Since childhood, Emmanuel Nsabimana has had to take care of his four little siblings, enduring the biggest challenge of accommodation.

Nsabimana, 25, is a resident of Taba Village in Mukura Sector of Huye District. The village consists of 64 households of which 61 are of Genocide survivors, including one for eight elderly women whose children were wiped out in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

It also hosts three Rwandans evicted from Tanzania.

Today, Nsabimana said Huye District has built for them housing units, so the burden of facing up to demanding landlords is no more.

"Getting shelter is the first thing we needed and we are happy with it,” Nsabimana said.

However, he said life for the residents is challenging because there are people without farmland yet they don’t have jobs.

He said they need farm land to address their food needs.

"Once the plots are availed, we can cultivate crops such as maize and vegetables. We can also carry out poultry farming, hence achieve self-reliance. We consider agriculture and livestock rearing the best project that can benefit us,” he said.

Nsabimana was speaking last week after Rwanda Red Cross donated to them domestic equipment and food items worth Rwf4.6 million as part of New Year celebrations.

Marie Goreth Mukabacondo, 61, one of the beneficiaries said apart from land, basic needs was among their other challenges.

"Since the Genocide, I had no accommodation until May last year when we got these houses. I used to till people’s gardens for a living and seek accommodation from other people. I still do such work for a living, but due to my advanced age, I’m not strong as I used to be. For the elderly people like me, we need support,” she said.

"This donation has made us very happy. It has shown us that there are people who care about our lives, that we are not in solitude.”

The donations included utensils, clothes, 200 blankets, 200 mats, 63 jerrycans, 650 kilogrammes of sosoma flour, 17o women’s ‘Kitenge’ clothes and 480 bars of soap.

Immaculé Nzabamwita, another elderly survivor, called for support to set up income generating projects for self-reliance.

The Rwanda Red Cross coordinator in Gisagara and Huye districts, Robert Muyenzi, said the donation was in the framework of unity and reconciliation, building love and social life.

He said a technocrat would be availed soon to help them carry out a study on a lucrative project that the residents can do, suggesting that helping them as a cooperative would be sustainable.

The village has four students at university, six students in secondary school and 31 in primary school.

Joseph Kagabo, Huye local government official, commended the Red Cross for supporting social protection initiatives.

He said the district leadership, together with its partners, will do its best to ensure that the Taba Village becomes a model village.

He said after common cow sheds are built, residents will be given cows to practice livestock farming.

Kagabo said the district is planning to get land for the group through marshland development to grow crops for food security.

The district, in partnership with the Unity Club, closely monitors the elderly in the village and ensures that they get timely treatment when needed, he said.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw