NATASHA’S CHRONICLES: The First Lady

There is a lot can I say about Rwanda‘s First Lady but above all we are truly blessed with a brilliant FirstLady. Slung users would join me in saying ‘ahaa…we have a first lady and a half!’ We have and continue to witness her efforts to promote, inspire, protect and dignify the Rwandan girl. Unlike the infamous Marie Antoinette, her heart is with her people; she finds it worth lifting Rwandan young ladies out of the traditional fever of gender imbalance. She makes it her responsibility that every woman is able to doing something to benefit all. She does so by leading projects of the girl- child. She understands that the girl- child tomorrow’s mother of the nation, tomorrow’s leader, tomorrow’s teacher (at home and away), tomorrow’s national pride, tomorrow’s example, tomorrow’s first lady, even tomorrow’s president! I’m sure we’ve all seen these efforts that she puts, of course beginning with her herself being a true role-model of the ultimate ‘Rwandan lady’; upholding the culture, the courage to face the challenges we ladies will encounter yet still stand out. She has provided this moral support to us as her own daughters; we know this every time she stands to speak to us. We probably know of her initiative to give financial and moral support to survivor ladies to cope with unfortunate life after the genocide. We also must know of her passion to boost any competent young lady mainly in academics where she awards and grants scholarships to the highest performing girls every year. The scholarships cover both within the country and abroad especially for science students. Many of these lucky ladies in fact, would have never made it to a good school with a quality education. I won’t have to convince you to acknowledge her advocacy for women rights. Along with women ministers, the First Lady have in their own ability, voiced out the essentiality of respect for women and it has definitely not been a waste of time. Now, one thing that is attached to the first lady almost as much as her own name is the famous ‘IMBUTO foundation’ meaning ‘seeds foundation’ no wonder she has a vision for Rwandan girls; she sees them as seeds that, with good care, will germinate and multiply! You may say ‘she’s only doing her job’ but surely… it takes more than just duty to get to where she has gotten us to. She is just an inspiration in the making, for what she believes and does. God bless her more. About the support she gives our President both by virtue of marital position and also of citizenship, I have this to say “behind every great man, there is a great woman”. No wonder he wins awards all the time! Long live our 1st lady! hozatash@yahoo.com