By Rose, Deputy Country Director

Despite the COVID 19 pandemic and the associated lockdown, Komera and its supporters have not forgotten their commitment and roles in uplifting the vulnerable girls and their families. These unprecedented times have seen communities getting more vulnerable and almost every individual impacted negatively. This has not been so different for Komera beneficiaries, since most of them could not afford the basic needs during this time and needed a shoulder to lean on. Komera together with its funders were able to reach its beneficiaries with food, psycho-social support, pads and masks.

Between April and June 2020, Komera has distributed 728 packets of sanitary pads to 91 Komera scholars, food support to 175 Komera families, face masks to 137 beneficiaries, and sanitizers to all its staff members to keep them safe from the virus. We have also used weekly messages and calls to support our beneficiaries psycho-socially, added an additional hand washing station to our Rwandan office, and provided face masks to our staff and beneficiaries! Lastly, one of our tailoring cooperatives, including both parents and post secondary students, have been employed making face masks for their communities that we will purchase in the future. Read the following spotlights to see how our network’s generosity has impacted our community:

Scholarship Program:

Anitha is a senior six Komera scholar at FAWE Girls School from a very humble background. She is the sports minister for Komera’s student’s council and lives with both parents and 5 siblings. When the lock down started and all business was put on halt, Anitha did not expect that she would undergo stress and more challenging times due to COVID 19. Her first challenge was the school closure on the 13th of March, where they were all told to return home.

On reaching home, she found that her mother had been hospitalized for almost a month with a complicated pregnancy. Her father being the only caretaker with children at home was too busy and stressed. Not able to raise the money for hospital expenses, he sold his phone and some properties at home to pay the hospital bills. When they got home after a few days, her father fell sick.

The problems continued to affect the family and their neighbors stepped in to help them. After the total lock down, things became worse when neighbors could no longer visit nor help them. The lockdown rules stopped people moving from house to house and they also became worried of being affected by coronavirus. Although the government stepped in to help vulnerable families, it was very difficult to reach every one and they were indeed not reached though they hoped so.

Anitha saw her family starving, she saw her brothers and sisters sleeping with empty stomach, and lost her happiness and hope she gained from Komera. She became very worried of what the future holds whenever she thought about how even her sponsors are also experiencing the pandemic of COVID-19 and many are dying.

Despite of all this, Anitha remembered that she was taught how to find solutions to any challenging problem! She thought of what she could to her to help her family to get what to eat. Suddenly she came up with an idea of fetching fire wood in bushes and selling it to others. The first batch was sold at 500 Rwandan francs which she used to buy food for the day and she is still doing so to support her family with food and necessities.

Five days later, Anitha received a phone call from Komera asking how her life was at home. She narrated her ordeal and how she was overcoming it. Anitha’s family was among the first families that Komera supported after learning of her situation. They are so grateful to all Komera sponsors and team who spend sleepless nights thinking about them. The family is proud to be in the Komera family. They could not believe that people would think about them nor the sponsors would raise such contribution yet the whole world was undergoing the effects of the pandemic. They now have hope of life and feel loved and strong to be part of Komera.

Post-Secondary Transition Program:

Shema is a post-secondary scholar with Komera. Her mother is a teacher and has been the only breadwinner at home after her father was in an accident and has since been confined to a wheel chair due to dislocation of his backbone. After the closure of schools, Shema’s family started struggling even more because her mom could not earn income as she had before, but she still had a patient and children to take of. As a first born, Shema has been so supportive to her mother though she can’t do much financially, but was only praying for miracles to happen, which indeed is what happened according to her.

When Shema received the news of food support from Komera staff during their weekly calls, she couldn’t believe it and waited excitedly for the mobile money messages. She reminded her mother to check every time she saw a message come in on her phone. On receiving the message, she was so excited! Her family thanks Komera and its supporters for having them at heart during this trying time. “We can’t surely thank them enough! We are overwhelmed by this gesture,” Sadrine’s mother exclaimed.

Teen Mother Program:

Diane is a teen mother aged 19 years, who stays with her mother, two siblings, and her baby in Kayonza. Daina’s father ran away from them and her mother has been the sole caretaker for so long. During the program, Diana always thought of starting a business, but needed lots of support and saw herself unfit to begin one until Komera gave her the money to launch a business.

However, when the pandemic hit, she spent all days at home with her mother, both of them unable to work and surviving on the little provided by government, sometimes with not even enough money to buy food. Diana felt so bad about the conditions they were undergoing and got the urge to support her mother in paying bills and buying food, but was not able because she didn’t know where to start.

After receiving the first bit of money from Komera, the opportunity had struck! She used 5000 Rwandan francs to begin a small business of selling cabbages in the market. She buys from wholesalers and resells them, gaining 60 francs after each cabbage sale. Diana’s mentality towards business has changed completely and she’s looking at chances of expansion. She is now very proud of what she is doing and able to supplement the mother’s efforts in paying the family bills.

Teen Mother Program:

Alice is 20-years-old and one of the teenage mothers supported by Komera. She was previously staying with her mother and step-father and life was normal. At the end of April, after the pandemic hit hard and scarcity began to set in for most families, Alice’s step-father chased her from their home, saying that he could not take care of her shame. This hit Alice very hard because she had no money to begin a new life.

Alice spent days crying and homeless and later shared her story with the Komera mentor who advised her to get a very cheap home and she would be supported once the pandemic ceases. Fortunately, the COVID support came just in time and few days later, the mentor arrived with donations from Komera funders. Upon receiving it, Alice paid her rent and used the balance to buy sweet potatoes that she is reselling in other markets. She is so grateful to the funders and Komera for thinking about her during this trying time and for being there when she had no support. She believes her life will improve with the small business she has started.

Community Empowerment:

“Surely Komera helped us so much! We had reached a level where one would not have even 20 francs to fetch water. When I got the money, I got so happy you wouldn’t believe it. I am so happy for the support. May God reward you abundantly.” – Jean Derrick, Komera parent

Thank you to everyone who gave generously to our COVID-19 fund and helped support our community! As the lockdown continues, we’ll provide you with timely updates on our response!

COVID-19 Response June Update

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