When does a country become synonymous with its community?
Just visit Rwanda on the last Saturday of any month, and you will see it here, in this hilly East African country, where the masses – from ministers to farmers, shopkeepers to entrepreneurs – rub shoulders to become one harmonious, homogeneous entity, laying roads, digging the earth, planting trees, and cleaning gutters and drains, holding broom, shovel and spade.
The only thing that counts is the richness of the earth, the fresh mountain air and a united mission to keep the streets green and immaculately clean as a contribution to nation-building and improving the living conditions of the country’s 11.5 million citizens.
It’s on one such Saturday that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is invited to travel upcountry to Rwanda’s verdant Rulindo district, past Kigali’s bustling traffic and up the winding roads when the city’s modest skyscrapers appear no match for the country’s magnificent hills.
It’s the day the country observes Umuganda, a home-grown initiative that requires people from all walks of life, villagers and city-folk, to congregate for community work, once a month, from 7AM to 11AM.
Today, most of the action is in this northern province, where schoolgirls in blinding yellow and pink uniforms, rural women in colorful African dresses, and men in gum boots, form neat lines to take their turn planting saplings in the fertile earth.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32082 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-684x1024.jpg" alt="" width="684" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-600x898.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />
Today, they are also awaiting a special visitor, who will dig the earth with them, under the hot mid-morning sun.
The earth is an apt way to introduce Imbuto Foundation – the word ‘Imbuto’ meaning ‘seed’ or ‘fruit’ in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s local language. And the special guest is none other than the President of this foundation, Jeannette Kagame, also the nation’s much-loved First Lady, wife to the country’s dynamic President Paul Kagame.
There is collective silence and adulation when she arrives, wearing denim pants and shirt and a yellow cap, getting to work right away with the shovel. A stone’s throw away, in a classroom, young girls aged 10 to 12 are seated in a circle on straw mats, ready to welcome her.
They call this ‘the circle of friendship’, and around them are their mentors, young women themselves, aged 18 to 25.
Today is also the launch of the third year of Imbuto Foundation’s successful 12+ program in the area.
The program, in line with the national plan under the Ministry of Health, has achieved significant milestones, reaching 52,000 girls nationally over the last two years.
The girls are taught about savings, discipline and confidence, in tandem with Imbuto’s motto to ‘engage, educate and empower’. The 10- to 12-year-olds are also taught about sexual health, ground-breaking by itself, as sex is still a taboo topic in the communities, and the girls are equipped with the knowledge about their bodies early, before they transition to adolescence.
In the classroom, the girls pass around a ‘speaking ball’ to each other, taking turns to voice their opinions in Kinyarwanda. They speak with supreme confidence – unfaltering even in the presence of the First Lady – drawing their hands on the charts in front of them, promising to never break their circle of friendship. Her Excellency listens to them keenly, before they pass the ball to her, and she politely introduces herself.
Her next stop is further down the dirt road, for a community gathering after Umuganda, where she is expected to speak to the thousands gathered on the hills, patiently waiting under cheerful umbrellas for a glimpse of their First Lady.
Greeted with music, ribbons and flowers, there is rapturous applause from the crowd when she arrives. The cool country breeze complements the convivial mood. The district mayor speaks about how the previous phases of the 12+ program have influenced the girls to open bank accounts, start kitchen gardens, and importantly, stay in school.
A 10-year-old girl, Amina Merci Dieu, steps up to the podium to speak about how she built a vegetable garden, sold the vegetables she planted and persuaded her parents to open a savings account. She speaks without fear, walking up to hug the First Lady when she is done.
I am seated next to Assumpta Ingabire, Director General in charge of Local Government Inspection, who was formerly with Imbuto.
“Our First Lady is such an inspiring role model. You can share your problems with her and she always sees things in a positive way,” she says, smiling.
Such memories and milestones are significant as Imbuto celebrates its 15th year in 2016.
“Imbuto does not work in a vacuum, it works in line with national priorities, working with communities. Without our communities, things would have taken forever [to rebuild],” says Sandrine Umutoni, Acting Director General of Imbuto Foundation.
It’s a pertinent point, as the country has had to reconcile and persevere to rebuild itself after the horrific genocide against the Tutsi that killed a million of its people in 1994. The only way it could turn around was by involving its communities.
Imbuto was initially launched as PACFA (Protection And Care of Families against HIV/AIDS) working to help families and genocide survivors with AIDS. It changed its name to Imbuto at the end of 2007 incorporating a holistic model for individual development, focusing mainly on educational projects.
One of Imbuto’s flagship programs is a girls’ education campaign called Best Performing Girls (BPG).
“The girls who graduate from high school get training in IT, and also get laptops, which the First Lady hands out every year in March,” says Umutoni.
“They call her ‘mother’,” she adds. “In Kinyarwanda, when they call a person that, it means the person has accompanied you through difficult challenges, guiding you, counseling you, and providing support at specific moments in your life.”
Imbuto also organizes a Youth Forum Series every year. In addition, the foundation works with 22 cooperatives across 13 districts, introducing women to income-generating vocations. With the money, they pay for school fees and medical insurance and enter new entrepreneurial activities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32083 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-1024x684.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="684" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-600x401.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
The week that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is in Kigali to follow the First Lady’s activities, is when the King of Morocco is also visiting, to sign an MoU with Rwanda on specific health and education projects. The Princess of Jordan, Sarah Zeid, is also visiting this week.
In between her packed schedule, the First Lady also attends a meeting with members of the 20-year-old Unity Club that she heads. The club brings together current and former members of cabinet and their spouses to promote unity and reconciliation in Rwanda. They also honor the country’s ‘torch-bearers’ every year in November, for outstanding social service.
The meeting with the Unity Club members, which I am also invited to attend, is at Imbuto’s temporary office in the President’s office complex in Kacyiru. Their office on the same grounds is being renovated. The complex is in a stunning manicured setting with frangipani trees, hibiscus flowers, ferns and foliage.
The First Lady is dressed in a smart beige and black suit and sits at the head of the mahogany table in the meeting room. She listens patiently and intently, speaking softly in Kinyarwanda as the ladies consult the files in front of them. She offers solutions and better approaches for some of the issues raised. It’s an in-depth discussion that goes on for over two hours, the seriousness interspersed at times with jokes by the First Lady – she clearly has an effortless sense of humor.
One of the ladies at the meeting is Radegonde Ndejuru, the First Lady’s advisor, who has been with Imbuto for 10 years now.
“We have a family spirit at Imbuto. Her Excellency is always so respectful. Her text messages to everyone starts with ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’. We put passion in everything we do as that is the way she does it. She also has a phenomenal memory and shows great attention to detail&#8230; I always ask her: ‘do you sleep enough?’ She is here in the morning, reads a lot and what I admire is she always follows through projects,” says Ndejuru.
In March 2016, at the 5th Kigali International Conference Declaration General Assembly in Algeria, the First Lady was presented an award along with United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in recognition of their contribution to women’s empowerment and their fight against gender-based violence.
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Rwanda is a global model for gender equality. The World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2016 ranks Rwanda fifth globally for closing the gender gap in various spheres. The country has the highest representation (64%) of women in Parliament.
As part of gender mainstreaming, there is a Gender Monitoring Bureau in every institution in Rwanda, as the country works towards achieving a middle income status by 2020.
The First Lady works with a team of young, spirited, hard-working women, who exemplify the qualities of their leader. It is clear they have a great admiration for her work.
Before we settle for the interview, Mrs Kagame, as she is also called, begins by asking how I am, with a disarming smile. And that aptly sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. It’s easy to see how this mother of four has won the hearts of Rwandans.

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A Day In The Life Of A First Lady

Every year, the month of March serves as a special time to reflect on the meaning of International Women’s Day.
In Rwanda, this year’s special month was welcome through a series of events, highlighting the roles played by all our women in the building of our nation, while also celebrating their innovative and entrepreneurial spirits.
The past weeks saw different generations come together to assess the work to be done for the continuous empowerment of our women in our various communities, building on how far we have come.
This was also a time to look back at the dignified Rwandan woman, who more than half a century later, we still remember vividly. The many who were taken away from us, and the last few, who in our darkest times, beautifully drew from the deepest roots of our culture, to keep their families together, and to nurture an abiding love and patriotism for our nation.
These women inspired us to aim for more, to do more, to never lose hope. They were the ones that kept a candle lit in our darkest times, as their star never dimmed in the starkest night. I believe history will always praise the sacrifices they consented for our communities, for their selflessness was not in vain.
The generation of sons and daughters they bore and raised, made the ultimate sacrifice, and shouldered the task of building a new and dignified nation.
It is in fact more than a moral obligation to never forget the high price paid, to be who we are today. We are forever indebted to them for investing in the future of their children and making it the purpose of their lives.
We will forever be grateful and rejoice in their achievements, while drawing pride and lessons from every obstacle they overcame as we continue to work tirelessly for this land to see the peace, respect and dignity all her sons and daughters deserve.
We will never say it enough; our Rwandan woman is truly remarkable! Her essence is made of strength and courage that define her.
Our history is filled with brave women of all ages who refused to be complicit in tearing apart our country, and were not bystanders to injustice and violence but instead they made the difficult but right choice. From the Nyange schoolgirls who paid the ultimate price with their lives, refusing to be separated along ethnic lines; to the wives who stood up against their husbands, refusing to stay silent in the face of the crimes they committed.
I think of women like Rose Mureshyankwano, who for years believed in sectarian ideology but ultimately freed herself from divisive politics. Women raised by those who carefully planned and executed the genocide, who finally broke the cycle of perpetual hatred from one generation to another; to all of those who now call themselves proud daughters of Rwanda.
We also honor the widows, who despite their aching hearts formed new families and cherished the genocide orphans who longed for their warm motherly love. These beloved Rwandan women earned the endearing name, Les Mamans Affection, for finding in them the courage to give some more, after so much had been taken away from them.
These women are indeed much more than a mother, wife, sister and daughter.
This dignified, remarkable, beloved Rwandan woman is the matriarch, pioneer, leader, descended from greatness, who holds high the torch that lights the way for others. She paves the way and weaves the thread to those who need to hear her stories, so they too, will know that within them, lie the tools to resilience.
Through her passion, she engaged us. Through her words, she educated us. Through her actions, she empowered us.
I speak from the heart, when I say we are proud of you, powerful Rwandan woman. You are the rock upon which we have built our foundation and you have now reclaimed your rightful place among the leaders of our country. Unwavering and firm, you lift up your song in synchrony with that of your brothers’ chorus, which for too long had been missing your soft, yet, powerful voice.
The word ‘no’ never stopped you from pushing on to new frontiers, for without your determination, who would the younger ones look up to? Through you, future generations will know that a woman’s worth is equal to any man’s.
So, now and always, we pay tribute to you.
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– The writer, Her Excellency Jeannette Kagame, is the First Lady of the Republic of Rwanda.

Tag: Jeannette Kagame

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

A Day In The Life Of A First Lady

‘A Tribute To Remarkable Rwandan Women’