Peace Mukabazimya, a mother of three had to prematurely stop the exclusive breastfeeding of her child because of the long hours of commute between her day shift to go home and breastfeed. Mukabazimya, who works with an international NGO, lives in Nyarugunga Sector and works from Kacyiru, which requires spending at least one hour in commute whenever she went home to breastfeed during lunch time. According to her, policymakers should draw from the Covid-19 experience and let breastfeeding mothers work from home for a certain period of time, to ensure they exclusively breastfeed their children for at least the first six months. “This will reduce the regular sickness of the children due to maximum care from their mothers,” she says. Her plea could be answered following recent revelations by Gilbert Munyemana, the acting director-general of the National Child Development Centre, who said they are making consultations that could lead to a policy allowing mothers to work from home after their three-month maternity leave. “And in the process of men engage in child development, fathers could also be considered for work from home scheme so that they can support their wives in caring for their children for the first months of their lives,” he said. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that for a child to grow in good health, they must be exclusively fed on breast milk for at least six months after birth. “Breastfeeding should be supported by everyone, for it is the most effective way to ensure the child health,” Munyemana says It is an important policy decision if it comes to pass, Gasana Mutesi, a social activist says. According to Gasana who founded Arise Education that publishes and distributes children books among others, even the establishment of a breastfeeding corner in the workplace is not enough solution because it tends to disrupt office operations. She says that once this policy is approved, it is important that employers consider allocating time for mothers to take care of their child because experience during Covid-19 has shown that some people working from home were actually doing more work than in office. According to Gasana, for a mother to be able to produce breast milk, it is important that they have peace of mind. When contacted, Africain Biraboneye, the General Secretary of CESTRAR, the confederation of Rwandan workers’ trade unions, said that though they have not been consulted on this policy, they are in full support of the suggestion. “We support the idea to promote the good health of the child, for breastfeeding mothers to work from home as long as the mother’s benefits remain the same to avoid any form of discrimination in the workplace,” says Biraboneye. Veneranda Nyirihirwa a member of parliament says that giving breastfeeding mothers this kind of opportunity would be good for both parents to look into the fact that it is a shared responsibility, it is only fair for breastfeeding mothers to take time and take care of their babies. “Leveraging technology would be a good solution to help working mothers stay home and stay productive at work, since we already have experience from the Covid situation,” she says. Breastfeeding mothers need space to attend to children at home, this helps them to balance work and motherhood while staying financially stable, says Ines Mukuza, Chief Executive at Kigali Entrepreneur Agency. “I think giving them this opportunity is being a part of the evolution, breastfeeding is a shared responsibility” says Mukuza.
