‘Survival for the fittest’ Work or die poor!

Jean Baptiste Tuyishime was only 13 when he started working at Kimironko central market as a turn boy to raise money for a living. For more than nine hours a day, Tuyishime and his older brother Cyprian Habimana, 15, would run after people who come to the market, asking them whether they needed any help to carry their items. “We earn between one thousand and one thousand and fifty on a good day,” says Tuyishime. “But sometimes my brother earns lesser than that because he is lazy.” For two years, this has been Tuyishime’s life. But his is not alone. There are plenty of children of his age, and others who are much older than him who are doing the same odd jobs to earn a living. The cost of having lunch at the market is deducted from his daily pay. When he was nine, his family decided to move to Kigali from Gisenyi. New neighbours and close friends convinced his parents to send him to school because he was brilliant. But it wasn’t easy for the impoverished family. Tuyishime can neither read, nor write, but alongside his hassling life, he is also struggling to raise money to sustain his family. He wishes to join school, but the reality of life has pulled him away from achieving his dream. “Education contributes to building a protective environment for all children and it’s a mechanism for opening up choice, which lies at the heart of the definition of development,” says John Ntambara, a teacher Lycee de Kigali. The world is advancing at a rapid rate. In other words, it’s “Survival of the fittest”, a famous phrase by Herbert Spencer. This means that whoever is incapable of moving at full speed, will either die of poverty, or steal and be jailed. 35 year-old Maria Mugwaneza is among those poverty stricken women in the country. But somehow, she managed to secure herself a job as a road sweeper. She is a widow and mother to five children, of whom, only two have been lucky to go to school. “I’m poor and the kind of work I do, doesn’t earn me enough money to cater for the entire family,” laments Mugwaneza. She wakes up very early in the morning and starts sweeping the road, before it gets busier with cars and passers-by. “It’s a risky job because it exposes us to road accidents. Besides, we are paid peanuts that cannot even meet our needs. “Don’t ask. I’m more of a dead person despite being alive. The whole day I am by the roadside cleaning, and I have no choice but to persist with this kind of job.” Despite the road accident risks and the peanuts she is paid, Mugwaneza considers herself lucky to be working. There are very many women in the same situation like hers in the country, who do not have jobs, but have to look after their families. Such women have no choice but to sell their bodies in search of money to cater for their families. David Habimana, 48, lives in Migina. He complains that uneducated and poor people are often exploited by the rich, who hire them for labour, promising certain amount of money. But when the work is complete, they are sometimes paid half of it claiming that work was unsatisfactory. Often, workers in the unorganised sector are subjected to extreme injustice as they cannot raise their voice. Since workers are dependent on daily earnings to survive, they rush to offer their labour at any price and the employers cash in on their helplessness. Claudine Mukadahiro is a vendor of tomatoes and avocados in Kabeza-Giporoso, one of Kigali’s suburbs. She says that on a lucky day she earns Rwf 3000. Unfortunately, the city gentlemen (Local defence guys) are a big challenge to these poor women. When they see them on the streets trying to sell their commodities and earn a living, they chase them away saying that the act is against the rules of the city council. Sometimes they even confiscate their commodities. They chase them together with their babies on their backs, running as if they are antelopes being hunted; it is either, life or death! Now the basketfuls of merchandise spill on the road, and get destroyed by cars and passer-by. As a result, the capital and the profits diminish. Today, Rwandans are building a good reputation for the country after the 1994 Rwanda’s Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed a million lives. Most people are working in small groups to produce more efficiently. They work tirelessly to develop their skills and earn a better living. The government is also trying to restore stability and to empower all Rwandans with equal rights and opportunities to contribute to the country’s economic development. Ends