The Story of Felix

An article by Heather

In the days before The Goboka Rwanda Trust was formed,

and following my first visit to Rwanda in 2008, I did some

fundraising, and offered this money to PHARP (Peace-

building, Healing and Reconciliation Programmes) and

their leader Anastase Rugirangoga, later to become one

of The Goboka Rwanda Trust's partners.

I had met Anastase on my first visit and learned about the

work of PHARP, which supported orphans, widows and

vulnerable people, as well as working in the area of

reconciliation, which was vital following the 1994 genocide

which devastated the country.

Anastase talked to me about the importance of

supporting the youth of the country. He said that after

the genocide, in some areas most of the men-folk had

been killed and this now left women with children who, as

they grew up, had no livelihood. He feared that is these

young people left their rural villages to seek work

elsewhere, particularly in nearby Kigali, they would never return and some of these villages could then die.

One such village was Rukembura, which I first visited in 2008, a large village in a very rural setting, access to which was, and still is, quite difficult. Anastase asked if we would support a scheme to purchase 60 pigs, costing £20 each, 58 sows and 2 boars, which would be given to the youth of the village. The idea was to set up a breeding scheme and when litters were produced, the owner could keep half the litter, but had to give away the other half, to stimulate the scheme.

This we did and, as with all our projects I got

pictures of 'work in progress' - the delivery of

the piglets (shown in photo to the left).

All livestock we purchase are veterinary

inspected and given a clean bill of health, right

through from cows to chickens.

A year later I visited Rukembura again, and

went round a lot of houses, seeing a lot of pigs.

The owners were so proud to show off what

they were doing with the animals. The scheme

had funded them building a small wooden

shelter for the first pig and enough food for 12

months, but after that they were on their own. Many had sold piglets and bought materials to build a larger pigsty for their animals, and manure was used to cultivate crops.

One young man I met on this occasion was Felix, and on every occasion I have visited Rukembura since, Felix has been there, eager to tell me of his growing success. In 2014 he proudly took me to the house he had built himself from the proceeds of his pigs.

Since that time, he has married Clarice and had two lovely children, and has learned a little English so that he could talk to me. Each time I go he insists we have a photograph taken which he then asks for a copy of and keeps.

This year, my visit to Rukembura was slightly different. We were there to witness the graduation of two of our apprenticeship schemes, one in sewing and one in welding. We were gifting welding equipment to small groups of qualified welders so that they could establish an earning by working together in partnership, making metal doors and windows which are in demand as people began to build better quality houses of baked bricks and solid windows and doors. We also gave 12 treadle sewing machines to sewing school graduates who showed potential during their training, thereby giving them the opportunity of a job for life.

The Community Centre in Rukembura, which we had

helped fund some years before, was packed with

graduates and their parents to witness this very special

occasion. During the proceedings Felix asked if he could

speak, and proceeded to tell those gathered his story,

that in 2010 he had been given a pig, and since that time

he had bred hundreds of pigs. Some he had sold, some

he had gifted to others. He now owned five cows and a

calf which he kept at his home to supply his

family with fresh milk. For the others he had purchased

a piece of land, built a shelter and employed someone

to look after them. He told me that when the next cow

gave birth, the offspring would be given to this person,

to allow him an opportunity to improve his life too.

Felix also breeds turkeys. He tells me he doesn't like

turkey meat, but I wonder if he has ever tasted the meat.

Chickens are rarely eaten as they provide eggs for the

family, but turkey meat is coming ever popular, and

Felix is quite an entrepreneur and sees an opportunity,

so starts breeding turkeys, which is proving lucrative for

him.

He told his audience that I had given him an opportunity which had changed his life, he had gone from a young man with no future to what he is today, quite a rich man in his community. He said he felt like a king, and he was there to tell those receiving a gift today, to work hard and make their gift work for them, just as he had done. People listened intently to his story, and I personally found his testimony very emotional.

He then produced a lovely dress which he had made for

me, and asked me to put it on. It fitted perfectly, and I

asked how he had known my size to have this dress

made. He produced from his pocket one of the

photographs we had taken previously, and told me he

had given this to a seamstress (one of our previous

sewing graduates) and from this photograph she had

made the dress, which I now proudly show off by

wearing when I go out and do my talks about the work

of the Trust.

It is this sort of story which inspires me and my fellow

trustees to carry on with the work we feel privileged to