As part of the ongoing exercise to mark the 27th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi, the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) on Friday unveiled tap water in an estate of Genocide widows in Ntongwe Sector, Ruhango district. Speaking at the launch of the project, officials from the utility body said that though it is part of their wider mandate to bring clean water to all Rwandans, this was particularly part of the government efforts to improve the livelihoods of Genocide survivors. During the inauguration of the project, Alfred Dusenge Byigero, the CEO of WASAC said that besides getting to them clean water, the staff members of the agency had collected money to pay medical insurance premiums for 16 families in the village. ”We keep in mind that it is our task to serve you diligently and that’s why at a time like this, we are gathered here to stand with you. The slogan for the commemoration encourages us to remember while rebuilding; this is one way of rebuilding,” Byigero said. Speaking at the event on behalf of the survivors, Egide Nkuranga, the president of Ibuka, the umbrella body for Genocide survivors’ association, he thanked government for striving to improve the welfare of survivors. “Genocide was carried out by an extremist government which was supposed to protect people but instead choose to take away their lives including taking what belonged to them,” Nkuranga said, adding that the current government has tried to undo this. Valence Habarurema, the mayor of Ruhango district said this was a huge relief to the widows, many of them vulnerable, saying that they will now be spared of the long journeys made to collect water. “We know many of them here are old and can’t manage to fetch water from far places,” he said. He added requesting WASAC for further partnership in future to get the water drop taps to other places like Mayaga for there are water sources that can be exploited to get water to all the homes in the entire district. By 2024 all homes in the country will have access to clean water, as enshrined in the country’s National Strategy for Transformation (NST 1). This will be achieved ahead of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG six) which is clean water and sanitation which is to be achieved by 2030. Francine Mukabaranga 59 who is the head of the village and a widow herself, thanked WASAC for the gesture, saying that as survivors, it makes them feel valued. On behalf of the rest, she promised they are going to properly maintain its cleanliness. “As beneficiaries we are overjoyed by the clean water and all other government programmes. First they gave us houses and now clean water. We are very happy, hospitals are near, schools are near. This shows that the government is always thinking about us” says Ntoniya Mutezimana, a 62 year old widow. Genocide commemoration activities will go on across the country until July 4, capping the 100 days within which the Genocide was committed, leaving over a million people dead.
