Kicukiro district inaugurates a ceremony of 16 years’ journey with Water for People in providing clean water to residents and accelerating cleanliness and hygiene and sanitation. Water for people has been working in Rwanda since 2008 within many districts including Kicukiro, which is celebrating 16 years together and marking its exit.
In opening remarks, Kicukiro Deputy District Executive Administrator, Monique Huss stressed that Water for People as well as other partners such as WASAC and the Ministry of Infrastructure have contributed to the intense change in access to water to people as in 2017, this district was on the rate of 49.4% and reached to 94.5% for now and Concerning hygiene and sanitation, Kicukiro district shifted from 54% to 100%.
“We are proud of where we are, the journey still continues, as we wish that all sectors of Kicukiro districts get access to water and also be prominent in hygiene and sanitation ‘’She stated.
Water for People has also promoted the provision of high-quality water access to schools which used to struggle to get one. EP Cyeru, the school which is located in Kicukiro district is one of the beneficiaries of these projects as accessing clean water was tough for the school and a hindrance to the hygiene and cleanliness of the students.
Nyirigira Nicholas, the Director of Ep Cyeru mentioned the exceptional role that Water for people played to their students. He said ‘’I am very grateful for the assistance provided to us by Water for People, this water helps in cooking food for students, they drink it through filters and this reduced water borne diseases which they used to suffer due to drinking dirty water, for now they are safe and they no longer suffer those diseases. “
He also said that girls mostly benefited from this project as the school has been able to place a room for girls, where they can go in their period, which enabled them to be clean and stopped them from dropping out of school.
During that ceremony, Eugene Dusingizumuremyi, the Director General of Water for People in Rwanda, thanked all the partners who worked closely with the project, as the project has been able to reach to more than 100000 people.
‘’What we value is sustainable access of water to people, we value what we do as we know that they will last for long, we will still continue to work with kicukiro district, and we believe that they will maintain the activities already done.” He said.
Gema Maniraruta, Director General in charge of water and sanitation in the Ministry of Infrastructure called upon people to stop water felt and pay bills on time as it helps the country in increasing the number of people who have access to water.
‘’We call upon our fellow citizen to stop wasting water, as the value of the payment of bills of water that citizens pay doesn’t match the cost of infrastructure of water, so if the bills of water are not well paid, we become unable to restore the damaged water’s infrastructure ‘’ She advised.
Water for People has gifted a car to the district of Kicukiro and two motocycles to WASAC which will help them in increasing the access of water and hygiene and sanitation to people of Rwanda.
Story by Domina Ntakirutimana