More Rwandans adopting children

The number of children being adopted by Rwandans has risen as plans to phase out orphanages gains momentum, according to Alexia Mukashema, the Technical Assistant in charge of Orphans and other Vulnerable Children in the National Children’s Commission.“Orphans are being taken up by Rwandan foster families if not reintegrated into their biological families,” Mukashema said as Mpore Pefa Orphanage, in Gikondo, a suburb in Kigali, was closed down yesterday.The government’s plan is to have all orphanages phased out by 2014 and children put in foster families. A number of other orphanages are currently seeking people to have children reintegrated into families.According to Mukashema, at first the program was slow as it were mainly foreigners asking to adopt the children, but now more Rwandans are taking up responsibilities.Mukashema noted that at first people held a negative perception thinking that the program wouldn’t work out since Rwandans wouldn’t be willing to take up the responsibility.However, by raising awareness, many Rwandans have taken responsibilityand are willing to adopt the children.This is in line with government’s plan to make sure that all children grow up in proper family structures and not institutions where they may not get proper upbringing.Mpore Pefa Orphanage, was established in 1995 with Annonciata Bamurangye as the founder alongside her late husband.It started with 100 orphans who have all been reintegrated into their Biological families and others into foster families.Bamurangye expressed her gratitude for having been able to raise the children in the orphanage even after the death of her husband.The Orphanage was being sustained through the support of various organisations together with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.The whole process of getting the orphans back into their families or finding them foster families was handled by Hopes and Homes for Children, an NGO with the objective of championing re-integration of orphans into families.According to the Country Director of Hope and Homes, Claudine Nyinawagaga, the NGO started working with the orphanage in October; 2010. It is the first to completely close, of all the 34 orphanages in Rwanda.“By the time we started working with this orphanage, there were 51 children. And we have managed to get families for all of them. It hasn’t been easy, but through awareness and educating Rwandans, many of them are now willing to take up the children and raise them as their own,” she said.She observed that they mostly encourage Rwandans to take the children and not foreigners, so that they are groomed in their culture to preserve the Rwandan dignity, social cohesion and cultural norms.Hopes and Homes will continue to follow-up on these children to ensure that they are raised in a proper and healthy family structure.