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

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.

Gicumbi district in the Northern Province of Rwanda had a target to have supplied clean water to all its residents the beginning of 2012. However, residents in some sectors such as Kageyo still use dirty water.

Kageyo residents still use dirty water

Residents say that lack of alternative forces them to use the available dirty water though they are well aware of the outcomes.

Dancile Mukandamage explained that they use this water for both cooking and drinking adding that sometimes passersby come to bath in the same water they use.

Passersby bath from the water source

The water problem in kageyo has mounted risks and worries of resident contacting dangerous diseases. But all hope is not lost as Gilbert Rubayita in charge of water and sanitation in the district said that the district and EWASA know about the issue adding that a study has been made on how to channel clean water to the area though funds are still low.

He said that though the initiative is bound to take some time due to lack of enough funds, all efforts to solve the problem are being applied. “There is need for patience on the part of residents,” said Rubayita.

Lack of hygiene among children is a problem that needs special attention in Ngoma district, according to officials there. Addressing a meeting with local residents, the mayor of the district Niyotwagira Francois has urged parents to mind the cleanliness of their children. “It’s a pity to see children in torn colorless and dirty torn dresses, “the Mayor noted.    

He said that taking care of children’s hygiene is every parent’s responsibility; therefore, authorities in charge can’t just let it go on.

“You should take care of your children’s cleanliness. Because if you don’t, ypou’re not playing your role as apparent and you’re jeopardizing the future of Rwanda. Everyone should be involved in children’s educating” the mayor stressed.

Some parents pretend that they look dirty because they are farmers but this has nothing to do with farming according to the governor of the eastern province Uwamariya Odette, while she was recently visiting a local cooperative of pineapple growers in Mugesera.