The Rwandan Red Cross (RRC) is building a hotel in Karongi district as part of its self-financing project.
The hotel is mainly made up of eight granary-shaped buildings located on the shores of Lake Kivu in Karongi district. Four of them are two-storey buildings. The ground floor and one floor.
“We want to create a site for tourists to stay and rest on the shores of Lake Kivu,” says Antoine Gakwandi, who is in charge of supervising the project.
“Our constructions are circular, visitors to our site talk about granaries,” adds Gakwandi. “We wanted to be inspired by Rwandan culture,” he explains. “Traditional buildings were circular,” he adds. “Ours will be modern because the roof will not be made of straw,” he says.
This project is aimed at the self-financing of the RRC in Karongi district. “We want to generate income to finance our projects for the vulnerable,” says RRC Vice President Françoise Mukandekezi. “Each RRC committee will have to be self-sufficient instead of waiting for funds from headquarters or donors,” she says of the initiative’s purpose.
In the first phase, 24 rooms have been built. A restaurant is also planned. The cost will amount to 230 million Rwandan francs. The total budget at the end of this investment should be 800 million Rwandan francs.
Achievements in favour of the vulnerable
With the support of the Belgian RRC, in the Karongi and Rutsiro districts, several actions have been undertaken to improve the living conditions of the vulnerable.
Drinking water supplies have been installed over a distance of 16 kilometers, and goats have been distributed to 368 families. In addition, the beneficiaries of the support of this organization, an auxiliary of the State, have been introduced to savings and credit groups. …. Thus they can, of their own free will, start other projects.
Some of them have started to fly on their own like this lady Jeanne Nyiratebuka. She was content with subsistence farming, but now she has also started a small business. The capital was obtained from the sale of the products of her livestock following the reproduction of her small livestock. The amount obtained has enabled her to diversify her income-generating activities.
According to the vice-president of the RRC, Françoise Mukandekezi, the support of this humanitarian organization aims at lifting the vulnerable population out of poverty.
The construction of this hotel in Karongi should be completed in May. Its operation will ensure the continued financing of the RRC’s work in this part of the country, which is classified as one of the poorest.
Gérard Rugambwa
