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By Annonciata Byukusenge
Ndaruhutse Eric wakes up at five in the morning every day. His main activity consists of a farmer a small 5-hectare farm located in Ngoma, a district in Eastern Rwanda.
The 56-year-old father never envisioned that his efforts in the farmlands would pave the way for men workers in his remote village to pursue prosperous lives as he told Forefront Magazine.
From his childhood, he didn’t see water tanks in their village of Nyamigina, Gahima cell, Kibungo sector.
Ndungutse remembers the journey of life without water, school rating, food security issues, malnutrition for kids, power sanitation, and other issues related to water in daily life. This issue affected their daily life and livestock because many caws were killed by the long journey to the source of water at Kideheri.
“We were affected by water issues many years ago, including our caws. We were crossing 10 km to fetch water and to reach water for caws. Many caws are killed by this long distance, especially the pregnant caws. There were not enough crops because we spent the work hours on a journey to fetch.”
He added that he lost more than 10 caws in this struggle. “The pregnant caws can’t walk 10 km to go to the top of the mountain, the reason why some of them died because of a long journey and others gave birth premature calves.”
The image of wedding and baptize ceremonies without water in the Kibungo sector
Ndungutse focuses on the image of a ceremony without water in Gahima Cell, Nyamigina village, and how their neighbors contributed to fetching water to support the family has ceremony.
“When a family has a ceremony like a wedding or a baptism, we contribute to fetching water in Gatonde cell, Kideheri source. The one jerk costs 200Rwf. It was very expensive for vulnerable families and class families, it was too much because no family could use one jerk per day.”
How this situation changed
The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydro Electric Project (RRFHEP) implemented by the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) is to benefit the three neighboring countries of Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi at the border of Rusumo in the eastern part of Rwanda, the western part of Tanzania and northern part of Burundi.
“In 2015, local leaders told us that Rusumo Hydropower Falls was going to be built on the border and that the benefits would come back to us, we did not understand this because we felt that the benefits were from the government and the citizens would get nothing but the jobs they told us we would gain. At this time, the benefits have started to reach us because the Rusumo project built us water tanks, the public water supply, and a water station in our cell and the construction activities began in 2017.” Said Ndungutse.
Livestock improvement
Ndungutse said that before having water in their village his caws were killed by the impacts of water issues. He remained one caw and he continued to struggle with its feeding and water.
“My caw provided me three liters (3L) in the morning and two liters (2L) in the evening. After having water in our village, my caw provides me eight liters (8L) in the morning and six liters (6L) in the evening.”
Recently Forefront Magazine talked with Mr. Celestin Mutabazi in charge of Infrastructure and Natural Resources in Ngoma district, who said that the water station was built in partnership with their partner NELSAP which is implementing the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydro Electric Project (RRFHEP).
“Our district is the one in the Eastern Province that was faced with water issues, but two years ago this problem was resolved. Our people have clean water near their homes and livestock improved.”
He added that the infrastructure they have already achieved and others are still under construction, worth five million and eighty-three thousand US dollars (5. 83000.000 USD).
The infrastructure supported by NELSAP is a 28 km Water Pipe, which supplies water to the two villages of Gahima and Gatonde in Kibungo sector comprising 10,500 households.
A 53-mile (53 km) water pipe has been built in the Rukira area, connecting Gasoko and Murama, providing water to 23,000 households. 2023.
The Rusumo hydropower project is a joint venture between three countries namely Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi. It will provide 80 MW of electricity to the people of these countries.
Rusumo Project established the $15M Local Area Development Plan to enhance regional social economic development in Busoni and Giteranyi Communes, Ngara District, and Kirehe and Ngoma Districts. Each district identified priority investments: access to water and roads, schools, and health centers.
These countries are also part of the 11 countries of the Nile Basin, namely Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
