A host of celebrities living in Rwanda and in the diaspora are expected to join a campaign in support of people affected by the recent eruption of Nyiragongo Mountain. The virtual fundraising event is slated for June 12.
The volcano eruption saw hundreds of Goma residents, in the Democratic Republic of Congo leave their belongings to flee to Rwanda.
At least 7,000 residents of Goma had fled to Rwanda by the time Nyiragongo erupted.
The eruption was followed by earthquakes that hit the northwest part of the country, especially Rubavu District, damaging people's properties and infrastructure. At least 40 houses were also damaged by the earthquakes.
Dubbed "Nyiragongo Damage Our Damage Collection”, the initiative is co-organised by US-based Miss Rwanda 2012 Aurore Mutesi Kayibanda and Ernesto Ugeziwe, a media personality who currently does motivational show dubbed ‘Rwandan Hub’, an online network that brings Rwandans from across the world for a common cause on ‘Club House’.
‘Club House’ is an invitation-only social media app for iOS and Android where users can communicate in voice chat rooms that accommodate groups of thousands of people.
The duo had been discussing about organising a fund-raising event and they decided to front the idea after a number of Club House members suggested that a special event should be organised to raise funds to support people affected by the Nyiragongo eruptions.
"Initially the idea came from the Rwandan community who connected through Club House and we all felt like we could give our hand and support our fellow people who were affected by the eruption,” said Mutesi in an interview on Sunday, June 6.
As a member of the Club House community, the beauty queen said she is ready to use her name to raise awareness among Rwandans for humanitarian activities like this.
"I am passionate about helping people in need as much as I can so when this project was presented to me I couldn’t hold it back especially that it involves mothers and kids who left everything behind because of that nature disaster, I felt like I have to use my voice and the platform that I have to advocate for them,” she said.
According to Ugeziwe, a number of celebrities including musicians, DJs, socialites, social media influencers and so forth will join the ‘Rwanda Hub’ online community during the fundraising event.
"The people we’ve been connecting via Clubhouse were the ones who came up with the idea. It will be like a ‘Meet and Greet’ event during which we will be explaining what the funds are being raised for and what they will do before we encourage people to send their support. Some artists will get an opportunity to connect with their music supporters who are part of our Club House club,” he explained.
Ugeziwe said they are approaching different celebrities to join the cause so that they can help raise awareness and achieve the target funds to aid people who are yet to resettle to normal life.
"Some schools were destroyed and people are still finding a way to start life afresh after the eruption. We are working closely with International humanitarian organizations like UNHCR and Save the Children through which our contribution will be provided,” he said.
How to support
The ‘Rwanda Hub’ community has set the target to raise at least USD 15, 000 through the GoFundme platform.
People can also send their support to Aurore Mutesi Kayibanda via Cashapp or using Mobile Money on 0783-933-130.