On a scotching Sunday afternoon, Ishimwe Daniel (pictured above) runs from home to link up with his friends in the neighbourhood for random plays including kicking hand-made football, crafting toys and climbing fruit trees to pick guavas and avocaddos.
Taarifa team suddenly bumps into Ishimwe on a dusty road in Bidudu village Ndatemwa cell Gatsibo district. It has been nine years since we last saw him as a baby days after he was born.
Ishimwe’s life journey has been marked by sadness, triumph, resilience and hope.
In November, 2016, residents of Bidudu village located in Ndatemwa, Kiziguro sector in Gatsibo district woke up to disturbing news of a mother who died after giving birth, however, the child survived.
The surviving child was named Ishimwe Daniel by her great-grand father. Their story is both terrifying and heroic.
This sad story remains fresh especially among Bidudu residents whenever Ishimwe currently in third grade, is seen playing with his peers in the neighbourhood. He is active, healthy and happy but doesn’t know his complex story.
Ishimwe has been single handedly raised by his great-grand parents despite challenges of poverty.
Urayeneza Cécile the great grandmother to Ishimwe has toiled through her great grand son’s journey. She has successfully raised him into a handsome boy, playful and now schooling at Murambi primary school nearby.
“On November 20(2016), my granddaughter went to give birth at Kiziguro Hospital. After giving birth, she developed complicated condition and was transfered to CHUK hospital in Kigali. The next day, she died,” Urayeneza told Taarifa.
Urayeneza explains, “after Ishimwe’s mother died, CHUK hospital issued me a bill of Rwf324,000. I could not afford that amount of money, because I am poor. I did not know what to do with the body. I left it including the baby. A good samaritan gave me transport money and I returned home.”
At that time, Urayeneza says that she had paid Mutuelle for three members of the family but the cell leader told her that there was another family member for whom she had to pay so that the insurance cover could be usable. “I was totally broke and confused.”
She walked to Ntatemwa Cell office and requested for assistance in raising the Rwf324,000. The Cell officials sent me to Kiziguro sector, “they told me that they would get back to me soon. I waited for days and got no responce from them. They did not help me and i gave up.”
“A week after Ishimwe mothers death, two doctors from Kiziguro Hospital and another from CHUK brought Ishimwe here,” she remembers in an ambulance.
According to Urayeneza, the doctors also brought for her papers to sign to agree to conditions of burial for Ishimwe’s mom and that I would not ask for anything else, “I signed, however, I was devastated that I could not burry my grand-daughter due to poverty.”
Nine years later, Taarifa team visited Ishimwe’s great grandparents at their home in Gatsibo district. We first located Ishimwe playing with other children in the neighbourhood and breafly spoke to him.
“I am in Primary three and I have come to play with my friends,” Ishimwe told Taarifa on Sunday as he crafted a scooter toy to play with.
Meeting Ishimwe’s great-grand mother after eight years, she exudes with a large smile, “get inside the house, it is hot outside,” she said while welcoming Taarifa team.
Daniel Ruribikiye the great grandfather of Ishimwe had been taking an afternoon nap while we sat down in the living room where Urayeneza was weaving a mat. She called the old man to the living room.
“We don’t know the father of Ishimwe upto today but he is our great grandchild,” Ruribikiye says as we kick off with the interview asking him whether they have found or located Ishimwe’s biological father.
“Raising Ishimwe has been by the grace of God. We never received any help to raise him. Kiziguro Sector officials had promised to give him two litres of milk daily but it was halted just after a month. The milk supplier stopped because he was not paid,” Ruribikiye told Taarifa team.
In her narration of raising Ishimwe, Urayeneza observed, “I always carried him on my back and would look for small jobs to get money to buy milk and food. It has been a tough situation because we don’t have a garden to grow food crops,” she says.
Ruribikiye aged 78 is also saddened by being removed from the list of beneficiaries of VUP money. “I used to get Rwf18,000 every month but one day was suprised to learn that I was nolonger a beneficiary including three others,” he says.
