Members of the Rotaract Club of Kigali over the weekend donated solar panels to 15 vulnerable families in Bugesera District, to help children in these families be able to revise their school work while at home.

The donation went to selected families from Juru Sector in Bugesera, under a programme dubbed Murikira Umwana.

Rotaract Club is a group of youths – aged between 18 and 35 – who came together to find solutions to different community challenges, mainly through pooling resources from amongst themselves and other partners.

The project aims at improving the livelihoods of those families and enable school going children to be able to revise from their homes at night after school. 

The children in these families were offered scholastic materials and sanitary items to girls.

In his remarks, Rogers Nsubuga, the president of Rotaract Club Kigali said that after observing the effects the Covid-19 pandemic had on the communities, they realized they had to reach out to families outside Kigali and help solve some of their most pressing needs.

"We visited about eight families last year in Juru sector and did a survey on what the families needed. Because of the pandemic students were studying from home but these children were disadvantaged because they didn’t have power at home, it was difficulty for children to revise,’’ he says.

The club approached the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) to help support the families and they provided solar panels and its installation, Nsubuga said.

Aimable Kadafi, the Executive Secretary of Juru sector urged the beneficiary families to take good care of the panels and told the children to take advantage of the facilities to do better in school.

"Our sector is very honoured to have been thought of by the Rotaract Club, the Kigali Rotary Club and BRD for a great contribution to help these families get lighting,” he says.

Besides having a solar panel for his family, Cedrick Uwumuremyi, a ten year-old, got an academic sponsorship from a Rotarian for an entire school year. He promised to put extra effort to do well in school.

The event was attended by senior Rotarians in the country including the US ambassador to Rwanda, Peter Vrooman.

Rotaract club of Kigali City is a community based service club chartered in June 2013 with an aim of creating a platform to transform young professionals in Rwanda into responsible citizens with a heart of giving back to the community.