Mugombwa, a refugee camp in southern Rwanda, currently hosts over 10,400 Congolese refugees. Gabriella, a 7-year-old girl in Mugombwa, smiles every time she washes her hands after using the toilet because she believes good handwashing is an effective way to prevent the spread of diseases, including COVID-19, Ebola, intestinal worms and diarrhea. The camp’s water supply system was constructed last year and has the capacity to serve the entire camp, plus the neighboring host communities.
“I enjoy spending time with my mother and showing her what we learn at school,” says 12-year-old Theonile. Anne Marie cherishes the moment her daughter Theonile arrives home from school each day. She is proud that Theonile is studying hard.
Anne Marie Mukandekezi, 38, is a mother of six and a resident of Gishubi village in Gakenke district in the Southern Province. She has always been a farmer but could only produce enough food for her family.
It is early in the day and I have already lost count of how many times I have needed to use water. I have so far needed water to brush my teeth, bathe, prepare breakfast, drink coffee, and quench my thirst. With the various tasks that make up my morning routine, I hardly ever stop to think, “Is this water safe to consume?”
I don’t question if there will be enough water to fill my cup. I don’t have to travel a long distance to access my water, and I never wonder if my short walk to the tap will be dangerous.
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“Water has given me hope. I’m a strong woman. Thanks to World Vision and clean water, there are a lot of strong women here.”
Esperance, a Rwandan mother, hasn’t always been able to say this. As one of the 785 million people around the world without clean water access, she struggled to improve every aspect of her life.
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| The topography of the former, unsafe water source |
The Rukore region has seven villages, with three of the villages drawing water from one shared point. Before World Vision, the three villages did not have safe drinking water. Many of the school children either missed class regularly to fetch water several miles from their homes or because they were sick from drinking dirty water. Parents could not practice proper hygiene due to low water accessibility.
The majority of the people in this area live in the hills. With the water in the low plain, this created a lot of hardship for children, who do the water fetching as a home chore.
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| Virgina’s bounty of fruits & vegetables are ready for market |
“I need to rush to the market place because there is a big truck from the city coming to pick some sacks of food that I sell to them on a weekly basis. They always get here at around this time, so I have to get there before they do,” says Virginia.
Virginia, 37, is a jovial woman and full of stamina while she goes about her work. Her face is lit with joy as she fervently shares the story of her transformation. She is a farmer. Virginia owns gardens where she grows bananas, corn, yams, pineapples, and sweet potatoes among other crops. She also owns a piggery and other livestock.
Sylvester always wondered why his family did not have the basics necessities to raise him and his five siblings, ranging from ages 10 to 23 years. He used to ask a lot of questions of his mother after school, like why he didn’t have shoes, or books and pens for class. His classmates pestered him about his shabbiness and lack of school supplies.
Sylvester, 12, is the second to last child of Vincent and Ansilla. He is a sponsored child in the Mudasomwa Area Program located in southern Rwanda.
Rwanda has set a goal of be the first country to fulfill World Vision’s commitment to reach everyone, everywhere we work, with clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2022. No one knows that better than Ferediana. Mukampazimpaka Ferediana (62) is a single grandmother that lives in the Mata community in World Vision’s Nyaruguru Area Program. Her three grandchildren live with her - Arianne (3), Jeannine (6) and Jean (9). Besides her daily struggle to provide for her grandchildren, one of her main challenges was access to clean water.
Last year, we announced a new audacious goal of providing clean water to everyone, everywhere we work in Rwanda by 2022. This article provides an update on that effort.
Our commitment to Rwanda is complementary and flows out of two other high-profile commitments that we have made for World Vision’s water programs. The biggest goal is to reach everyone, everywhere we work with clean water, which is 50 million people, by 2030. This is consistent with and shows World Vision’s commitment to help achieve the UN Sustainable Goal 6.0 of universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. To ensure that we stay on track, we set an interim goal of reaching 20 million people between 2015 and 2020. We’re on track towards both of these and have reached 10.4 million people with clean water in the first 2.5 years.
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| Nathalie works on an art project during school. |
Abandoned by her parents at 3 days old, Nathalie (9) continues to thrive in so many difficult situations. She was born a twin with a rare neuro-muscular skeletal disorder. “Nathalie’s parents abandoned her at birth because she was born with arthrogryposis condition (curved joints). Her parents left her at home and decided to take the healthy baby. The parents moved to another region and left her in the house alone before she was even one week old,” says Valentine, Nathalie’s adopted big sister.
