NYARUGENGE - The first day of the "One Dollar Campaign” in Kigali late Saturday saw US $ 52,617 raised in cash and pledges.

By press time, Rwf 1,760,588 cash and Rwf 27,862,800 pledges had been counted, all from members of the Diaspora, Rwandans in the country and "friends of Rwanda.”

"The one dollar campaign demonstrates many things. It demonstrates that if we put together our resources and means, whatever donation, whatever size, we can be able to achieve something huge,” Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminali said before officially launching the event.

"It also demonstrates that Rwandans inside and outside Rwanda continue to share challenges and joys all the time and that all is possible.”

The money is meant to build houses for 500 students who are orphans of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.

The fundraising campaign is scheduled to last 100 days starting April 7, as Rwandans commemorate the 1994 genocide against Tutsis for the 15th time.

The campaign idea was mooted during the Diaspora Meeting in the country last December.

Museminali praised the Diaspora for leading the way, saying that the campaign aims to bring together Rwanda and the whole world in "the cause of dealing with our own problems.”

"This global effort we believe is going to build on the resilience of these children who have survived up to today despite what they went through. It is going to build on the strong will of these young people but it is also going to build and come to the aid of the government of Rwanda’s efforts in supporting the survivors, these young people included.”

This was after Jean Baptiste Mateso a university student had given a heartrending testimony about the horrors he went through in 1994 at the tender age of 8. Several such other testimonies were also shown on film.

"Through this project, we can lessen the burden of those that survived but we can also express solidarity that within us – ourselves as Rwandans, with our friends’ support, we can deal with the problems, however, insurmountable they may look,” said Museminali.

The head of IBUKA, Theodore Seburudali, praised the initiative, saying it will give hope to the homeless orphans as well as many other survivors affected by the genocide in other ways.

IBUKA is the umbrella organisation for survivors’ organizations countrywide.

While going through the origins of the idea, Director General of the Diaspora General Directorate at Minaffet, Robert Masozera, noted that the campaign doesn’t imply that Rwanda is begging or seeking charity, but is instead, an honourable effort to make Rwandans think about helping and looking at a better future.

"The one dollar idea is just a symbolic expression but one can give as much as he can manage,” said Masozera.

Accounts dubbed the "Agaseke Diaspora One Dollar Campaign” have been opened in Belgium, Japan, Ethiopia, Sweden, Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and other countries.

Rwandans in the country have also showed interest in the project and, similar accounts are open in Banque de Kigali (BK) and Banque Populaire.

During the event, messages from the Diaspora communities world-wide were broadcast live via webcam and, thousands of dollars were also pledged globally but were not included in the amount raised.

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