I am not a population-control propagandist, and will therefore not complain about the high fertility rate of Rwandan women.

However, what surprises me is the growing number of young women who have children but do not live with their children’s fathers. I do not refer to women whose partners are dead.

Granted, our mothers give us food from the breast; change pampers and sees us off to slumber-lands. In many situations in the home, the typical African father is mostly a remote parent.

This may now be leading young Rwandan women to believe that with a good job, a comfortable home and a devoted housemaid, one can make a family.

There are many roles which men alone are expected to play in a family and not have women acting as both father and mother. Rwanda is quickly becoming a country of ‘absentee-landlords’, a ‘moms-only’ affair!

Kimironko