Prisoners get free eye glasses

The Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), on Wednesday, received a donation of 8,100 pairs of eyeglasses from Deseret International Charities (DIC) from the US.

Friday, April 20, 2012
The Head of DIC in Rwanda, Brad Wilkers (R) while handing over some of the spectacles to Mary Gahonzire. The New Times / Timothy Kisambira.

The Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), on Wednesday, received a donation of 8,100 pairs of eyeglasses from Deseret International Charities (DIC) from the US.DIC is an NGO attached to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,  also known as the Mormon Church."We are really impressed by the progress made so far by the Rwandan government in as far as the prisons management in the country is concerned. The social welfare of the inmates is totally good and it’s in this regard that we also decided to contribute these eye spectacles to RCS to help those with eye defects,” said Brad Wilkers, head of DIC in Rwanda.He noted that his organisation was pleased to have partnership with RCS, saying one of their goals is to support various developmental programs which promote the social welfare of general population in the world including inmates.The Deputy Commissioner General of RCS, Mary Gahonzire, welcomed the donation, saying it would facilitate the prisons education programmes since some inmates were failing to read due to eye defects.Gahonzire, explained that RCS would work with opticians before distributing the spectacles.She added that apart from the donation, the organisation had committed to train warders in accounting and effective utilisation of organisation’s resources.