Kinigi: Where residents are reaping the 'gorilla dividend'

On a rainy Wednesday morning, 80 year-old Theopiste Nyirabikali was sitting in a half demolished house. She sat on a wobbly chair with stagnant water under her feet, and one would wonder if the rain was falling outside or inside her house. Her house was leaking and muddy, it didn’t look habitable at all. Even the frame of the Virgin Mary that was hanging in a corner was not visible anymore. This has been her life for a while now. After losing her husband and seven children during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, life became hard. It’s the well-wishers who came together to construct Nyirabikali a house, but because of limited means, it wasn’t firm enough to last for years. Her dream for a proper home has for long been elusive. In the late 1980s, she had tried to inherit her parents’ land, but the leaders denied her the right, saying a Tutsi like herself would only give them more trouble if she owned land. “They said my relatives (Tutsi people in general) would come and kill them all. I know the place even now, but I let them take it from me so they wouldn’t hurt me,” she added. But this is all in the past now since she will be moving into a brand new house. At the age of 80, Nyirabikali is finally getting her dream house. She is one of more than 80 residents of Kinigi and Nyange Sectors in Musanze District who have started benefiting from development activities aimed at supporting communities living around Volcanoes National Park, some of which are getting free furnished houses. Kinigi, where she lives, has made a name for itself, and it is not just because of the Irish potatoes named after the village- which are the best quality in the country. The village has also become synonymous with its ever cold weather. Two pullovers may not be enough for someone used to the capital city’s weather. It is almost always cold and foggy. Well, besides this, Kinigi is also the headquarters of the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda’s most visited tour destination and a first priority for most- if not all travellers. It is where among other species, the silverback gorillas are found. Every year since 2005, thousands of locals and friends of Rwanda gather there to name baby gorillas as a means to give value to them and improve conservation, making the village even more known. In 2004, locals living in the park area formed Sabyinyo Community Livelihood Association (SACOLA), a community based non-profit located in Kinigi, primarily geared for the conservation and support of the Volcanoes National Park and surrounding population. This association was named after Sabyinyo, an extinct volcano in the Virunga Mountains and the oldest in the range, which is shared by Rwanda, Uganda and the DR Congo. In their early years, SACOLA managed to inform the locals about the importance of the park and conservation. At the time, it was just for rain, fresh air, national revenue, and maybe jobs. But this was either general for the whole Rwandan population or for those who have the energy or qualifications to work. However, in 2007, SACOLA got their high end Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge built; its rentals and community fees are invested in driving socio-economic and conservation initiatives in Nyange and Kinigi Sectors. It is Rwanda’s first ever community owned lodge, and is now one of the main sources of funds that SACOLA uses in its activities, such as building for the vulnerable, donating cows, lending money to female entrepreneurs, among others. “We work with the local government to know the most vulnerable people who need our services. We build houses for them, give them cows, or lend them money without charging them interest,” Pierre Celestin Nsengiyumva, the Chairperson of SACOLA said. That is how Nyirabikali and several of her neighbours got their houses. She even made a joke that gorillas provide milk, “ingagi zirakamwa”, a saying usually used with cows to explain wealth, peace or wellness. In fact, one of her neighbours, Florida Mukarurema, was given a cow in 2018, and because of how well she took care of it, they rewarded her with a house. In her village, they know her as the ‘grass lady’ because she is always on her way to get grass for her now two pregnant cows. In this village, one would hardly walk a kilometre without seeing a house that was built by SACOLA or projects they fund, such as mushroom growing. Even the centre, which looks modern, with a line-up of shops, restaurants, coffee and tea bars, and more, the SACOLA cybercafé is spotted right in the middle. The projects are under the revenue sharing scheme that was established by the government of Rwanda in 2005, where 5 percent of all tourism revenues were invested in development projects in communities adjacent to all national parks. This was increased to 10 percent in 2017. SACOLA alone has managed to fund school construction, model villages, gorilla conservation, traditional dancers, textiles and handicrafts, technology, agriculture, and environmental conservation. As of 2019, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) had already disbursed Rwf 5.34 billion to the communities living around Volcanoes, Akagera and Nyungwe National Parks. Rwanda’s tourism revenues increased by 25 percent from $131 million in 2020 to $164 million in 2021, which is expected to support development projects even further.

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Kinigi: Where residents are reaping the 'gorilla dividend'