Genocide Survivor gets house, cow as Youth Connekt month ends

Esther Mukamusoni, an elderly Genocide survivor from Gitovu Cell of Kinazi Sector, in Huye District was on Saturday, given a house asthe YouthConnekt month in the district ended. The assistance from the youth followed weeks of homelessness after her house collapsed. The house worth Rwf3.1 million was built through partnership of the youth, religious organisations and the private Sector in Kinazi. Esther Mukamusoni opening her new house as the Huye District Mayor Eugene Kayiranga Muzuka (L) looks on at the closing of YouthConnekt month in Kinazi Sector on Saturday. She was also given a cow and household items such as utensils, beddings among others. Mukamusoni, 85, lives alone as all her nine children were killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Though still traumatised by the cruelty in which her children were killed, the elderly widow, standing in front of the new house before she entered for the first time, was smiling with joy, saying that though she lost her children; the youth had taken their place through this act of love. “I am very delighted. I feel like a bride. I will enter the house with ‘my children’, the youth, who have showed me love and share a meal with them,” she said. Esther Mukamusoni (R) receiving items from Kinazi Sector residents at the closing of YouthConnekt month on Saturday. (All photos by Emmanuel Ntirenganya) Gloriose Musabyemaria, 19, a resident of Gitovu Cell said, “We will still offer her support by regularly cleaning her home, fetching water for her and doing other chores to ensure she lives comfortably.” Odette Mukandayire, another Genocide survivor and the neighbour who had taken in the elderly widow said that despite having been given the house, Mukamusoni, at her age, needs someone to live with because she cannot do any work by herself. The coordinator of National Youth Council in Huye District, Albert Busumbingabo said the youth had achieved the target set during the YouthConnekt Month, which saw them participate in a series of activities, that also included encouraging the themselves to form cooperatives and embrace the savings culture. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Genocide Survivor gets house, cow as Youth Connekt month ends