NEC employees visit child-headed homes

Employees of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Thursday visited Niboyi Peace Village, an estate of child-headed households who were orphaned by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. During the visit, NEC members who were led by its president, Prof Chrysologue Karangwa, donated domestic supplies worth 1.5 million Rwf to the orphans. The supplies included soap and sacks of rice and maize flour. In his speech, Karangwa encouraged the children to be strong with a spirit of hardwork instead of being distressed, adding that being sad and desperate makes those who made them what they are happy. “What happened to our country is beyond imagination but this is not time to be sorrowful…this only gives victory to those who subjected you to this fate, instead you should be zealous in becoming responsible citizens with a spirit of hard work for yourselves and your country to prove them wrong,” said Karangwa. He also called upon other people to be touched by the plight of such children, reach out and support them as their own, to ensure they also get a good life as they grow up. The Vice Mayor of Kicukiro District, Florence Kayirangwa, thanked the Commission employees for the good hearts and a parental responsibility they exhibited to the orphans. She also pointed out the need to consider and support the secondary group of vulnerable children who are made up of those who were born out of the vulnerability their orphan mothers were exposed to. She highlighted that these children most of whose infants were born due to the vulnerability these orphan girls were exposed to hence not being included in the support packages from the support systems. Located in Kicukiro District, Niboyi Peace Village was established in 2003 by a Rwandan woman philanthropist based in England under Uwuyisenga Nimanzi foundation and it is made up of 24 child headed households. Each household consists 3 to 7 people, each under the guidance and support of a family head. The entire estate is made up of 114 people ranging from 3 to 26 years of age of which six have so far completed University and others in secondary and primary schools. Ends