KIGALI – The Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga has completed a five-district campaign that provided 5,000 children from vulnerable families in Rwanda with basic welfare supplies intended to improve their wellbeing and support their education.
The initiative, carried out in partnership with a Canadian charity organization, concluded in Kicukiro on September 5, where 1,000 children received bed kits and school supplies. The other 4,000 children were reached in Rulindo, Burera, Rwamagana and Ngoma from August 26.
Each child received a package that included a mattress, blanket, bedsheets and mosquito nets, books, pens, shoes and other basic supplies. For some families, the intervention addressed a basic need that had long been difficult to meet.
Jeanette Mukasine, a mother from Gatenga whose two children received the support, said her four children had previously been forced to share mattresses because there were not enough for everyone.
“I have four children and am very happy to receive this assistance. They will now be able to sleep comfortably, and they have also received school materials that will help them study well and succeed,” she said.
The program targeted children aged six to 12 and is based on the belief that adequate sleep and decent living conditions can influence a child’s ability to learn.
Alex Ndibwami, president of Rotary Club of Kigali Virunga, said the idea behind the initiative goes beyond providing household items. “The expectation is that when you sleep well, you look forward to school the next day,” he said.
He explained that the initiative reflects the club’s broader commitment to projects that address practical needs in communities. Its role in the project demonstrates the club’s ability to mobilize partners and resources around projects with a wider community impact.
Kigali Virunga worked with local authorities to identify beneficiaries, with the scale of the operation taking months of preparation to distribute the items to the selected beneficiaries. “We have set out to implement projects that emulate what we started 25 years ago,” Ndibwami said.
In Kicukiro district, the 1,000 beneficiaries were selected from 3,500 families enrolled in a two-year program aimed at helping households move out of poverty.
The District Executive Secretary Antoine Mutsinzi urged beneficiaries to protect the assistance they received rather than sell it. He said the items were intended to improve family welfare, particularly for children who are still in school.
Marie Chantal Tuyizere, another mother from Gatenga whose child received the assistance, said the intervention was a sign that vulnerable families can receive meaningful support when organizations work with communities.
“This assistance and generosity is well appreciated and will help my child to have better living conditions and study well,” she said, with excitement and ecstasy written all over her face.
Umurungi Diana, a youth from the Rotaract Club of Kigali SFB who participated in the distribution, said taking part in the program had given her a deeper appreciation of the responsibility people have towards one another.
“Participating in activities that benefit others builds me and reminds me that giving and supporting vulnerable people is a responsibility for everyone,” she said.
