In May, the
Reverend Valinda Hardy, a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of North
Carolina, will offer her first-hand description of the Millenium
Village in Mayange from her April visit.
Jacqueline
Karenzo (Midwife)
Jacqueline
Karenzo and her husband have lived in Mayange for the past 12
years with their five children. Jacqueline is a traditional midwife,
and has helped MVP to sensitize pregnant women on the importance
of using the health center's antenatal care services (including
screening for pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and HIV testing).
During her visits to the homes of pregnant women, Jacqueline stresses
the benefits of delivering their babies at the health center.
Before MVP's interventions, women gave birth at home, usually
with the assistance of traditional midwives. Due to constant shortages
of essential medication and trained medical personnel at the health
center, feelings of distrust permeated the community. Since the
health sensitization campaign began in January 2007, the number
of women giving birth outside of the health center has declined
substantially. At least 85% of pregnant women living in Mayange
have received HIV testing within the past year. Due to PMTCT interventions
(preventing mother to child transmission), there has only been
one HIV-positive birth identified. In addition, the distribution
of bed nets was coordinated with awareness activities carried
out by people like Jacqueline, designed to sensitize villagers
to the causes of malaria. "We used to bury ten people per
month due to malaria," Jacqueline said. "There were
at least two funerals a week. Since MVP's distribution of free
insecticide treated bed nets there are no more funerals because
of malaria."
Anisie
(program coordinator, Mayange Health Center)
In 2005, a pregnant woman involuntarily aborted her child at the
health centre. In the following year, she returned to the centre
experiencing similar complications. Due to the improved infrastructure
and our ability to transport patients to the district hospital,
we were able to ensure that she delivered a healthy baby girl.
This is one of my most touching stories, since it illustrates
the evolution of the services offered by the health center.
Qadifi
(health center patient)
Previously, when Qadifi was sick, he had to resort to homemade
treatments and traditional healers. Because of MVP, he received
a subsidy to enroll in mutuelle. When he visited the health center
because of stomach pains, he noticed great improvements. Before
MVP arrived, the center did not have enough staff or medicine.
Also, there weren't any patients because most could not afford
the co-payments. Now the waiting room is filled with visitors,
and those who have bigger problems are transported to the district
hospital. Also malaria is gone because of the bed nets. The health
center is helping Mayange economically because people are treated
when they are sick. Therefore the community is healthier and stronger,
enabling them to be productive and active in the fields even in
the strong sunlight.
Felicien
(Farmer)
Prior
to MVP's involvement in Mayange, Felicien and his family barely
survived on subsistence farming: Their crop production was insufficient
to feed Felicien, his wife and his three children. Through agricultural
trainings provided by the MVP, Felicien learned how to line plant
and construct valley dams and terraces to harvest the rainwater
for use during the dry season. These terraces trap water for re-absorption
into the soil. In addition, in the first year the project provided
fertilizer and high-quality maize and bean seeds in return for
a payback of a portion of the maize harvest. Now Felicien not
only has a high enough yield to feed his family, but also has
a surplus to sell for a profit in the local commercial market.
Within the first year of the project, Felicien sold 1,800 kg of
maize. With project interventions, Felicien has grown from a subsistence
farmer barely able to feed his own family to a commercial farmer.
With the profits he earned from selling his produce in the local
village market, Felicien was able to diversify his crops. Through
MVP's seed and fertilizer loan program, Felicien was able to gain
access to credit for use in his new small agriculture business.
With the profit he made from his maize, he used his credit to
purchase high value fruit tree seeds, and high quality fertilizer.
His crops include avocado, guava, pumpkin, lemon, guava and mango.
The avocado seeds are especially useful to Felicien as they are
saplings and therefore reach maturity within a single year, instead
of the eight years that are typically required. Felicien has also
constructed a new house more appropriate for his family of five.
In addition, he can now afford to send all three of his children
to school.
Women
of the basket weaving cooperative
Once
the project helped us form a basket weaving cooperative, we began
creating our own micro-enterprise organizations. A group of twelve
other women and I have joined together to form a tintine to provide
group members with enough collateral to begin small income-generating
activities. Every month, each member contributes to the tintine,
and the sum is given to a different member each time. Once we
were exposed to the notion of forming a cooperative and collectively
engaging in income-generating activities, we began finding ways
to generate additional capital. MVP has taught us to think ahead,
past the initial phase of the project and into future opportunities
for growth and expansion. One of the women tells her story. She
has a total of seven children. One of them has a mental illness.
Her profits have enabled her to pay for his treatments.
Emmanuel Bizimana (secondary school student).
Emmanuel is much older than his fellow classmates at the Solidarity
Academy in Kigali. He is 30 years old, with a wife and three children
aged seven, five and one. He has already completed four years
of secondary schooling, but this is his first year back to school
since 1994, when he was forced to leave school because of the
war and extreme poverty. MVP has helped him to finally continue
his studies after being out of school for 13 years. Emmanuel is
learning more about his favorite subject: industrial electricity.
When he finishes secondary school in 2010, he hopes to continue
on to university. He believes that his education will provide
a better life for his family, build a better future, and enable
his children to continue their schooling. His family still faces
poverty, but he has seen many changes in his community since MVP's
arrival. People are eating more and are healthier since the changes
at the Mayange Health Center. He hopes that his education will
enable him to continue to help his family and community escape
poverty.
Blaise
Mabano (Kindergarten teacher)
Sending
children between the ages of three and six to school was rare
within this area. It was very difficult to convey the benefits
of the program to parents, since children can enter primary school
directly without having completed kindergarten. MVP's efforts
to sensitize the parents of young children to the benefits of
the program are beginning to take effect. They realize the benefits
of sending their children to the school, where they are fed a
highly nutritious lunch. Many parents are unable to afford the
fee of US$1 (FRW 500). I often find children who walk from their
houses without shoes or proper clothing, sacrifices their families
have made to send their children to class. The average age of
children attending kindergarten is five. MVP empowers the community
to find solutions to their problems, and also provides the desks,
benches and materials. Everyone knows that the project will not
provide for us forever. The community is trying to ensure that
the kindergarten program is self-sustaining.
Vivian (primary 6 student, age 14)
Every morning I walk for one hour to get to school. I am the second
of five children in my family. Although my parents encourage me
to attend school, I sometimes skip to help them during the harvesting
and planting season. I enjoy learning how to read and write in
Kinyarwanda. I know that I can go anywhere and read the signs
of shops and notice boards. I often help my parents read and interpret
the official letters they receive. I can help them calculate household
expenses. I hope to become a doctor in the future. I use a traditional
kerosene lamp to study for one hour a day. The poor lighting provided
by kerosene lamps normally makes my eyes sore and leaves me with
a headache. Together, the high cost of kerosene and poor lighting
make it difficult to study for long periods of time, especially
during the exam period. Most of our problems arise out of poverty.
Shoes, clothes and books are expensive. Before MVP came, my classmates
were reluctant to work and play with me because I did not have
clean clothes or proper shoes. After lots of hard work, we have
begun to solve these problems.
Jean-Baptiste (primary 6 student, age
15)
Before MVP's arrival, only the teacher owned a book. We would
copy the lessons off the blackboard. This meant that it took a
longer time to learn new material. When I was thirsty, I would
have to spend fifteen minutes walking home. With the new water
tank provided by MVP, we no longer spend the day thirsty. Now
there is no need to go home. The water I also used to wash the
toilets in order to prevent diarrhea and other diseases. Before
the project's arrival, many of the young children used to fall
ill due to the poor sanitary conditions of the school bathrooms.
The affordability of the mutuelle increased awareness of transmittable
diseases. Improved water access has reduced the number of children
who are unable to attend school due to sickness.
Epiphanie (patient, age 42)
Before MVP, patients who remained at the health center overnight
would be treated in the dark. Now, nurses are able to properly
administer treatment and monitor patients at all hours of the
day. Furthermore, the elimination of funerals of young children
and adolescents has lifted the morale of the community.
Letter
from Mayange Community Leader, Ndahayo Celestin
December 2007
My
name is Ndahayo Celestin, and I am a farmer in Mayange, Rwanda.
I have lived in this village since I was a baby in 1972. In my
35 years I have seen my village face many hard times, but now,
because of the Millennium Villages project, for the first time
I believe development of my village is possible.
I
am a farmer and a trader of sorghum and sorghum beer, but I also
serve as the President of the Kagenge farmers’ cooperative.
I was a leader even while we were in the refugee camp in Congo.
I am very pleased to see that the Millennium Villages project
has introduced high-value crops to the farmers in my cooperative,
crops such as mangoes, avocadoes, oranges and chick peas. We now
have grain stores in our cooperative to help manage cash flows
and inventories. Prior to the help from the Millennium Villages
project, erratic rainfall or prolonged dry periods, limited non-agricultural
income generation opportunities, crop diseases and pests kept
us from ever being able to accumulate savings to weather the hard
times. The families in my village are now accumulating cash to
ensure our future will be different than our past.
The
Millennium Villages project transformed our farming from our traditional
methods to modern techniques. As a result, my wife and four children
now receive two meals a day, a dramatic improvement from the one
meal a day we had in the previous two years.
The
project is addressing multiple problems and teaching the communities
to lead the interventions, therefore transforming village agriculture,
education and health. We now have nurses to tend to our health,
and medicine is available to my village today. Mothers now give
birth at the health center instead of in their homes. All households
have medical insurance coverage, and the health center has an
ambulance for patients too ill to walk to the health center. A
nursery school has been established for our young children starting
at age 3. One school even has electricity now, and some people
in the village are able to use computers and communicate by internet.
Women have recently established their own businesses, earning
money from weaving and selling baskets. These projects have given
us hope of wealth and encouraged me to work hard for myself and
my community because development is now possible in my community.
Like
all parents, I worry about my children’s future, but the
Millennium Villages project has given me hope that their future
will be full of opportunity. There is more unity among community
members, women are making more decisions at home and government
policy is better understood. Thank you for making the difference
in our lives.
Overview
Report on Interventions 2006-2007
Agriculture
yields tripled in the first year and the villagers have set up
a cereal bank to store grain and help curb the risk of food insecurity.
Farmers have also made great progress in terracing which is proving
to be highly effective in combating soil erosion and harvesting
rainwater. The villagers are diversifying into high-value crops
and are planting fruit trees such as avocado, mango and pomegranate
trees. They are also planting beans and sweet potatoes to sell
at nearby market for extra income. During the 2007 long rain season,
a maize streak virus severely damaged the maize crop, in part
because of the delayed rains. This shows the ongoing unpredictability
of rainfall in the area and highlights the need for the population
to diversify their economic activities.
Malaria incidence
has declined dramatically (75%) thanks to a mass distribution
of insecticide-treated bed nets, and sensitization on their use,
and malaria testing and treatment at the health center. Maternal
and child mortality rates are improving as well. The number of
pregnant women now coming to the clinic to deliver has quadrupled
due to improved health facilities that are helping to ensure safe
births. Before the project began, an average of only 5 to 10 mothers
came to the clinic each month to deliver. Now, that number has
increased to as many as 40 to 45 per month. In addition, contraceptive
use has increased dramatically since the health center introduced
routine counseling on contraception for all patients, male and
female, regardless of the nature of the health center visit.
Many women
are undertaking additional income-generating activities such as
basket weaving. The Imasirire (sunrise) basket weaving cooperative
comprises more than 200 women who are learning basket weaving
and business techniques, leading to additional income for their
families; the baskets are being sold to visitors and many have
been exported internationally. The project is also opening up
the community to access to microcredit. Over 75 percent of farmers
in Mayange took out a loan for agriculture inputs such as seed
and fertilizer for the long rains in 2007, thereby reducing dependence
on outside financial assistance. All farmers who took out a loan
were required to prove that their entire family had health insurance,
and the project provided subsidies for those who could not afford
the insurance, which has helped ensure financial access to health
care and a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking care.
Dr.
Josh Ruxin Reports from Mayange in 2007
Articles
Related to Millennium Villages Mayange, Rwanda
My
name is Ndahayo Celestin, and I am a farmer in Mayange, Rwanda.
I have lived in this village since I was a baby in 1972. In my
35 years I have seen my village face many hard times, but now,
because of the Millennium Villages project, for the first time
I believe development of my village is possible.