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  • Musanze: parents urged to help in eradicating Kwashiorkor

    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 12th.Feb.2013 in Muko sector in Musanze district that was done on the banks of Susa River.

    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.

  • Rwanda Industries, a Monopoly with Quality Services

    Rwanda Industries Limited, is one the manufacturing factories in Rwanda. It is a company which produces two products- plastic line (jerrycans) and retreads (of old and used tires) and in the latter product, the company is a monopoly producer in Rwanda.

    The jerrycans are produced from petroleum bi- products raw materials imported from the indenters based in Kenya and Uganda – who act as agents for procuring the raw material from oil producing countries such as those in the Gulf.

    For the tire retreading, the raw materials (old tires) are collected from within the local market. The company uses specialized technology and skilled labor to produce these products.

    The factory is owned by Nittin Dabholkar, an Indian investor – who is also the company’s Director General. Like many factories, it is located in Gikondo industrial area (commonly known as Cartier Industriel), along the Rwandex-Sonatube road in Kicukiro district in Kigali city.

    Started in November 2003 and production commenced in May 2004, but the company initially the company started as a plant for re-trading of tires (remolding) and later on added the jerrycan production section.

    “We realized there was a big demand for the jerrycans in Rwanda and chose to include the plastics line in our production,” says Nittin.

    Nittin says that though the company is a monopoly in the tire retread business, there is a lot of competition in the jerrycan business because of four reasons: the margin of production, operations (cost of electricity is high) and cost of production is generally is very high especially in the jerrycan section.

    “Generally we are not really happy with the plastics line, but with the retreads though we are a monopoly, we provide world standards and treat our clients as king; keeping in mind that any day a new competitor can come in to the market, thus we try to keep the clients close and make sure our clients are satisfied with the quality of our products and services,” Nittin says.

    In the retreading section, the company collects old used tires and put new rub on it. This takes about eight hours to make one tire, with an average of 16 tires a day- which cost between Rwf50, 000 to Rwf120, 000.

    For the jerrycan production, the company uses a three shift per day and is able to produce about 900 jerrycans a day. The jerricans are produces from petroleum bi-products-called high density polyethylene granules- which are petroleum based. These are powered into the hop on a blow mould machine- and one jerrican is produced within 9 minutes.

    Each jerrycan Rwf1700 inclusive of VAT- these are not sold to individual retailers, but are supplied to other company’s who are end users- such companies include: packing industries (paint and paraffin, fuel companies) on wholesale basis.

    The best aspect about this company is that it employs workers without any basis of prior skills, and trains the staff- which takes a period as long as two weeks, depending on the fast learning skills of one.

    The company has at least 19 permanent workers who are recruited and trained with skills to operate the machines and also employs seasonal casual laborers who are hired depending on the workloads. The same production staff is used in both sections of the production chain.

    “The qualifications is one must be are one is jobless and energetic and has basic notions of following up with working schedule.

    The future of the company, according to Nittin, depends on the incentives provided by the government, especially in terms of taxation because “any manufacturing unit in the country is getting burdened by high taxation and high costs of inputs. The units cannot survive if it is has to import its raw materials and at the same time compete in the regional market because other countries have access to the raw materials and bigger advantages and don’t have to pay for transportation of raw material”

    Nittin says that government must find incentives on costs of importation. For example in order to transport a container of raw materials he has to pay 6000US dollars, while the re-trader in Kenya only pays 200 US dollars, which means he incurs a minus of 6000 US dollars for every container imported and in a year he earns a little higher than that.

    He also advises that the government should focus a lot on education input on technical skills because there is lack of skilled labor in Rwanda, which makes it hard to employ local residents since most graduates have only theoretical skills.

    Rwanda Industries will also be one of the companies to shift from the current industrial area- and he says that the shifting should ensure that the necessary infrastructure. However, despite the challenges of producing at high cost and facing a competitive regional market, Nittin says that Rwanda still stands out as a better place to do business because of the good and effective policies by governments which have created a peaceful and secure business environment in Rwanda unlike other countries.

    As a token of appreciation to the Rwandan government, which Rwanda Industries credits for having Industry friendly policies, the company aims to venture into many more developmental activities as well as add to the products they produce.

    And as Rwanda as a country experiences a wave of industrialization, Rwanda Industries has a pioneer position in the industrial market as well as job creation. One of the few companies that provide skills to Rwandans through experience while they don’t consider skills or experience when choosing employees.

    As they work on, Rwanda Industries dreams go beyond earning money, to developing the country that has equipped them with the chance to thrive. Meanwhile, Rwanda Industries products are becoming famous in Rwanda and East Africa though the company still yearns to extend their services as far as they can. Rwanda Industries intends to venture in additional plastic production in the near future.

    Should be noted that the government of Rwanda initiated means to favour industrialization, as a way to develop entrepreneurship and help Rwanda grow past the 1994 genocide destruction.

  • Tabagwe: Resident Acclaims Social welfare, development programs over malnutrition war

    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.

  • Describing Some Nutritious Food for Baby Growth and Development

    Six (6) months old child is supposed to have other foods to supplement breast milk and keep breast feeding up until 2 years of age and this is of much importance to health of a child, leading it to good growth and development.

    Baby foods and breast milk makes a child have all body nutrients to grow well an d for a good strategy, a parent must think of what kind of foods that are good for the baby, how many times they are given in a day, how the baby is fed, how much the baby consumed, the baby’s courage to be fed and most importantly, the hygiene and overall sanitation.

    Baby food should have all dietary nutrients like body building food which includes beans, peas, ground nuts, soya, milk, fish, eggs, meat, and many others. There should also be food that gives strength to the child like rice, wheat, sorghum, maize, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, yams, and many others. A child also should be given vegetables and fruits of all kinds.

    As the ministry of health states, every child since birth to 5 years of age should be followed closely by measuring monthly weight and be followed by an experienced doctor to see if the child is growing well and a parent should seek for medical advice if the baby weight is not increasing.

  • World Vision donates non food items to Congolese Refugees

    Congolese Refugees at Kigeme camp received non-food items in donation, from world vision which include bars of soap, hygienic pads and clothes.

    Around 4,000 refugees gathered on site at Kigeme Refugee camp in Nyamagabe district to receive the hygiene and sanitation supplies.

    “World Vision could have waited to gather more items and food for the camp, but felt the need to intervene sooner because health is a crucial and sensitive issue in camp life” Jimmy Gahima, World Division employee says.

    However the area mayor Philbert Mugisha asked the refugees to properly use the supplies given for their health, and not to try to sell them.

    “While the non-food items from World Vision are appreciated, many children in the camp still don’t have the right food for a proper diet and we need more help for refugees” Emmanuel Niyibaho, Kigeme camp manager says.

    Currently Kigeme camp boosts more than 11,000 refugees in Kigeme camp and on Saturday, the camp stopped receiving more people because it had hit its capacity.

    The camp manager disclosed that between four and five hundred refugees were arriving in the camp daily.

    However, he said government is now trying to find more land in order to expand Kigeme camp, so it can resume receiving refugees from Nkamira transit camp on the Rwanda-Congo border.

    The refugee’s influx started increasing in last 2months when the M23 rebels and government forces tightened fights in Eastern DR Congo forcing locals to free their homes to Rwanda.

  • Bugesera: Parents Urged to give Children Nutritious Foods

    Residents in Bugesera district particularly parents are encouraged to feed their children food that contains vitamins for better growth and fighting malnutrition.

    This was resolved at Nyamata health centre where parents come for advice on how to prepare balanced diet.

    Jeanne Mukamusoni, a nurse at Nyamata Health Centre says that most residents have not yet understood how to make a balanced diet.

    “They think balanced diet is chips, rice, meat and others which they give to their children especially after weaning at a young age,” Mukamusoni narrates.

    She adds that after weaning, children are likely to suffer from malnutrition and shows symptoms if they not

    Mukamusoni urges parents to give their children balanced diet from the available food in their gardens like Irish potatoes, beans, cassava and others.

    Vegetables of every type should be given to children to fight malnutrition, Mukamusoni explains.

    Meat is among the foods that build the body but since it cannot be afforded by all parents, but soya, g. nuts and eggs can replace them.

    Mukamusoni stresses that soya flour, millet flour; maize flour and wheat make delicious porridge and good for children and grownups in fighting malnutrition.

    She advises parents to use family planning and space children because children need enough time of breast milk that has many nutrients.

  • 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.