RWANDA National Olympic and Sports Committee (RNOSC) in partnership with affiliated sports federations have pledged to construct a house worth Rwf2.5m to provide shelter to a homeless Genocide orphaned family of four living in Gacurabwenge Sector of Kamonyi District.

The development was confirmed by the coordinator of RNOC’s commemoration activities, Gustave Nkurunziza on Tuesday in a news conference at Amahoro National Stadium.

The news conference was aimed at briefing the sports fraternity about the major activities that will comprise this year commemoration week.

The commemoration week in the sporting community started on Monday May 30 and will run up to Sunday, June 5.

"This year’s sports commemoration week will comprise of three components; a walk to remember on Friday, Genocide memorial tournaments in various sports’ disciplines and the last one will be constructing a house for a homeless family that was orphaned by the Genocide,” said Nkurunziza.

Nkurunziza clarified that the walk to remember scheduled for tomorrow will start from the Kimihurura roundabout near the Convention Centre and end at Kigali Indoor Stadium where they will be addressed by different officials and sports personalities who survived the Genicide.

The memorial tournaments have already begun including Gisembe Memorial tournament in basketball, Tennis Memorial, Kigali International Peace Marathon and Race to Remember in cycling which have already been concluded.

The tournaments for handball, cricket, motor rally and peace cup are expected to start soon, according to him.

Concerning the construction of the house for the survivor family, he said that over 30 federations will each contribute Rwf50, 000 to make Rwf1.5m while the remaining Rwf1m will come from the Olympic Committee.

The family was selected in collaboration with National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG).

Since 2014, the Ministry of Sports and Culture, and the Rwanda National Olympic Committee, have been encouraging national sports federations to organize memorial tournaments in honour of players, coaches, administrators and fans of their respective disciplines killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

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