The national activities to mark the 16th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were characterised by visits to survivors, especially orphans and widows.

Numerous cooperate organisations and Government institutions donated an assortment of household necessities, including food and clothing, as has been the tradition for the past 16 years.

However, some institutions tried to break away from this tradition by, in addition to giving them food, introduced mechanisms of equipping the survivors with skills that will enable them fend for themselves.

Like it is the government’s intention to gradually do away with aid dependency, let the culture start right from within our communities, for instance by helping these orphans and widows get hands-on skills so that they grow out of this food aid.

Let those orphans, who were forced out of school so that they can provide for their younger siblings, be equipped with these skills, which will inevitably facilitate their healing process.

In this respect, efforts by institutions such as Serena Hotels, which have taken it upon themselves to train orphans from Abahumurizanya Orphans Association to work in the hospitality industry, and even offering them employment, should be commended.

There is no doubt that Knowledge is the best charity, just as the Chinese proverb suggests - Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

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