My Journey to IWAWA the Island of Hope

From Gisenyi town, I headed for Serena Hotel Kivu, where all the people who were going to attend the first graduation at Iwawa were supposed to board boats to the island. Being the first time I was to travel by boat, I won’t lie, I was scared. The waves that kept beating the boat from the sides made the whole situation the more eerie for me. Matters could not get any worse than when the boat run out of fuel. Suddenly the engine just stopped. The boatman who seemed a seasoned one too, made light of the situation saying that the boat had stopped so that those who wanted to answer nature’s call would do so. Now, that was one joke I am only appreciating as I write down this experience knowing am all safe on land. Imagine being in the middle of a lake on a boat swaying with each coming wave. I thought we were doomed to drown. I almost answered nature’s call unawares, in my pants. Call me a coward if you want. Another who had picked on the joke, asked how the women would answer nature’s call as their male counterparts seemed to be better suited to do so, just in case. After refuelling, we continued with the journey, and in about one and a half hour, we could see the Island from a distance and finally anchored. We were welcomed by Marines and some of the centre’s students dressed in sky-blue shirts and brown trousers. The smiles on their faces really described the life on the Island; it was not the kind detractors of Rwanda want to portray. The breeze on the island was so refreshing as one stretched one’s legs from the journey.“Murakaza Neza”, literally meaning you are welcome were the words that these brothers were telling every visitor that was disembarking the boat. We were led to the place were the function was to take place. We were welcomed with lovely songs from the graduates. The graduates were dressed in uniforms that represented the departments they were trained in. Prime Minister Bernard Makuza, the Guest of Honour arrived within an hour. This was followed by a tour of the area and the various activities the students engage. These included agriculture, Carpentry, Tailoring, beekeeping and the dormitories where the students rest from. After the tour, the Prime Minister was led to where the graduation would be held. He was greeted with song, dance and radiant cheerful faces. After the speeches, parents interacted with their now rehabilitated children and those who had come to be part of this momentous ceremony. But was the graduation ceremony the end of it all? For Patrick Harerimana, who graduated as a carpenter, this was just the beginning of a brighter future but that the memories would always live with him. “Am going to miss this place,” he said before revealing that ironically, when he was brought to the vocational school, he thought that all was done with his life. “The distance from my home in Kimisagara, the friends I used to hang out with were nowhere to be seen. This changed everything at that time and to me life seemed like hell,” he said. With a sigh, a smile broke on his face. He revealed that after some time his life seemed to change for the better. It dawned on him that he had actually wasted his life before he was taken to Iwawa because he made mistakes thinking he was doing the right things. “You know many times we do bad things thinking that we are right, forgetting that instead we are going in the wrong direction, but I thank God that I was brought to this place which has moulded me and given me back my life,” “I have learnt a lot and I think I am going to use the skills to make my future better”. “Am going to miss this place, the new friends that matter, more especially Ntapaka, the environment which has really changed my life…I mean my turning point, and as well as the teachers. It’s been great and I hope to be visiting it always,” Harerimana concludes with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Bosco Hakizimana who is now a qualified tailor showed displeasure about the bad image portrayed about the centre. “A lot has been said about this vocational school calling it all sorts of names among them Prison, but have you ever seen a prison without a wall fence?” he asked. “People should come and visit and see what is taking place here,” he advised. He went ahead to express his appreciation of the vocational centre. “When I was brought here one year ago, I was a different person. My character was terrible in that at one point I thought that no one would change my life because of the bad company of friends I had. Nothing was on my mind except weed (marijuana),” he said. “I used to call myself a gangster, a name I got from a western movie (he doesn’t recall the title of the movie). I had even begun developing feelings of murder,” he said, adding that weed makes one think of doing unimaginable and usually terrible things. Hakizimana said that he hopes to an ambassador to his age mates and friends. “Since I have finished my tailoring course life is going to be different and I am now seeing my future as a bright one,” he said with a confident smile. The now skilled tailor said that he has learnt to live with people in society, being responsible, valuing his life, respecting people in society, loving others, among others. Personally, I was humbled by this journey.