.Feb.2013 in Muko sector in Musanze district that was done on the banks of Susa River.

Governor Aime Bosenibamwe in community work

Susa River is commonly known for over flooding and destroying people’s crops and properties during the rainy season.

The governor advised people in this area to live in the allocated settlement village, to start saving in Savings and Credits Cooperative (SACCO) and parents to pay attention to their children nutrition and eradicate kwashiorkor and malnutrition.

The governor also visited Hugukirwa cooperative that makes seeds for banana trees of which he asked them to multiply these seeds to be accessed by many people.  Residents of Muko sector proved to the governor how their sector is ruled by good governance as it is no longer among the poorest sector and doing well economically.

Residents of this sector also shared with the governor on their crop harvest as a sign of stability due to good governance and enough security. Residents were asked to work hard towards development of Rwanda starting with the village.

The community work done in Muko sector in Musanze district is one of the many projects and actions being done in the month of good governance program.

A sixty (60) year elderly man François Xavier Habiyakare, a residence of Tabagwe sector- Nyagatare District is reported to provide milk among his neighbours in a move to join the Government in the war against malnutrition; a social development he is proud of.

The old man was given a cow in local health advisors programme called “Gira inka Mujyanama. According to the cooperative Habiyakare was given an expectant cow that is now giving him about 10 litres of milk a day of which he sells 2 litres and the remaining 8 litres is distributed among the neighbours to fight malnutrition and kwashiorkor among the children.

During the celebration of the achievements of the health advisors of Tabagwe sector on the 31stAug.2012, Habiyakare gave them an example of a woman who recently gave birth in their village and he promised to provide them with one litre of milk per day.

Since this cow is milked 5 litres in the morning and 5 in the night, Habiyakare gives the morning milk to children, who bring grasses to the cow and for the evening and the milk in the evening he sells the 2 litres and remains with 3 litres for his family of 8 members.

He is grateful for this cow for providing good health to his family and his neighbours and he was able to get the 24.000francs to pay for mutuelle de santé medical insurance for all members of his family thanks to this cow.

Apart from improving the social welfare of his family members and his neighbours and being able to pay for the medical insurance of his family, Habiyakare says that this cow has boosted his farming production.

With the manure the cow provides, his production has increased tr4emendously as in the garden he used to get 1sack of maize production, he was able to harvest 5 sacks of maize production this time after using manure. Habiyakare intends to take good care of this cow to make other small projects that can develop him.

Social affairs officials in sectors of Southern Province have vowed to reduce the number of children raised in orphanages following the recent discovery that some have parents.

Some children are found abandoned by parents who are poor so that able people can raise them, who stay near watching them grow silently.

Other children in orphanages are street children, who run away from their homes because of lack of food or family wrangles.

Social affairs have decided to sensitize parents to care for all children as their own, to get married before the law and to communicate because insufficient communication results into conflicts that force children from home.

Family planning issues will be addressed to the parents so that poverty does not make parents fail to care for the children they bore, Officials assert.

Southern province sector leaders will encourage parents to start small income generating projects as a way of fighting poverty.

In order to solve children problems early, sector officials have promised to introduce children programs where they meet and talk about their problems.

This program will help the leaders to know what to ask of parents so that children enjoy being home with parents than running away to suffer on streets.

About 30 street children in Nyamagabe District streets will be taken back to their families and those without families are expected to be adopted.

This was said in the International African Child celebrations in Uwinkingi sector in Nyamagabe District June.2012.

As all children have rights to live, to have names, families, nationality, a right to speech and medical services, street children don’t have any right to the above like other children.

Apart from putting these children in families, the Nyamagabe district administrative council is going to make sensitization calling upon parents to avoid family conflicts since they are the major causes that push children to the streets.

Emile Byiringiro the vice mayor of Nyamagabe district for social affairs said that this sensitization will also call upon parents to practice family planning. In this celebration, awards and certificates of appreciation were given to parents that adopted children into their families.

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 arent 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.

Police have noted that there cannot be maximum security in the country with the increasing family conflicts at present.

In a statement by Rwanda national Police (RNP) said that though it is its mission to make people living in Rwanda feel safe, involved and reassured, this mission cannot be achieved where family conflicts are becoming a major problem to security and threaten welfare of Rwandan families.

“Police has to play a major role to address these concerns and it requires full participation of the public. As a part of the community, Police is committed to work together with local leaders to resolve this serious problem that exist within the Rwandan social fabric,” states the statement.

The Police called for eradication of domestic and gender based violence for the better living of Rwandan families and said that these crimes violate human rights and are a big challenge to public safety and socio-economic development.

“In most cases the most vulnerable people such as children and women are the victims of such conflicts. They need protection and advocacy from their families as well as us,” they said.

Given the consequences brought about by family conflicts, Police has taken a proactive stance in dealing with the issue.

This has been accomplished through awareness campaigns and calling on the public to give timely information regarding any violent incidence that may arise from family conflicts which helps the Police to intervene at the right time and prevent crime.

Police has also time and again called on families in wrangles to seek arbitration from competent courts or conciliators before their disputes turn into serious criminal activities.

Police is collaborates with other security organs, local authorities, the civil society and the general public to combat domestic and gender based violence. They work hand in hand to deal with family conflict through Community Policing and information sharing.

Police has already established a cordial relationship with the public and there is a growing awareness that community involvement in crime prevention is essential to preserve security and prevent crimes.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Rose Mukantabana

The issue of orphanages has yet again come up after discovering that children in orphanages undergo difficult lives.

The problem was once again highlighted this week during a brainstorming session by Chamber of Deputies.

The standing committee on social affairs had earlier this year presented to the House its findings on a previous study that highlighted the problems affecting orphanages and homes of citizens with special needs countrywide.

The MPs want these children to be adopted by families so that they can get the chance to grow in a family environment and orphanages phased out.

Speaker Rose Mukantabana expressed confusion over why children or the elderly should be left to care about themselves independently.

“The problem of these children was linked with that of the elderly. Why are the country’s children taking care of themselves while we are here? What about those with parents yet they are out on the streets? And, what about these parents who continue to produce children that they cannot ably care for?” the Speaker posed, as she addressed the Assembly.

“The problems include orphanages which take in a higher number of children than they can support. Children in these orphanages have poor standards of living, unqualified staff in orphanages, and orphanages that accept children who actually have parents,” said MP Esperance Mwiza, the Chairperson of the committee.

Zaina Nyiramatama, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Children (NCC), noted that their research indicates that there are 33 recognised orphanages in the country with 3, 153 orphans, 55 percent boys. Nine of the orphanages are in Kigali.

According to reasons for the mounting numbers of homeless children,include the deaths of both parents, death of a mothers, poverty and mental disorders.

She stressed that orphanages are not the ideal place to bring up children as they are deprived of a normal upbringing due to issues that include lack of proper parental care, poor feeding, and normal family love and happiness.

Orphans of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis living under a family called Abatazima Family in Bugesera district voluntarily repaired a home for a 90 year old lady who survived the genocide too.

Elizabeth Mukangango a resident of Kayenzi village, Cyugaro Cell, Ntarama Sector in Bugesera is 90 years old and all her family was murdered living her to live alone. During the Genocide she hid in the Swampy lands of Ntarama Sector but was unlucky as she was then found by the Hutu militias who badly injured her.

In the Genocide’s aftermath, the government of Rwanda built a house for Mukangango as hers had been demolished by the militias and she was also hospitalized for more than half a year to cure.

As part of the mourning period, the Abatazima family decided to give Mukangango a hand in renovating her house that had started cracking and leaking.

One hundred  couples  who have been married illegally this Friday 09/03/2012 in different sectors of rwamagana district  of the southern province of Rwanda made the ‘until death do us apart’ vow in a mass-wedding ceremony.

The couples said that having tied the knot and married like many other marriages accepted by law will help then sort out several problems they have been encountering in the homes.

“We have been together for 15 years and have 5children , my hasband would see me as  a harlot but now we’re going to live happily.”  Said nzamwitakuze dativa  one of the 100 couples that tied the knot in mwurire sector , rwamagana district .

They were greeted by family, friends, and local leaders who came to share in the festivities. The couples were smart and happy with a lot of smiles.

After the ceremony which was conducted by the sector leader, the groups left in pairs to celebrate the day with families and friends.

Olivier sebatware, the Executive Secretary of mwurire sector, said the event is a milestone in the area during this month dedicated to the family adding that their target is to see at least 300 families tying knot by the end of this month.

The Executive Secretary noted that legal marriages will help address domestic conflicts and violence.

“Legal marriage gives women and children rights on property and addresses the issue of polygamy among men.” He said.

Health officials in Rulindo district have vowed to fight the continuing pregnancy problem in high schools which disrupts studies of teenage girls and their general livelihood.

Gato F, in charge of AIDS control.

The disclosure was made this Tuesday 21/02/2012 by Gato Fredrick in charge of Aids control while addressing a one day meeting on social wellbeing of Rulindo residents.

He revealed that teenage pregnancies are not only a burden to the bearers but also to the family and the country in general, “ when a girl gets pregnant while at school , it discourages her hope and her future life and also causes burden to her family and the country .” said Gato.

Mr.Gato went on to say that through pregnancies most of teenage girls are likely to acquire HIV/Aids which he said to be the most worrying epidemic that hinders the countries development.

Parents and all responsible citizens were urged to be committed in the fight against teenage pregnancies saying that teenagers are the future of Rwanda.

According to the recent research, statistics indicate that at least 14 young girls got pregnant both in high and the 12 years basic education last year.

Jean D’ Amour  , a district official in charge of health said that most cases related to pregnancies and sexual affairs were found to be common in day scholars hence urging parents and authorities to be alert making sure that students reach at school on time as well as a safe and timely back home.