Editor, RE: "Why Bugesera women prefer the bicycle for a surprise gift” (The New Times, August 19).

Does Elias Muneza mean that women are soft and that they should not be exposed to hard activities like men? Each of these women use the bicycle for an activity that takes care of you the men.

Gaudence in the story carries sugarcane to sell in the market so that she can feed and educate her son; Donathe fetches water for the man to have a bath and wash his clothes, have a warm meal when he is home; Donathe Mukeshimana uses it to reach school on time so that she can excel her studies, become a pediatrician and treat the man’s children.

And to quote the social affairs officer, "women use their bicycles to boost the well-being of their families. They are poverty fighters and will do whatever it takes to uplift their standards of living. In some families, a wife takes her husband to hospital; or even goes to harvest crops using a bicycle. In fact, they live interdependently which is the pillar of social development.”

Bugesera women (and men who encourage this) need an award for this mental emancipation.

Kigali Girl