RWANDA: Devotha Mukagasana, "I made a decision to abstain in order not to infect others"
KIGALI, 4 March 2008 (PlusNews) -
Devotha Mukagasana, a 26-year-old former commercial sex worker and mother of one, is now a member of Tubusezerere (Kinyarwanda for "goodbye to poverty and prostitution"). The group comprises women who have quit the sex trade in favour of other income-generating activities in Rwanda's central district of Muhanga: "Like many other people who used to struggle to survive in the streets of Muhanga town, we decided to change our behaviour since the sex trade is not a sustainable activity or a way to earn a decent living.
"I learned my HIV status in 2005 when members of our association decided to go for voluntary HIV testing. Previously I did not know that I was infected. I decided to go for the test voluntarily because of certain diseases that I started to suffer from, particularly shingles, skin diseases, pneumonia and diarrhoea. "I started to manifest all these symptoms in 2004. My family noticed that my health was failing, but did not take care of me. I was completely abandoned.
"The association Tubusezerere gave vocational training and counselled me on HIV/AIDS. I did not only gain professional knowledge to create income-generating projects, but I also got the courage to live with HIV without fear. It helped me change my behaviour and bolstered my Christian faith. I no longer take drugs or alcohol. "The group, which was initially funded by the World Bank, has changed my life. I noticed that despite past experiences, life can change. I now make a living as a dress maker.
"Before starting antiretroviral treatment in February 2006, I was weak. I had lost weight. I could do nothing. But after the ARV treatment, and through the goodwill and advice of doctors, I have no problems now. "After two months on medication, I had gained 5kg. I had regained my appetite and strength. After four months of treatment the kilos kept piling on. "I have the strength to work. The cough is gone. The spots on my skin are going. I am now able to do my job as a seamstress and do it well.
"Until I tested positive for HIV, I heard people talk about the pandemic, but I did not know that it was actually AIDS. The test gave me a lot of courage to take care of my health. "Even though I was not sure that I had AIDS, I suspected it. I made a conscious decision to abstain in order not to infect others."
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Rwandan to generate electricity from wind
Jackson Ndizeye wants to have rural communities lit up using wind in not later than a year, and has already embarked on the mega project which could contribute at least 6MW to the country’s energy needs.
State Minister Eng. Albert Butare says at the moment the country has an energy deficit of up to 30 percent, and admits that such innovative undertakings would help the nation not only address the current power supply shortfalls but also in connecting millions of people with electricity.
Ndizeye, through his charity Rwindalectric, is set to commission a 12-month feasibility study to determine the wind capacity of Rwanda, which may cost about $50,000.
Before June this year, equipment that will measure the wind capacity to determine how much electricity can be generated, should be on the ground, he told RNA.
"The total cost of this equipment is around $15,750. Our organisation has already purchased the most important component of the equipment, the Data Logger, and has enough funds to buy most of the remaining components", Ndizeye said.
Ndizeye hopes to acquire sponsorship from well-wishers and make his dream a reality.
"We are organising a fundraising campaign to purchase the most expensive of these components, a 60 meter tower, which costs $12,800." he said, adding that once the tower is purchased, "we will ship the whole equipment to Rwanda to start operation".
The 60-meter wind measurement equipment is capable of capturing the speed of wind at a high elevation and determining the amount of electricity that can be produced. In other words, the tower’s length is about three quarters of a football pitch, installed upright in the skies.
Ndizeye, a graduate from La Roche College in the U.S, with a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology and a Minor in Mathematics, also has support of the University of Philadelphia in this endeavour.
At the moment, electricity supply in the country still faces minimal load-shedding, but electricity growth remains at standstill. Some businesses have resorted to fuel-powered generators, which makes business costly due to the existing high pump prices.
In January 2004, an acute energy crisis hit the country resulting into a loss equivalent to 40 percent of total electricity production. The fall in water levels in lakes Burera and Rulindo (in the Northern Province) caused the utility provider, Electrogaz, to reduce generation significantly.
The crisis saw Ntaruka dam electricity supply drop from 11.25 MW to 2.5 MW, while Mukunga dam, could only manage producing a meager 5 MW, down from 12.5 MW.
In 2005, Government shipped in mega generators that were able to bring down the supply gap with a 25-30 MW. But as oil prices continue to rise, officials do not find this sustainable.
"Despite this additional thermal generation, it is clear that the country is still in deficit and there is pressing need to conclude public-private partnership agreements and avail electricity if we want to market Rwanda as an investment destination", Eng. Butare wrote in a May 2005 recognition letter to Ndizeye.
As such, the minister reaffirmed government support to Rwindalectric for the wind electricity initiative that, according to Ndizeye, should add up to 10MW to 50MW of the power that the nation needs.
Butare said this week that the government is fully aware of Ndizeye’s project and was ready to provide him with the necessary support. "We have discussed about it and pledged support, but it seemed like he and another Rwandan are still looking for funding. I know he has been a student and probably he has completed."
"It is a mega project which requires better understanding of the country’s geography and enough equipment. On the surface it’s a simple project, but there are a lot of technicalities involved," he told The New Times.
He explained: "It s a technology which produces electricity when the rotors rotate as a result of wind," Butare said. "When the wind blows the blades, the blades rotate making the rotors on which blades are connected also to rotate, hence generating electricity," the minister added, as he tried to give a hint on how the technology operates.
Ndizeye told RNA that his project would largely target rural communities. In Phase-One of the project, an institute is to be established, that will collaborate with Rwanda’s technical school to teach Rwandans how to build small scale wind turbines.
This technology has already been made and used successfully in Kenya by WindCruise.
"These small scale wind turbines can be installed on certain facilities, such as medical centers, in very remote locations in rural Rwanda," he explained.
For the second phase, a Wind Farm will be put up. This is a site where there will be more than two large scale wind turbines, capable of producing a range of electric powers (10MW to 50MW). The electricity produced at the Wind Farm will be dumped into the national grid to complement what is being produced by Electrogaz, at a regulated cost, Ndizeye said.
The number of villages that could benefit from the project, according to Ndizeye will be determined after how much wind there is on any particular site has been determined.
However, to get the project running involves big resources that mean big investments. And indeed, Ndizeye concurs that Rwindalectric, which will establish the wind project on a charity basis cannot go it alone.
Our financial support is made of grant makers and donors, he told RNA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US. Rwindalectric has already engaged the World Bank that has apparently "shown interest already". "As far as sustaining our projects in Rwanda, we have a plan to work with rural community banking systems and international donors such as the World Bank and UNDP, to name but a few," he added.
It is expected that rural community banking systems (cooperatives) will help finance maintenance of the equipment, while international donors will finance the implementation of the project.
Following an event in 2006, in which US’ Radnor High school students discussed tolerance of differences – using Rwanda as case point, the audience decided to do something for the country. Consequently, the event’s organizer, Briana Bower is a member of directors of Rwindalectric.
In December 2006, students and staff from the university donated over $2.300 towards wind energy project for rural communities in the country.
Rwindalectric has already bought the first Data Logger – which is the most important component of the equipment necessary.
Other similar wind power generating initiatives have been tested in Rwanda such as a project in Eastern province that pumps water from the ground for a sizable community in that semi arid area. There is another installed in Kigali.
A number of countries have turned their attention to wind-generated power in the recent years. For instance, in December last year, Britain revealed plans to generate enough electricity through offshore wind farms to power every home in the country by 2020. The use of wind energy is equally increasing rapidly in the United States.
Experts say that wind energy systems not only provide a cushion against electricity price increases, but also reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and they don’t emit greenhouse gases.
Apart from hydro and thermal power options, a mega German-funded solar plant is installed just outside Kigali. There is also a biomas technology, which has helped light prisons and schools from wastes.
Extraction is also at advanced stages for methane gas from Lake Kivu – in north western Rwanda. The gas, experts say, will be used to power up generators for electricity.
The country still imports electricity from some neighbouring countries.
State Minister Eng. Albert Butare says at the moment the country has an energy deficit of up to 30 percent, and admits that such innovative undertakings would help the nation not only address the current power supply shortfalls but also in connecting millions of people with electricity.
Ndizeye, through his charity Rwindalectric, is set to commission a 12-month feasibility study to determine the wind capacity of Rwanda, which may cost about $50,000.
Before June this year, equipment that will measure the wind capacity to determine how much electricity can be generated, should be on the ground, he told RNA.
"The total cost of this equipment is around $15,750. Our organisation has already purchased the most important component of the equipment, the Data Logger, and has enough funds to buy most of the remaining components", Ndizeye said.
Ndizeye hopes to acquire sponsorship from well-wishers and make his dream a reality.
"We are organising a fundraising campaign to purchase the most expensive of these components, a 60 meter tower, which costs $12,800." he said, adding that once the tower is purchased, "we will ship the whole equipment to Rwanda to start operation".
The 60-meter wind measurement equipment is capable of capturing the speed of wind at a high elevation and determining the amount of electricity that can be produced. In other words, the tower’s length is about three quarters of a football pitch, installed upright in the skies.
Ndizeye, a graduate from La Roche College in the U.S, with a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology and a Minor in Mathematics, also has support of the University of Philadelphia in this endeavour.
At the moment, electricity supply in the country still faces minimal load-shedding, but electricity growth remains at standstill. Some businesses have resorted to fuel-powered generators, which makes business costly due to the existing high pump prices.
In January 2004, an acute energy crisis hit the country resulting into a loss equivalent to 40 percent of total electricity production. The fall in water levels in lakes Burera and Rulindo (in the Northern Province) caused the utility provider, Electrogaz, to reduce generation significantly.
The crisis saw Ntaruka dam electricity supply drop from 11.25 MW to 2.5 MW, while Mukunga dam, could only manage producing a meager 5 MW, down from 12.5 MW.
In 2005, Government shipped in mega generators that were able to bring down the supply gap with a 25-30 MW. But as oil prices continue to rise, officials do not find this sustainable.
"Despite this additional thermal generation, it is clear that the country is still in deficit and there is pressing need to conclude public-private partnership agreements and avail electricity if we want to market Rwanda as an investment destination", Eng. Butare wrote in a May 2005 recognition letter to Ndizeye.
As such, the minister reaffirmed government support to Rwindalectric for the wind electricity initiative that, according to Ndizeye, should add up to 10MW to 50MW of the power that the nation needs.
Butare said this week that the government is fully aware of Ndizeye’s project and was ready to provide him with the necessary support. "We have discussed about it and pledged support, but it seemed like he and another Rwandan are still looking for funding. I know he has been a student and probably he has completed."
"It is a mega project which requires better understanding of the country’s geography and enough equipment. On the surface it’s a simple project, but there are a lot of technicalities involved," he told The New Times.
He explained: "It s a technology which produces electricity when the rotors rotate as a result of wind," Butare said. "When the wind blows the blades, the blades rotate making the rotors on which blades are connected also to rotate, hence generating electricity," the minister added, as he tried to give a hint on how the technology operates.
Ndizeye told RNA that his project would largely target rural communities. In Phase-One of the project, an institute is to be established, that will collaborate with Rwanda’s technical school to teach Rwandans how to build small scale wind turbines.
This technology has already been made and used successfully in Kenya by WindCruise.
"These small scale wind turbines can be installed on certain facilities, such as medical centers, in very remote locations in rural Rwanda," he explained.
For the second phase, a Wind Farm will be put up. This is a site where there will be more than two large scale wind turbines, capable of producing a range of electric powers (10MW to 50MW). The electricity produced at the Wind Farm will be dumped into the national grid to complement what is being produced by Electrogaz, at a regulated cost, Ndizeye said.
The number of villages that could benefit from the project, according to Ndizeye will be determined after how much wind there is on any particular site has been determined.
However, to get the project running involves big resources that mean big investments. And indeed, Ndizeye concurs that Rwindalectric, which will establish the wind project on a charity basis cannot go it alone.
Our financial support is made of grant makers and donors, he told RNA from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US. Rwindalectric has already engaged the World Bank that has apparently "shown interest already". "As far as sustaining our projects in Rwanda, we have a plan to work with rural community banking systems and international donors such as the World Bank and UNDP, to name but a few," he added.
It is expected that rural community banking systems (cooperatives) will help finance maintenance of the equipment, while international donors will finance the implementation of the project.
Following an event in 2006, in which US’ Radnor High school students discussed tolerance of differences – using Rwanda as case point, the audience decided to do something for the country. Consequently, the event’s organizer, Briana Bower is a member of directors of Rwindalectric.
In December 2006, students and staff from the university donated over $2.300 towards wind energy project for rural communities in the country.
Rwindalectric has already bought the first Data Logger – which is the most important component of the equipment necessary.
Other similar wind power generating initiatives have been tested in Rwanda such as a project in Eastern province that pumps water from the ground for a sizable community in that semi arid area. There is another installed in Kigali.
A number of countries have turned their attention to wind-generated power in the recent years. For instance, in December last year, Britain revealed plans to generate enough electricity through offshore wind farms to power every home in the country by 2020. The use of wind energy is equally increasing rapidly in the United States.
Experts say that wind energy systems not only provide a cushion against electricity price increases, but also reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and they don’t emit greenhouse gases.
Apart from hydro and thermal power options, a mega German-funded solar plant is installed just outside Kigali. There is also a biomas technology, which has helped light prisons and schools from wastes.
Extraction is also at advanced stages for methane gas from Lake Kivu – in north western Rwanda. The gas, experts say, will be used to power up generators for electricity.
The country still imports electricity from some neighbouring countries.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Transform those hills with coffee farms now
| THE NEW TIMES Monday, 28th January 2008 | |||||
Rwanda has once again caught the fancy of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, being one of the three countries going to receive a $46.9 million grant from that foundation, aimed at improving not only the quality of coffee produced in Rwanda, but also increasing production. The other two countries are Kenya and Tanzania. Involved in many works of charity and development of poor communities all over the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed to an Aids project running in Rwanda, and this coffee fund is just another of the great efforts of this foundation to improve livelihoods for the person in the rural setting. To be sure, coffee is one of the leading exports of Rwanda, and all efforts to boost its production are direct efforts to put money directly into the hands of the rural population who are the primary producers. This is not enough. Coffee processing has a lot of labour demands before the final export stages, so this also means that more people will get employment in the wet factories that will be built to support the coffee production. More coffee also means more pickers, sorters – the list of potential employees just gets longer with the prospect. As we thank the Foundation for its continued support to Rwanda, we have to urge the population to fully use these funds to make their lives better through active engagement of the environment to wrest from it the required livelihood. According to an official working with the chosen public relations firm Technoserve, one of the reasons Rwanda was chosen was because of its topography. As it has been said many times, Rwandans have to learn to turn their supposed disadvantaged hilly topography to advantage. Thus an opportunity has been presented to us to exploit these hills that are ostensibly good for Arabica coffee growing, and attack them to force them produce, with guidance from the authorities, as indiscriminate agricultural activities might also trigger land slides and increase soil erosion from hitherto safe areas. | |||||
Friday, January 18, 2008
RWANDA: Living side by side – genocide victims and perpetrators reconcile the past
 Photo: Noel King/IRIN  |
| Genocide survivors and perpetrators live together peacefully in Rwanda's reconciliation village |
Mukamana went to fetch water from the community well and returned to find her entire family hacked to death by neighbours. She hid in the fields and then fled on foot to neighbouring Burundi.
Aziri was one of those whipped up into a killing spree by Rwanda’s hard-line Hutu administration. He did not murder Mukamana’s family but he admits to killing some of her neighbours with a machete.
Thirteen years later, they are neighbours again, chatting on the dusty roads and attending church services together.
“We help each other,” Aziri told IRIN. “When a member of one family is sick, we drop by.” Most importantly, he says, “our kids are friends”.
The 40 families living in Imidugudo, which translates as “reconciliation village”, in Nyamata, 30km south of the capital, Kigali, are part of an experiment whereby genocide survivors and confessed perpetrators live in the same community, in small tin-roofed houses they built themselves.
The village is the brainchild of Pastor Steven Gahigi, an Anglican clergyman who survived the genocide by fleeing to Burundi with his wife and two children. His mother, father and siblings all died and Gahigi thought he had lost his ability to forgive.
“I prayed until one night I saw an image of Jesus Christ on the cross,” Gahigi says. “I thought of how he forgave and I knew that I and others could also do it.”
Inspired by the vision, Gahigi began preaching forgiveness not only in Nyamata parish, but in the cramped prisons where hundreds of thousands of perpetrators were awaiting trial.
Seeking forgiveness
In 2003, faced with crowded prisons and a shortage of qualified judges, the Rwandan government began offering a provisional release to low-level perpetrators, including the sick, elderly and those who were children at the time of the genocide.
People tried by Rwanda’s traditional “gacaca” courts, in which members of the community act as judges, had their sentences halved if they confessed their involvement in the genocide.
Today, Gahigi provides spiritual council to both perpetrators and victims, most of whom work as small farmers, just as they did before the genocide.
The path to forgiveness was not easy, residents say.
 Photo: IRIN  |
| Skulls of genocides victims at the Murambi Genocide Memorial site in Gikongoro Province, southeastern Rwanda |
Residents say their ability to forgive is rooted in Christian beliefs.
“These people killed my parents,” Janet Mukabyagaju told IRIN. “It is not easy for me to forgive them. But God forgave. I must do the same.”
With funding from non-profit Christian organisation Prison Fellowship International, survivors and perpetrators agreed to live together harmoniously. The founding members of the community voted on who could live at Imidugudo - a practice that continues today.
Gahigi said they generally choose families who are most vulnerable due to poverty or illness.
Reconciliation
While Rwanda’s current administration has renounced the use of ethnic terminology and instead promotes reconciliation, many Rwandans say there is still a raging undercurrent of mistrust among those who survived the genocide and those who committed it.
Residents in Imidugudo say although the terms Hutu and Tutsi should no longer be a part of Rwandan society, they do not believe in painting over the past. They speak to their children about their roles in the genocide.
“Genocide has enormous consequences for those who did it and for those who survived,” Xavier Namay, an admitted perpetrator, told IRIN. “My children must know what I did so they can rebuild this country positively.”
Friday, January 11, 2008
Peace and reconciliation studies for universities
Plans to begin teaching peace and reconciliation studies in universities are in the pipeline, an official at the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) has said.
According to Frank Kobukyeye who is in charge of conflict management at the commission, NURC is working with Permanent Education for Peace and Reconciliation (EPPR) to implement the programme.
“We hope to develop the curriculum this year, have it approved by relevant authorities and ensure that studies begin next academic year,” he said this week.
He was speaking during a conference that attracted representatives of different universities and partners at Kigali Serena Hotel.
He said that components of the course will be taught in all faculties under ethics, while some students will major in the study.
There are also plans to have an exchange programme with the Eastern University from the USA for post-graduate courses.
Emile Uwimbabazi, the president of EPPR, said that they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Eastern University representative this week.
“They have given us a draft memorandum, which we intend to sign after reading through,” Uwimbabazi revealed.
EPPR is in partnership with two other peace and reconciliation building organisations in Washington, Breakthrough Partners and Camp Brotherhood.
Uwimbabazi added that they would have another meeting in March with heads of universities and practitioners of Peace and Reconciliation.
He added that a meeting would be held to discuss how they could introduce the programme in schools (curriculum and the whole system).
EPPR is a private institution which was formed in 2001 to build peace and reconciliation in the country.
Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, the Rector of the National University of Rwanda (NUR), said the programme was timely.
According to Christopher Hall, President-Elect in Eastern University, peace and justice lessons have made impact in the Northern Island.
Gary Edmonds, president Breakthrough Partner, said they are partnering with EPPR to establish a reconciliation centre in Kigali.
“I believe Rwanda needs to think about the future and begin making documentations and tell a story for peace and reconciliation purposes,” he said, adding that the teachings from the centre will make people learn a lesson from the past.Wednesday, November 28, 2007
DRC-RWANDA: Putting the past behind them – former child soldiers prepare to go home
KIGALI, 12 November 2007 (IRIN) - Nine years after Burasa Kuzungu was forced to join the Forces Démocratiques de la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and become a child soldier, he managed to elude his captors and escape into the forest.
“I crawled along the ground like an animal,” Kuzunga, now 18, said. “I used night as a shield and the tactics the FDLR taught me to get away from them.”
He finally made it to the Goma offices of the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC, and was repatriated to his homeland Rwanda, where he was taken to the government-run Muhazi demobilisation centre near the capital Kigali.
UN estimates say tens of thousands of children have been abducted and forcibly recruited into various armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Many were Rwandans whose parents fled to Congo after the 1994 slaughter of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu militias.
At the Muhazi centre, former child soldiers are encouraged to talk about their time with the rebel groups and coached to behave like other children their age.
“When they are with the armed groups in the forest, they are brutal, they are aggressive,” Ally Mugema, a social worker at Muhazi told IRIN. “After a long period in this kind of environment, they have become conditioned and cannot go back into the community behaving that way.”
Rehabilitation
Muhazi was set up by the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) to manage and implement the government’s programme for ex-combatants.
The RDRC aims “to ensure that all the demobilised ex-combatants are socially and economically reintegrated successfully into their communities”. The commission aims to provide extensive reintegration assistance in the form of formal education, income-generating activities or vocational training.
Most of the boys at Muhazi spend about three months at the centre while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) searches for their families.
They are taught to read and write, and receive lessons in personal hygiene such as brushing their teeth and washing their own clothes. Those who are severely traumatised undergo extensive counselling.
A 2006 Save the Children report says that many child soldiers are coerced into "volunteering", forced to commit atrocities as military training before being deployed on the front lines. When they escape or are released, they may be rejected by society, refused access to school, and find it impossible to re-enter 'normal' life.
Save the Children protection advisor Johanna MacVeigh said: "Being recruited by armed forces has a devastating effect on children's lives. They are immersed in violence, are subject to terrible abuse and are forced to forfeit love, play, education and hope.”
Psychologists say former child soldiers can suffer from a number of mental health problems, most prominently post-traumatic stress disorder, which develops after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal.
Adjustment problems
Difficulties resulting from the sudden change from civilian life to that of a soldier and then back again sometimes cause "adjustment disorder". Meanwhile, personality disorders, eating disorders and depression are also identified as common after-effects among children who have served as combatants.
While many of the children display a remarkable resilience, counsellors at Muhazi said one of the biggest challenges was undoing the indoctrination of prejudice.
Boys who have escaped the FDLR, a Hutu militia which has links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, told IRIN that propaganda sessions with their former captors were commonplace.
“I was told that there are Hutus and there are Tutsis and that the Tutsis were different. They had a longer nose, and Hutus had a flatter nose. It made no sense though,” Kazungu said.
In the run-up to the genocide, there was a media campaign to dehumanise Tutsis, who were described as “cockroaches” in government-controlled radio and news broadcasts.
Many of the Muhazi boys said they eventually lost faith in the ideologies being taught and saw through the “lies”.
“They told me that if I came back to Rwanda, I would be killed,” 17-year-old Harinda Kamari said. “I finally said if they are going to kill me, let them kill me; and I came home.”
But for younger boys in particular, recruitment into armed groups often offers an opportunity to flee from domestic problems.
Nine-year-old Tushimi Emmanuel said an FDLR lieutenant rescued him from the home of an abusive guardian, a woman who once pushed him into a fire. Emmanuel, who has the scars from severe burns along the length of his left arm, says he lived in the lieutenant’s home and was cared for by the man’s wife.
Despite his gratitude at escaping the abuse, the boy soon tired of the FDLR’s activities. “I was watching the FDLR beating people up, harassing people all the time,” he said. “I told the second lieutenant that I wanted to leave. I was of no use to them. They took me to a civilian man outside the village. I told that man that I wanted to go home to Rwanda. He handed me over to MONUC and I was brought here.”
Thirteen-year-old Habimana joined the Mayi Mayi after his father died. He had no place to go and was often beaten as he wandered the streets. The militia provided him with security.
The Mayi Mayi was initially a civilian defence force formed to protect Congolese communities from Rwandan invaders tracking down genocide fugitives. It splintered into fierce militias and has been widely accused of raping, looting and banditry.
Habimana served as the armed guard to a captain until he was shot in the arm in October by bandits.
The Mayi Mayi brought him to a hospital in Goma where doctors turned him over to the ICRC.
Habimana had been at Muhazi for less than a week. He spent much of his time alone, looking out at the lake and avoiding the company of other boys.
Counsellors and former child soldiers say it may be a slow process for Habimana to adjust to his new life.
But, they say, things will certainly improve.
“The life here is very different from the life in Congo,” Kuzungu said. “We no longer hear the sound of guns. We are free.”
“I crawled along the ground like an animal,” Kuzunga, now 18, said. “I used night as a shield and the tactics the FDLR taught me to get away from them.”
He finally made it to the Goma offices of the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC, and was repatriated to his homeland Rwanda, where he was taken to the government-run Muhazi demobilisation centre near the capital Kigali.
UN estimates say tens of thousands of children have been abducted and forcibly recruited into various armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Many were Rwandans whose parents fled to Congo after the 1994 slaughter of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu militias.
At the Muhazi centre, former child soldiers are encouraged to talk about their time with the rebel groups and coached to behave like other children their age.
“When they are with the armed groups in the forest, they are brutal, they are aggressive,” Ally Mugema, a social worker at Muhazi told IRIN. “After a long period in this kind of environment, they have become conditioned and cannot go back into the community behaving that way.”
Rehabilitation
Muhazi was set up by the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) to manage and implement the government’s programme for ex-combatants.
The RDRC aims “to ensure that all the demobilised ex-combatants are socially and economically reintegrated successfully into their communities”. The commission aims to provide extensive reintegration assistance in the form of formal education, income-generating activities or vocational training.
Most of the boys at Muhazi spend about three months at the centre while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) searches for their families.
They are taught to read and write, and receive lessons in personal hygiene such as brushing their teeth and washing their own clothes. Those who are severely traumatised undergo extensive counselling.
A 2006 Save the Children report says that many child soldiers are coerced into "volunteering", forced to commit atrocities as military training before being deployed on the front lines. When they escape or are released, they may be rejected by society, refused access to school, and find it impossible to re-enter 'normal' life.
Save the Children protection advisor Johanna MacVeigh said: "Being recruited by armed forces has a devastating effect on children's lives. They are immersed in violence, are subject to terrible abuse and are forced to forfeit love, play, education and hope.”
Psychologists say former child soldiers can suffer from a number of mental health problems, most prominently post-traumatic stress disorder, which develops after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal.
Adjustment problems
Difficulties resulting from the sudden change from civilian life to that of a soldier and then back again sometimes cause "adjustment disorder". Meanwhile, personality disorders, eating disorders and depression are also identified as common after-effects among children who have served as combatants.
While many of the children display a remarkable resilience, counsellors at Muhazi said one of the biggest challenges was undoing the indoctrination of prejudice.
Boys who have escaped the FDLR, a Hutu militia which has links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, told IRIN that propaganda sessions with their former captors were commonplace.
“I was told that there are Hutus and there are Tutsis and that the Tutsis were different. They had a longer nose, and Hutus had a flatter nose. It made no sense though,” Kazungu said.
In the run-up to the genocide, there was a media campaign to dehumanise Tutsis, who were described as “cockroaches” in government-controlled radio and news broadcasts.
Many of the Muhazi boys said they eventually lost faith in the ideologies being taught and saw through the “lies”.
“They told me that if I came back to Rwanda, I would be killed,” 17-year-old Harinda Kamari said. “I finally said if they are going to kill me, let them kill me; and I came home.”
But for younger boys in particular, recruitment into armed groups often offers an opportunity to flee from domestic problems.
Nine-year-old Tushimi Emmanuel said an FDLR lieutenant rescued him from the home of an abusive guardian, a woman who once pushed him into a fire. Emmanuel, who has the scars from severe burns along the length of his left arm, says he lived in the lieutenant’s home and was cared for by the man’s wife.
Despite his gratitude at escaping the abuse, the boy soon tired of the FDLR’s activities. “I was watching the FDLR beating people up, harassing people all the time,” he said. “I told the second lieutenant that I wanted to leave. I was of no use to them. They took me to a civilian man outside the village. I told that man that I wanted to go home to Rwanda. He handed me over to MONUC and I was brought here.”
Thirteen-year-old Habimana joined the Mayi Mayi after his father died. He had no place to go and was often beaten as he wandered the streets. The militia provided him with security.
The Mayi Mayi was initially a civilian defence force formed to protect Congolese communities from Rwandan invaders tracking down genocide fugitives. It splintered into fierce militias and has been widely accused of raping, looting and banditry.
Habimana served as the armed guard to a captain until he was shot in the arm in October by bandits.
The Mayi Mayi brought him to a hospital in Goma where doctors turned him over to the ICRC.
Habimana had been at Muhazi for less than a week. He spent much of his time alone, looking out at the lake and avoiding the company of other boys.
Counsellors and former child soldiers say it may be a slow process for Habimana to adjust to his new life.
But, they say, things will certainly improve.
“The life here is very different from the life in Congo,” Kuzungu said. “We no longer hear the sound of guns. We are free.”
Friday, November 09, 2007
Campaign to Improve Customer Care Starts
I was really happy to read this - this truly is a problem and I'm glad it has been acknowledged and some action is being taken.
The New Times (Kigali)
NEWS
6 November 2007
Posted to the web 6 November 2007
By Mansur Kakimba
Kigali
The New Times (Kigali)
NEWS
6 November 2007
Posted to the web 6 November 2007
By Mansur Kakimba
Kigali
"The land of a thousand hills and a million smiles" is what Rwanda is commonly called-referring to its unique hilly terrain and friendly populace. Unfortunately, the "million smiles" is not adequately reflected in businesses.
Everybody; be it visitors to Rwanda or natives themselves admit there is still big room for improvement in as far as customer service is concerned.
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Rwanda aims at being a service-based economy putting emphasis on providing high-end products and services copying Singapore and South Korea as economic growth models. But if no serious action is taken against poor customer service among both public and private institutions in Rwanda, this dream may never come true. The funny bit is everybody talks ill about it-including those that fall short on good customer service-meaning it is disgusting to everyone in society.
You'll hear all sorts of narrations about how Rwandans are poor at customer service.
Stories like how businessmen open and close at hours that please them (other than their esteemed customers); how businessmen fall short on selling etiquettes among many others. Enhancing good and competitive customer service will involve changing peoples' cultural values and attitudes to modern times; something that needs to be done over a long period of time.
The Private Sector Federation (PSF)-Rwanda, the umbrella organisation of all private businesses in Rwanda, intends to start a long-term customer care campaign. It has taken the issue so serious to an extent that it has hired a consultancy to work with its member service and communication department to develop a PSF customer care campaign strategy.
The PSF invited partner institutions; Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency, CEDP/World Bank and Kigali City Council to a preliminary presentation of the campaign. The meeting was well attended by PSF directors of departments and chambers, and top leadership including; Robert Bayigamba the federation chairman, Faustin Mbundu the vice chairman and Emmanuel Hategeka, the Secretary General.
The consultant carried out a research in which it was concluded that there are very poor levels of customer care in Rwanda that is attributed to lack of awareness of its importance. Diagnosing the problem, the consultant said it is everywhere; in all sectors (public and private), at all levels (managerial, employees and employers). The major cause of poor customer care in Rwanda, according to the consultant is negative attitude towards work.
The SWOT analysis however indicates that Rwanda being a nation with one nation with one culture; young and competitive population; eager to learn and responsive will perhaps make it easy to change people's attitude towards work.
The research however further indicates that the large rural population and weak professional base pose great challenge to the campaign. In his remarks, the federation SG said the campaign will be long-term-"two years or even more". He said the campaign would be rolled-out in three phases: diagnosing the problem; encouraging good customer care (Go Extra Mile for Customer-GEMC campaign); and encouraging service excellence. He said the whole campaign would take about two years. That it (campaign) will be a nationwide campaign, popularised through selected channels of media -including; TV, radio, print media and outdoor publicity to reach out to all people of Rwanda.
He assured that the campaign would be launched before the end of this year and would be communicated in Kinyarwanda, English and French. On his part, the chairman of PSF Bayigamba proposed to the consultant that: 'in all forms of communication, he should illustrate to public both sides-poor customer service and what people should do. He also proposed that companies should be encouraged to capture good customer care in their corporate strategies, visions and missions.
Mbundu asked the consultant to devise an evaluation mechanism to assess progress over time. "We intend to select a test group of ten businesses to study how good customer care impact on their sales over time during the campaign," PSF SG responded.
Rosemary Mbabazi who represented Riepa pledged partnership in the campaign, saying: "private sector members are our (Rieapa) clients as well". She suggested that training should be emphasised, "not only to businessmen but also to institutions of higher leaning". "The airport is the gateway to Rwanda. All businesses that relate to the airport should be sensitised on customer care", she further proposed.
As the federation motto states: "Beyond Advocacy", the SG finally said: "We are looking at enhancing competitiveness of businesses in Rwanda besides advocating for their interests. He said a comprehensive campaign with a detailed budget and concrete strategy would soon be presented to PSF Board for endorsing.
"We also intend to bring other partners on board in terms of financial support," he hinted.
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