Home sweet home: Returnees share their New Year plans

As the year begins, it is joy for many Rwandans celebrating the New Year at home for the first time since returning from exile.Azaria Karangwa, 53, returned in October 2012, from Pointe-Noire, the second largest city in the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).He returned with his wife Rose Marie Niyonsenga and their four children. The family shares a two-bed-room house in Kigali, which they rent for Rwf60,000 a month.They also have a living room where they sit and watch television, write business project proposals to submit to different funders, and dream about the future.“I love my country and feel so happy to be back home,” Karangwa said, with confidence and nostalgia.Since he came back, he has been on a temporary contract, working for the International Organisation for Migration where he helps in the logistics department.Aware that the job he has is temporary and that his wife is not likely to get a job soon since she is yet to complete her university degree programme in nursing, Karangwa decided to seek help from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (Midimar) as well as local officials.The officials asked the family to write project proposals about businesses they would like to do and submit them to different donors.Karangwa and his wife now hope that Midimar might help them get funding to set up a tailoring workshop while Gasabo District officials have also promised to help the family get funding for another business project that seeks to make different food products from soya beans.“Starting is not easy but we hope that every thing will be alright,” Karangwa said. “We hope that we will be able to implement these projects this year,” he added.The family had been living in exile for nearly 20 years until Karangwa visited Rwanda in July 2012 and then decided to come back home, after finding the country stable and prosperous.Another returnee who celebrated this New Year at home after 19 years in exile is Anastase Munyemana.He came back to Rwanda in November 2012 from Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.The 49-year-old father of two has now settled in Huye District, Southern Province, where he bought a piece of land in Simbi sector, built a small house, and is planning to raise his children on the small farm that he set up on the land.“My two children (12 and 14 years old) are happy that they are growing up in their own country,” he said.Munyemana plans to set up a a nursery school in his village in Simbi.“I would like to help in the education sector because I and my wife are both trained teachers,” he said.Clementine Mujawimana is also happy to be home after many years in exile. She returned in January 2013 from South Africa after spending 19 years in exile.Mujawimana told The New Times that she decided to return home after learning that her mother and elder sister were still alive.She is among 6,500 Rwandans who returned from exile in 2013, according to statistics obtained from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).She now lives with her mother in Nyamirambo, a city suburb. Mujawimana is a single mother of two.She earns a living by selling jewellery in Nyabugogo business area.“I did not feel safe in South Africa. It was also not easy for non-Zulu speaking people to find jobs,” Mujawimana said of her life back in South Africa’s Pietermaritzburg city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.She appealed to the Government of Rwanda to help her get a place from where to conduct her business. She says her only wish for 2014 is acquiring a place to work from.“I know God will provide for me. God always has a way and I am sure I will achieve a lot in this New Year,” Mujawimanasaid.Rwandan refugees who have been living in Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda, Zambia, DRC and Malawi lost their refugee status on June 30, 2013 when the UNHCR Cessation Clause came into force.The Rwandan government has been encouraging voluntary repatriation of refugees. The majority of Rwandans became refugees in 1950s and during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.The Cessation Clause gave refugees three options, including voluntary repatriation, local integration in host country or re-applying for asylum.The cessation clause came into force after the UNHCR realisation that the conditions which made people to flee the country were no longer in place. About 4.5 million Rwandans have so far returned home since 1994.Since the coming into force of the clause more than 2,500 Rwandans have voluntarily repatriated home.Information from Midimar indicates that about 70,000 Rwandans are still living in various African countries.Countries like Republic of Congo, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo and Mozambique have already approved the enforcement of the Cessation Clause, according to UNHCR.The Midimar minister Seraphine Mukantabana observes that it is imperative for every Rwandan to live wherever they want as Rwandan but not as a refugee.“Rwanda cannot fail to accommodate her nationals. We are prepared to welcome all the refugees and reintegrate them in their respective villages. But, most importantly, nobody is being or will be forced to repatriate,” Mukantabana said.When refugees return, the government, in collaboration with UNHCR, provides them with basic needs for six months, including shelter, food and money for upkeep, as well as transport to their villages.To those who prefer getting reintegrated in host countries, last month government started issuing them with passports to facilitate their repatriation or local reintegration process.The process begun with the official launch in Zambia and it will be extended to other countries hosting the former Rwandan refugees.

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Home sweet home: Returnees share their New Year plans