I want my daughter to live a better life

I am Immaculate Mukandamagye and I am 26 years old. I live in Nyakwibereka Village in Nyanza District, in the Southern Province of Rwanda. I’m a daughter of the late Desire Muganga and Marie Claire Mukagatare; they both died during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Three of us survived the killings in our family of twelve children. I am the eldest amongst my siblings. I started taking care of my two sisters at the age of nine years after the death of my parents. We stay in an unfinished five-bed roomed house which belonged to our parents. Managing a child headed household is one of the most challenging things in life. I stay with my 21-year-old sister while my other sister went to Kigali City in search for a better life. Since I dropped out of school during my second year of secondary school education, due to financial constraints, I couldn’t support my sister either. When I was 25 years, I thought I had found a companion, but when I gave birth, he left us claiming that he cannot look after us. I try to work hard by using my neighbors‘s garden to grow beans and sweet potatoes which we eat and if there is any surplus, I sell it in the market for money. My daughter is a year and my dream is to work hard and make sure her future is brighter than mine. Although it will require my whole strength to make it up to her, I am determined to fulfill this dream. Ends