It is about 11:00 a.m and Justine Mbonimpa arrives at the newly-constructed Rubavu cross-border Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre to check on her 4-year-old boy.
A caregiver at the centre links up Mbonimpa with her child and the two hug for about a minute.
"Thank God you are looking so good my boy!” The mother said while laughing and instantly the child replied in French, "Je vais bien maman (I am doing well).”
This was not the case two months ago when Mbonimpa, a cross border small trader, used to leave her baby at petite barriére border post under no care as she crossed to DR Congo to fend for her family.
Rubavu border is known to be the most used route to DR Congo from Rwanda, handling daily traffic of over 45,000 people, of whom 90 per cent are women.
About 74 per cent of these women are informal cross border traders.
"I personally forced my firstborn who is currently eight years old to drop out of school so that she takes care of his brother while I am away in DR Congo selling fruits and vegetable trading,” she narrated. "Sometimes I would return and find my baby in a critical condition lying down at a shop verandah.”
The baby, she said, was suffering from multiple illnesses including poor nutrition-induced diseases.
Luckily for Mbonimpa and other parents near the border, especially mothers, "child-neglect” challenges will become a thing of the past thanks to a new ECD in the area.
Laila Nyirabukobwa, a mother of two said: "We used to leave behind our children as we crossed the border to DR Congo for trade. Our children were, therefore, not safe but with this ECD we can now smile, given that our children will be in the hands of professional caregivers while in there.”
Rubavu Cross Border ECD Centre was unveiled on Wednesday last week.
The centre was built in partnership of Rubavu District and Action Pour le Developpement du Peuple (ADEPE), which is supported by UNICEF.
The centre caters for 169 children aged 6-years and below while parents are trained on positive parenting.
Louise Mukeshimanama, the ECD coordinator told The New Times that the centre provides a number of services ranging from child protection, early stimulation, hygiene and sanitation, parenting skills, education, nutrition and health among others.
"The overall objective of this centre is to provide safe and child-friendly space for younger children whose parents daily cross over the border for trade activities. We have caregivers who are assigned to check on every kid status on a daily basis” she noted.
According to Freya De Clercq Zaninka, the Head of Early Learning, Positive Parenting, Child Protection, Disability and Special Needs at National Early Childhood Development Programme (NECDP), the government is keen to scale up integrated ECD services for optimal growth and development of all children in collaboration with different actors.
"By setting up a model ECD in the community with services in nutrition, hygiene, health, early stimulation, positive parenting and education for children of zero to year years we know it will have a direct impact on the future of the children and families,” added Zaninka
Michael Banda, the chief of ECD at UNICEF Rwanda reiterated the importance of investing in the early years of a child’s life, noting that it leads to the reduction of chronic malnutrition and promotes healthy behaviour in families.
He went on to say that investing in early childhood education is all countries need to achieve long term goals meant to transform the lives of citizens.
"In other to meet visions that we have we need these children now. When we care for these children and we provide a conducive environment under which they have to thrive and grow,” he noted.
Figures from NECDP indicate that the number of ECDs in the country almost tripled in the last two years from 4,000 in 2017 to over 11,000 today.