NGORORERO – For so long, residents of the rural Karera Village, Torero Cell in Ngororero District, believed that electricity was a luxury and out of their reach for them. But one day in 2011, a member of their community mobilised them to achieve what they had long thought was unachievable – lighting their village.Dermon Kwitonda, 26, approached fellow residents, and challenged them on the idea of setting up a mini-hydropower plant. But many of them were reluctant, suggesting the proposal was far-fetched. “It was not easy. People could not understand my idea,” Kwitonda, who works as a cleaner at the district office, recalls. “No one could figure out how residents in such a far-flung area, deep in the countryside, could ever access electricity. It was like a utopia.”But after discussions, some residents started to buy into his idea, the father of two says. He then presented them with a detailed Rwf8.5 million project proposal to set up a micro-hydropower plant in the area.“ But the persistent question was where to get the money. The amount looks little, but it is really too much for us,” Kwitonda tells The New Times.“To take on the challenge, we formed a cooperative and started contributing little money until we collected enough funds to kick-start our project.” Each one of them contributed Rwf50, 000 towards the project.The cooperative, which they named Abibumbiyehamwe (together as one), initially began with 30 members but members have since increased to 115.In the following months, they started to build their plant on the nearby Nyiramuhondi river that generated 13 Kilowatts upon completion. The power plant was officially commissioned in May 2012.“Today, 60 families are connected to our electricity grid,” Kwitonda proudly says. “We plan to connect all our members and over 200 households have expressed the interest in accessing the power. We also plan to connect three local schools,” Kwitonda, who is the head of the cooperative, says.“ I am proud my idea became a reality. What was perceived as a dream has now become true,” he adds.As a result, there has been a scramble among area residents to equally benefit from this initiative. Those already benefiting now attest the project transformed their lives, saying they now wear ironed clothes and listen to radio.For the sustainability of the project, Abibumbiyehamwe requests residents willing to be connected to the electricity to pay a subscription fee of Rwf50, 000 as well as a monthly contribution of Rwf1,000 and 1,500 for members and non-members, respectively.“After a few months of operations, we have realised that this is a sustainable project,” Kwitonda, observes. After successfully connecting residents in Karera village to electricity, the cooperative has now set sights on extending power to other rural areas in Ngororero District.“We need to see every single household in this district access electricity although we have a challenge of funding,” Kwitonda adds. “But we are determined and hope we shall do it”.Ngororero District mayor Gideon Ruboneka told The New Times such initiatives were important for the district’s development programme. “We are ready to support such initiatives because we believe they are vital in the development of this district,” he said, adding that the district had earmarked Rwf150 million to support developmental projects initiated by area residents in the current fiscal year.
