Despite the tremendous genocide that hit Rwanda in 1994, the country has impressively rebuilt its image into a safest and Africa’s leading tourism destination. With in only 100 days, the heartless Hutus slaughtered over 800,000 Rwandese, men, women and the children mostly of the Tutsi tribe. However today, peace in Rwanda has been restored with the leadership of Paul Kagame which stability has made the country an end point for most travelers from all parts of the world interested in gorilla safaris. Rwanda also known as a land of a thousand hills has now left the dark history and progressed in to a stable country that many people yearn to stay. To address genocide scars, the ruling government has done many things aimed at benefiting genocide victims both directly and indirectly.
Health facilities
The establishment of strong health facilities is one of the key priorities that the government of Rwanda has invested in aimed at providing good health to the genocide victims. During the genocide, many people were severely bruised, and women raped which led to the contraction of different diseases, which required special treatment. In reaction, various referral hospitals such as king Faisal hospital were established supported by the fund for the neediest survivors of the genocide in Rwanda (FARG).
Additionally, Rwanda military hospital has helped to treat patients with acute cases. Many people who contracted different diseases and injuries in the genocide have been treated both in Rwanda and a broad supported by the government and the FARG. By 2017, roughly 10,139,033,177 FRW has been used for treatment of people within Rwanda while FRW 1,425,765,56 spent on the victims treated outside Rwanda. Government investment in the health sector has improved the health standards of local people hence restoring their happiness and dignity.
Education
Not only has the government invested in health but also in education costing roughly 75% of the country’s total budget. The government provides scholastic materials to secondary school children whereas those in higher levels of education are provided with school fees and FRW 25,000 for allowances. Approximately 24,147 and 295 students in secondary and higher institutions respectively was the fist round of school children enrolled in 1998. More still, FARG was established in 1999 to ease the distribution of funding and scholastic materials to school children. As of now, over 105,196 in secondary and 20,724 students in institutions of higher learning have finished school, which has promoted awareness and literacy level in Rwanda.
Income generating projects
Additionally, the government with the aim of generating income has established various projects for the local people. As a result of these projects, local people have been provided with cows, seedlings and income to improve their standards of living. An approximate of 46,551 people have taken part in these projects and 6000 cows have been so far given out to members of various projects. Besides cows, FARG has provided funding of 1,182,660,968FRW to people which money they have used to improve their standards of living.
Housing
To provide homes for the homeless genocide victims, the government has helped in building new homes and rehabilitating the old ones. A lot of property including people’s houses and businesses were destroyed by the genocide leaving them homeless and jobless. To address this, the government, churches, NGOS and embassies have intervened to provide shelter for the genocide survivors. New houses have been built for the homeless and the old ones rehabilitated to ensure comfortable sheltered by the government. More still, roughly 27,654 houses have been constructed and 3455 rehabilitated since 1998, which is a great achievement. More still, roughly 534 houses are being constructed and 83 houses rehabilitated in 2017 to provide shelter for the genocide survivors.
Direct support
The government and FARG provide direct support to the local people especially those who have no resources to run their day to day social life. More still a special project was established in 2013 to support the elderly survivors who lost their relatives, children and family members in the genocide. In 2017, roughly 23,836 needy genocide survivors are to be assisted under direct support whereas s 1544 are assisted as incike.
Conclusively therefore, Rwanda has taken a big step and rubbed off the negative image of the tremendous genocide. Presently, the country is known as the safest and the leading tourism destination in the whole of Africa.