Food for the Hungry/UK
Registered Charity 328273

The Gikomero Child Development Programme, Rwanda

Rwanda is a country faced with numerous major challenges in the realm of reconciliation, rehabilitation and economic development. With from 21% to 34 % female headed households, a subsistence agrarian economy, an unskilled work force and a decimated educational system (over 90% of educational professionals were killed in the genocide), the path is a rough one and there remains a tremendous amount of room for encouragement and assistance. Together with the local churches and community, we have designed a multi-faceted Child Development Programme (CDP) aimed at encouraging Christ-centred holistic development while promoting unity and reconciliation.

Objectives:

Gikomero is situated in the centre of Rwanda. It is about 20 km from Gitarama town and about 70 km from Kigali. The area has very high mountains and deep valleys, with the average altitude being almost 2000 metres. The area is drained by many small rivers. All economic activities including agriculture take place in the lowlands. The seasons favour agriculture, but farmers face a number of challenges including erosion, inadequate farmlands and loss of soil fertility.

The 2000 update of the community register showed that there are 6,329 people living in Gikomero, including 529 children under 5 years. There are 685 orphans and 192 widows, the majority of these being the result of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. HIV/AIDS is the other cause of the increasing numbers of orphans in the country.

The Gikomero Sector has three primary schools, the Anglican, Catholic and Rwesero Catholic Primary schools. The total school population for the three schools in 2000 was 1,410 children. Studies have shown that about 20% of the school children drop out before primary class six in the Sector. The reasons given for this have included the following;

• Parents say they are not able to meet the costs of education for their children especially where parents have two or more children;
• Negative factors in Rwandan culture. Many think that it is no use sending children to school when they are above 16 years. This is particularly true for the girl-child who they claim will only eventually end up in the "kitchen";
• Many parents who are themselves not educated do not see the value of education;
• Challenges with the country's educational system. There are many unemployed and under-employed school leavers in the country. Many parents therefore do not seem interested any longer in sending their children to school for long periods of time only for them to become unemployed.

About 98% of the population of Gikomero profess to be Christians (80% Catholic), but few are active church members.

Men, women and children are all generally involved in agricultural activities but children often take care of the cattle.

There are no health facilities - hospital, health centre or dispensary - in the entire sector. The nearest facility is the Nyarusange Health Centre, located about 15 kilometres away from Gikomero. It takes on average 3 hours to walk from the sector to the Centre. The main diseases found in the sector include malaria, worms, skin diseases and respiratory infections.

In general, the people of Gikomero sector eat what they grow, namely beans, cassava, sweet potatoes and banana. During long periods of drought, the people face challenges with shortage of all that they grow. Often they also have difficulty knowing how to combine the various food items to ensure proper nutrition particularly for their children and pregnant women. Cases of malnutrition and Kwashiorkor are rampant in the sector.

Surface water, in terms of rivers and springs are many in Gikomero because of the mountainous relief. Potable water for human use is however a serious problem in the sector.

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