Called and sent to the “periphery”, to be
“bearers of hope among young people in
Butare ”.
We accompany young women from Kinteko a sector
of the parish of Butare. Most of them are single mothers. They got pregnant at
early age due to the hard life in their living environment. Others did not have
the chance to go to school. These young
people were living in excessive poverty whereby they were not even capable of
taking care of themselves and their babies for those who have children. In
collaboration with TWAHIRWA Innocent who is the initiator
of activity Innocent, the Congregation
of the m-Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (Msola) has been helping them
in different ways. They are learning sewing skills and after the training the Msola
hire them sewing machines to start
working so that they pay back gradually after making some
profit.
Sister Leocadie, helped them to get together in small associations, contributing 200 francs each. The money collected was given/loaned to each member in turn, to enable her to pay the “health insurance”. Later that money was rented to each one in turn in the group, to unable her to start a small business of vegetables, fruits etc…With the little daily benefit, one could feed the family at least once a day.
The second step was to encourage the young people to have a common activity: cultivating mushrooms, making
soap, rearing
rabbits, chicken, and pigs. The activity of rearing animals has been
rather difficult to realise without seeking
financial support from donors.
The worst poverty is in the head. Therefore, it’s important to stimulate change of mentality, attitude and behaviour through talks, sharing of experiences, recollections, interventions given by Sister Leocadie and other resource persons on various subjects. The most frequent topics are about: who am I, self-acceptance family life, education of the children, how to live with others , journey for forgiveness ,how to build family life where there is harmony and peace; and how to protect themselves from human trafficking, etc…
We sensitize the young people about building one’s action on values:
solidarity, concern for others, honesty, sense of belonging and of the common
good; acceptance and esteem of the others in their differences. We encourage
them to be firmly rooted in their convictions, religious beliefs, practices, and
give God a place in their lives, etc. We stimulate in them the openness to trust each other; to share and
participate in all activities. We awaken in them the concern for cleanliness
and beauty of the environment where
their activities take place. Someone
said: “No one is an island”. As we need
others to move on in life, so others need us.
Butare Community.