‘One Dollar’ hostel will make a difference

Editor, Refer to the article, “Life inside the ‘One Dollar’ complex” (The New Times, January 7). We are concerned here with fellow Rwandans, some of whom lost their entire families and with that loss their entire support systems when they were little children and some even babies. The Rwandan Diaspora community was more interested in providing a home for these vulnerable young country women and men to assuage as much as is possible their feeling of being forever bereft without family or a home to go to like their fellow students during holidays. Given their similar background as very young orphans of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi they are also able to support each other emotionally, with the older ones acting as older siblings to nurture their younger “siblings” as would be the case in a biological family. I also have no doubt that measures have been put in place by AERG, the concerned authorities and even these young people themselves to instil the best moral values inherent in our culture. Yes, the number the hostel is now able to accommodate is puny compared to the need. But I am sure those who made the selection of the candidates followed objective criteria with a view to taking care of the most vulnerable first. No doubt the current number will also be increased appreciably increased once the full project is completed. Mwene Kalinda

Opinions

‘One Dollar’ hostel will make a difference