Umuganda: Pan-African youth donate to liberation war casualties

Youth members of Pan-African Movement (PAM), Rwanda Chapter, yesterday helped to connect water and electricity to over 20 homes of liberation war casualties. The war veterans, most of who lost limbs on the battlefield, live in Nyagatare District. The facilities cost over Rwf11m, which was raised by the youth members. The group had joined residents in the monthly community work ‘Umuganda’, which was also attended by Protais Musoni, the Chairperson of PAM Rwanda, and youth MPs Ernest Kamanzi and Clarisse Maniriho among other officials. Sam Kadugara, 50, who lost his leg during the struggle, said: “When they remember us like this, we get morale, and I learn that my work was not in vain. “We lived in a foreign country and felt that we would never go back to Rwanda,” he declared. “When I remember how this country was and I see how it is today, it is wonderful,” Kadugara added. “Rwandan youth, and African youth should have the culture to return the good deed,” Michael Nyarwaya Shyaka, youth commissioner at the movement, said. “Our parents are the ones who fought for this country; they left their schools, their jobs and their families behind to come and liberate this country,” he explained. Twenty-five years after the country was liberated, it is another generation, Shyaka reminded. “We said, we are mature now, so what can we do to our elders who were wounded during that struggle? That is how we got the idea of returning the good to those who had sacrificed for us,” he narrated. The deed was an introduction of the ‘Kwitura Initiative’, and the next phases are expected to proceed in other provinces and City of Kigali in the near future, to recognise the war casualties. “People disabled during the liberation struggle do not only live in Nyagatare, they are in all provinces and in the whole country, so we started here as a launch of the series of the activities,” Shyaka explained. When they visited the village, they found that some residents needed water, electricity and drainage systems. Forty-three houses were handed by the government to families of the casualties in August 2017.bThose who were not given the water and electricity facilities by Rwandan youth Pan African Movement members had managed to get them for themselves. “One would contribute rwf10,000, another rwf100,000, another rwf200,000, or rwf5,000, and so on. And then we opened a bank account so we implement our plan properly,” he pointed out. The overall aim is to thank those who brought freedom back to Rwanda, according to Shyaka. Once they are done with the phases of bringing infrastructure, they will think about income-generating provisions to the beneficiaries. “The youth commission is made up of 25 people, but there are many youth in the Pan African Movement,” he clarified. The PAM Rwanda Chapter has leadership at the national and district levels, and over 45 branches in universities and other higher learning institutions. Maj. Gen. Mubarak Muganga, RDF Division Commander in Eastern Province, said Rwanda today was in a struggle for transformation and youth are always at the forefront, like it always had been. “After the first struggle between 1990 to 1994, which saw us liberate many people, from 1994 to date, we are still fighting for the country,” he said, adding that the new struggle is for development of the country. The Rwandan PAM chapter has also established commissions at several levels, including faith based organisations, civil society organisations, trade unions and political organisations, among others. editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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Umuganda: Pan-African youth donate to liberation war casualties