The volunteerism spirit must be sustained

In 2003, just when we were gearing up for country’s first multi-party elections in its history, donors started making unrealistic demands that needed to be met to be able to benefit from their funding. It was by all means a costly exercise and the country was in dire situation. It was just nine years after the devastating Genocide against the Tutsi and it was faced with three important elections that same year; a referendum that would usher in the country’s constitution, a presidential election and the election of parliamentarians for both chambers. However, despite this last minute U-turn by the donors, Rwandans were unfazed; women went home and brought their kitenge fabrics which were used to improvise electoral booths and hundreds of thousands of Rwandans donated their time in the organisation of the polls and not one but all three of them were successfully conducted. The same spirit was observed 10 years later when the same donor community threatened sanctions that would put a freeze to funding of various development programmes of the country, over allegations that the government was supporting a rebel group in a neighbouring country. Again Rwandans came in droves and donated anything they could afford and this led to the creation of Agaciro Development Fund, which is currently ranked among the best sovereign wealth funds in Africa. Most recently, Rwandans were at it again when it came to supporting victims of the recent disasters that struck different parts of the country, killing dozens of people and causing unimaginable devastation in the form of destroyed homes and uprooted plantations among others. Despite the 360-degree response that was rolled out by the government – for which the President himself said he was personally following up on efforts to bring the situation to normalcy – ordinary Rwandans still felt they had to contribute. By Wednesday this week, cash donations were at Rwf700m coming from Rwandans of all walks of life to support compatriots who were most affected by floods and mudslides. Corporate entities have also been actively supporting the effort by offering material support. This is the spirit that has characterized Rwanda post-genocide and which must be nurtured and sustained for generations to come for the country to continue on its development trajectory.

Opinions

The volunteerism spirit must be sustained