Rwanda background
Rwanda is a small landlocked country, around the size of Wales, in the Great Lakes region of Africa and sits just south of the Equator. The population is young; the average age of the total 12.5 million Rwandans is just 20. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa, with 70% of the working population involved in agriculture, predominantly subsidence agriculture with dependence on the vagaries of the rainy seasons.
1994 was a calamitous year for Rwanda, with a horrifying slaughter aimed at eliminating the Tutsi minority. Estimates range from 800,000 to 1.1 million deaths, accompanied by half a million rapes and other atrocities. The Genocide against the Tutsi was accompanied and followed by mass migrations into neighbouring countries. Rwanda is respected internationally for the way in which the country has been rebuilt since the Genocide in 1994, but poverty remains a huge issue despite steady progress in addressing it. In 2015 a Government report estimated that 39% of the population live below the poverty line – the level of income required to live adequately – and 16% live in extreme poverty.
Health services have also been steadily improving. Nevertheless malaria, diarrheal diseases and tuberculosis remain prevalent and the level of child mortality, which has seen massive improvement, is still high with 5% of children dying before age 5. HIV infection, a common problem in sub-Saharan Africa, affects 2.6% of the population. And child malnutrition is a significant issue in rural areas with 38% of children’s development affected.
The education system in Rwanda offers free primary and secondary education for children for up to 12 years, but only around 70% of children complete primary education. Responsibility for provision of school uniforms and materials lies with children’s families, which for the poorest proves a heavy burden, and in addition the pressures of poverty cause children to be removed from school to supplement income or take on household chores.
The United Nations Development Programme ranked Rwanda in terms of its Human Development Index (a composite statistic assessing a long and healthy life, education and standard of living) as 158th out of the 189 countries covered in 2017. The country is making significant progress year on year, but the scale of the work to be done remains huge.
Kayonza district
Our partner SACCA is based in Kayonza, a market town situated at a major junction where the road to neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania divides. Kayonza district lies in the relatively dry Eastern part of the country, which has been increasingly affected by poor rains due to the effects of climate change. Livelihoods are predominantly agricultural.
Eastern and Southern provinces have relatively high numbers of street children compared to the other provinces outside the capital, Kigali. There are an estimated 200 children on the streets of the district, with the numbers increasing during times of hardship (like droughts). When they first leave home for the streets children are drawn to market towns like Kayonza to seek a means of living.
Community in Rwanda
Rwanda is very community-oriented, most obviously in the observance of Umuganda, where the country shuts down on the last Saturday of every month to allow for community service by the whole population. The tradition of Ubudehe, where community action and mutual support addresses the problems in a community, is encouraged by Government and increasingly social welfare initiatives are aimed at supporting the poorest categories of households using Ubudehe to identify need and distribute assistance.
Our partner SACCA is very much part of the community where it is based, and links in to Ubudehe to strengthen the work it does with the families in its district.