Borrow a leaf from Rwanda Defence Forces

The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) is one of the trailblazing government institutions that contribute in serving the population such as the current free medical clinics extended to Genocide survivors in the Eastern Province. Not content to be the poster boy of international peacekeeping operations, where it has left a mark wherever it has served, the same resolve is also exhibited back home. Ever since President Paul Kagame launched the RDF’s community outreach programme, Army Week, on June 27, 2009, the annual event has gained momentum year after year.The military has been actively involved in many developmental and social actions. They built homes for Genocide survivors and other vulnerable sections of society, helped in the eradication of thatched houses (Nyakatsi), constructed bridges, conducted free medical clinics and helped in disaster management among other social services. These actions have also been duplicated wherever they serve in peacekeeping missions. Now the police and prisons services have also followed suit, albeit at a relatively smaller scale; so, why not other professions? If engineers could pool their knowledge and resources to serve their communities by improving infrastructure, while doctors contribute time to tend to the vulnerable just as lawyers do when they take up pro bono cases, it would ease the government’s burden and accelerate development.The same spirit should characterise all layers of society, through to the village level. As the government never fails to point out, this country’s most valuable resources are its people, and only they can dictate the pace by which the country will move towards becoming a self-sustaining society.

Opinions

Borrow a leaf from Rwanda Defence Forces