The Salvation Army in Rwanda is undertaking a programme to help people who have been made to leave Tanzania and settle in Rwanda. Salvation Army International Emergency Services worker Major Daryl Crowden writes about one of the people the Army is hoping to help:
LIKE most of the people living in Gituro – a new community on top of a barren hill in Rwempasha, Rwanda – Mary is confused and concerned.
Her parents and extended family were among thousands of people who left Rwanda in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In search of a safe place where they could provide a home and a future, they settled in a village in neighbouring Tanzania and quickly became part of the life of their new community.
In 1970 Mary was born. She knew the stories of Rwanda and learned her parents' language, but she was Tanzanian. The country was her home – she went to school there, her parents were part of all that happened in the community and they paid their taxes. Mary got married, started her family and buried her parents there. Tanzania was home.
Twelve months ago she had a good life with her husband and children. They had a nice house, the children were doing well in school, their cattle were at last returning some income and they were happy. That was until the day the Tanzanian Government informed them they had to leave and 'return' to Rwanda.
In that moment Mary lost all she owned and any hope she had to provide for her children. Taking only what they could carry, Mary and many of her extended family were transported across the border to a returnee camp in Rwanda, where they stayed until the Government assigned them one hectare of land for each family on the top of a barren hill in Rwempasha. The new settlement is now home to 218 people. Estimates suggest that by the end of 2007, around 60,000 people will have been forced to leave their homes in Tanzania and resettle in Rwanda.
'The Rwanda Government has been good to us,' Mary says. 'They gave us the land, provide us with some maize and have promised free health care; but life is hard, especially for our children. They don’t understand why this has happened.'
Government policy is that children must be integrated into existing schools, rather than building new schools for returnees – a policy which is supported by aid agencies – so Mary’s oldest child walks about five kilometres each morning to the closest school, together with the other older children, where they are welcomed by the local communities. Despite this welcome, Mary says, 'It is very hard on our children. Life is no longer on track – they are lost.'
Up to four times a day Mary and the other families walk about three kilometres to collect water from a dirty waterhole which they share with the local cattle. Their sanitation facilities consist of holes they have dug themselves and surrounded with brush.
'In Tanzania my life depended on keeping livestock,' says Mary. 'My family were shepherds but now I must learn to grow vegetables.' There is no option as the meagre rations they are provided with do not go far enough. In a region which sees little rainfall and in ground that has for centuries been cattle country this is a tough ask – and yet there are the green shoots of sweet potatoes, maize and cassava visible on the hill.
The Salvation Army in Rwanda has recently gained the support of the District Government and Central Government to begin a water and sanitation project for the people in this community in Rwempasha. Over the next two months they hope to provide a bore well and hand pump for the community, as well as dig pit latrines and shelters for each family.
Two officers have arrived from International Headquarters Emergency Services to support the regional Salvation Army team. They have met with community members on a number of occasions and have begun the process of facilitating the formation of community committees. The contractor has been engaged and the materials are on their way.
It is hoped that within the next two months The Salvation Army will have the privilege of being part of a process that transforms the lives of some of Rwanda’s most marginalised people.
Funding for some of the project has already been allocated but more money is being sought to enable a house-building project which will provide good, permanent accommodation for people who have nothing.
