Hope Hostel, also known as AERG/One Dollar Campaign complex, is one of the places designated to shelter migrants and asylum seekers from the United Kingdom. In fact, the first group, which arrives on Wednesday June 15, is supposed to be hosted at the Kagugu-based hostel. Built to shelter survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, especially orphans who were students but didn’t have families to go to during holidays, the hostel was opened in 2014 and initially hosted 192 residents. The initiative to build the hostel came about in 2009 through contribution of at least one dollar from initially Rwandans living abroad and later those in Rwanda, and different institutions. Inside different rooms of the compound Julienne Uwacu, Executive Director of the Community Resilience Department in the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE), disclosed that over the past eight years, government used about Rwf2.3bn for daily maintenance and provisions for the building and subsistence of its occupants. “The complex was under the management of the Association of Genocide Survivors Students (AERG) but things to do with food, healthcare, electricity, water, house maintenance and other necessary materials was taken charge by the government,” she said. She added: “They were people from various backgrounds with different needs and the government in collaboration with different associations arranged for discussions and sessions aimed to provide them with mental healthcare, she added. However, Uwacu said that the agreement that bound both the occupants and AERG – the caretakers of the property, also made provisions for when one can longer live there. The provision indicated that six months after graduation, one would leave the hostel with a package including a subsistence allowance of five months and Rwf1million funding for his or her project. 60 per cent of the fund was given to kick-start the project and 40 per cent after demonstrating how the money was used. Other conditions to leave the house included for those who couldn’t pursue their studies because of personal reasons (other than medical reasons), those who left on their own will, or those who defied the guidelines set for a conducive environment for all, Uwacu noted. “The funding is the same for all except those who are still in university whom we help with Rwf100,000 monthly allowance in addition to university scholarship they have. They can’t combine school with an income-generating project,” she explained. Since 2019, occupants left in different phases until the last 22 (13 of them who graduated and nine still in university) who have also since found new homes in May, 2022. “They were given two options; either to be relocated into a new fitting home and be provided with everything as was the case in ODC or be given money to find their separate accommodation. Uwacu said the fact that last occupants are leaving the hostel has nothing to do with the Rwanda-UK migration deal, given that plans to relocate them were already ongoing prior to the deal, owing to the untenable operation expenses. “Only 22 among the 192 people were remaining, meaning that there would have come a time when it would have zero occupant. What was AERG going to do in that case?” she said. AERG already had plans of turning the facility into an income-generating residential building to help them in their different activities and benefit members including those who do not stay in the hotel. The complex has capacity to accommodate 200 people in two storied buildings, a dining area, and a sizeable compound with a tent for ceremonial occasions. Uwacu emphasized that money that will be generated from hosting UK migrants will go directly into AERG according to the agreement they have with the involved parties. Hope Hostel is among three facilities expected to host migrants and asylum seekers set to be sent from the United Kingdom. The other two facilities are Desire Resorts Hotel, and Hallmark Residences. The Migration and Economic Development Partnership concerns all the migrants and asylum seekers who arrived in the UK illegally from January 1, 2022, and the first group will arrive in Rwanda on June 15. Those who will come have the option of applying for asylum locally and be facilitated to resettle in Rwanda or be facilitated to return to their home country, having received support through the programme.
