For the fifth time, Iwawa Rehabilitation and Skills Development Centre is set to pass out over 1,000 youth who have spent a year at the facility located on the Iwawa island on Lake Kivu.This will bring to close to 4,000 the number of youth who have gone through the centre, majority of whom are former drug addicts, idlers and street children.According to experts, the serene environment of the island provides an excellent setting for drug addicts to recover from their addiction.However, it is not obvious that graduates would not revert to their old ways after they have graduated and sent back to their respective communities.Nicolas Niyongabo, the centre’s coordinator, compares the rehabilitation exercise to bathing a child but with no guarantee that they will not get back into the mud.Marie Louise Uwimana, the Gasabo District vice-mayor in charge of social affairs, said poverty and idleness are some of the challenges that lead the youth into drugs."We should aim at eliminating such challenges,” she says, adding that when those graduates return to their communities and remain idle and poor, chances are high that they will revert to their old ways.As part of the efforts, she cited the creation of Cooperative Ubuzima Bushya or ‘new life’ based in Kacyiru Sector, Gasabo District, which brings together 60 youths who graduated from Iwawa.The cooperative started last year and received Rwf15 million from the district and the money was used to buy tool kits of masonry, carpentry, tailoring, welding, and agriculture, the disciplines taught at Iwawa.  The district also gave them a place to stay and set up their workshop, which now offers various services.Thomas Nkuriyehe, the head of the cooperative, says: "We were detested at the beginning. People thought we were the same old drug addicts and alcoholics and held us in contempt.”Nkurikiye said they were tested through the little work they used to get, whereby, producing quality work and delivering on time helped broaden the clientile base with changing people’s perception towards them."We are honest people, who participate in all community projects,” Nkurikiye said, adding that the cooperative has over Rwf2 million in savings.The youth have been grouped into five groups; the carpenters, the welders, the tailors, masons and farmers. What surprises many is the solidarity they exhibit. When a group involved in one activity is out of work, the others employ them.Currently, the farmers are out of work but, according to Nkurikiye, they have been employed by the masons as porters. The masons won a tender to construct a bungalow in Kinyinya Sector."In the future, we may all shift to farming,” said Nkuriyehe, adding that the centre teaches them  several disciplines."We are not making a lot of money currently but optimistic that the future is very bright,” said Jean Paul Ahishakiye, 23, a member of the cooperative.He said he lost his job as a waiter in a hotel over abusing drugs, and he was sent to Iwawa, where he received both counselling and training in carpentry.Proud partnersUbuzima Bushya is now helping the City of Kigali to draw other youth from destitution.With their 15 tailoring machines, they have attracted women in different illicit activities like sex workers and hawkers, whom they have taught tailoring.Marie Chantal Nyirabizimana, a former street vendor, said: "Our brothers here have been great. I was a hawker in the city and often had run-ins with law enforcers. I made so little from this and I was on several occassions arrested.”The married woman is now operating her own small workshop, having gone through the training at the youths’ workshop.Different stakeholders are trying a number of initiatives to help Iwawa graduates become responsible citizens, impacting their communities positively.Operating in the environs of Amahoro National Stadium, the Anti-Drug Organisation of Rwanda (ADOR) is another cooperative made up of 108 Iwawa graduates.Started in May 2012, the objectives of this organisation include fighting drugs among the youth, particularly the Iwawa graduates.The graduates sensitise fellow youth during gatherings and door- to-door campaigns. The organisation also lobbies for job opportunities for its members.Mudashishwa Bagambake, the head of ADOR, said so far, ten members have secured jobs with construction companies.Inspiration to parents.Last week, Tabara Mubyeyi, a forum of parents with children who are at Iwawa and those that passed through the centre, joined their hands against drug abuse.The forum with over 100 parents, operates from Kimisagara Youth Centre in Nyarugenge District.Odette Dusabemariya, the vice-president of the association said the aim was to deter the youth who graduate from Iwawa slipping back into drug addiction."Some of us get traumatised by the bad life that our children lead,” she said.The association is also championing anti-drug campaigns, and advocates for the enforcement of laws punishing drug dealers and abusers.