Community empowerment: a permanent solution to poverty

Christian – 10 is a jolly boy. He affectionately and confidently welcomes visitors that come to his home. His face is lit by his continuous smile as he welcomes visitors in a small but clear voice. “Please come in” he says. Dad is out but will be back soon.”

His hair is dark and clean, his skin and clothes are dirt-free. He physically looks healthy. “You can never know he is a survivor of severe malnutrition and Kwashiorkor that almost took his life at the age of four. His is fully recovered and well.

According to his father Jean Bosco Muneza, Christian’s survival was a miracle. “He was near death. His eyes had turned into yellow, his hair was yellow and very soft,” he says. “His feet were all swollen, had a protruded-belly and had lost a lot of weight,”

Jean Bosco is one of the World Vision beneficiaries from Karubungo cell, Gitoki sector of Gatsibo district, that have been empowered to move from extreme poverty to being job creators -employers “I was extremely poor. I was just an orphan who dropped out of school in senior five due to poverty.  Life became worse after marriage; I had a family to take care of. I remember we in most cases ate one meal a day. My son Christian suffered from malnutrition due to the fact that I could not provide for my family, which made me feel small and guilty.  Being unable to provide for my family took away my dignity as a man and head of the family,” he says.

Jean Bosco was one of the most vulnerable people in his village. He lived in a small grass-thatched old house with his 38 year old wife Mukarusine Christine and his three children. All the children shared one small room. He was unable to afford school fees, medical insurance, or household basic needs. When his first born child Christian suffered from Kwashiorkor, his condition attracted local leaders to identify Jean Bosco’s family as one of households that needed World Vision’s support.

Two of his children, including Christian, were registered under World Vision’s sponsorship program until Jean Bosco was empowered to effectively provide for all their needs.

“We depended on small scale subsistence farming on a small two hectare piece of land that I inherited after my father’s death in1996.  I considered it too small and could never imagine was big enough to change my life, the family methods we used were primitive,” he says.

“After his children were registered to benefit from World Vision’s sponsorship program, he started receiving training on modern farming. He was trained on pineapple growing and was facilitated by World Vision with 10,000 pineapple suckers to start with. He planted them on his entire two hectares of land, and through guidance from World Vision field based development facilitators, he managed to take good care of the plantation. “I waited patiently, I estimated everyday how much I would get after they mature. My hope for a better future started right there,” he recalls.

A year later, those pineapples had multiplied to 63,000. He sold all of them for 6,400,000frw (9,800 USD) and diversified to banana growing.  “You can’t imagine how happy I was. I had never in my entire life held 200,000Rwf in my hands, but now I was a millionaire,” he says.

“World Vision staff had during trainings told us how profitable improved breeds of bananas can be. I decided to give that a try. I was assured of their technical advice and guidance since they have community based staff that work closely with the people. I used some of the money from pineapples to buy 3 more hectares of land at 3,000,000 Rwf (4285 USD) to grow improved breeds of bananas,” he explained.

Today, Jean Bosco owns a five hectare modern plantation of improved breeds of bananas. The size of the bananas from his plantation has attracted many, including the Ministry of Agriculture officials and his bananas have been nominated on several occasions for the national level agricultural exhibitions. He is also a modal farmer who has helped other World Vision supported farmers in the area to get improved seed.

 “His life is a lesson to all of us in this community. We now know that with hard work, everything is possible and we are following his foot-steps to success” says Joseph Munyarukumbuzi, one of his neighbours.  

“He was among the poorest, but he now owns the most beautiful house in the entire village. He has a motorcycle that takes his son to “Morning Star primary school,” one of the best schools in Kabarore town. Not everyone can afford that in this village,” he says in admiration.

Jean Bosco has been able to buy 2 Friesian cows that have produced 5 and two of them produce 18 liters of milk per day. He employs 14 permanent staff that help him on a daily basis to work on the plantation.

“Through the income from both his improved bananas and milk, he has been able to buy a used truck/lorry that currently takes his harvests to the capital Kigali for better prices.

“My dignity has been restored. I’m a respected member of the community; my family has totally been transformed and my children are healthy and in good schools. I’m able to provide for all their needs including clothes, medical insurance, school feels among others,” he proudly said.

 On average, Jean Bosco, after paying all his 14 employees, remains with a profit of about 600,000Rwf (about 850USD) on a monthly basis.   The money he earns has helped him to go back to school to fulfil his dream.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education “majoring in economics” from the Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Education (INATEK)

“Although I achieved my dream of being a university graduate, I don’t have plans to look for jobs in cities. I’m not a job seeker; I’m a job creator,” he proudly says.

According to 10 year old Christian, many children admire his lifestyle “When children at school see me being dropped and picked by a motorcycle every day, they call me rich. All the other children go to school on foot. My father sometimes picks me from school in his big lorry” he says.

Asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Christian says he wants to be a doctor to help all the sick especially children in his community.