Members of Unity Club Intwararumuri spent the festive season with Intwaza at the Impinganzima Home in Bugesera, extending warm wishes as we heading to the New Year of 2026.
The annual visit took place on Friday, December 12, 2025, at the Nyamata-based Impinganzima home. Held under the theme “Tubarere nk’uko batureze!” (“Let us care for them as they cared for us”), the event aims to stand in solidarity with Intwaza residing in Impinganzima homes in Huye, Nyanza, Bugesera, and Rusizi.
The elderly residents were also treated to songs and performances by pupils from Bon Belge Primary School in Nyamata, helping usher them into the Christmas and New Year festivities with joy.
Representing Unity Club at the event was Rita Zirimwabagabo, who also served as the guest of honor. She said that visiting the Intwaza at the end of each year has become a tradition that allows them to celebrate the festive season together.
“Every year, we visit our parents here to wish them a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and to offer them gifts, just as any child would do for their parent,” she said.
Zirimwabagabo thanked the Government of Rwanda for swiftly restoring the dignity and hope of Genocide survivors in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
She also expressed deep gratitude to the Intwaza for the role they played in rebuilding the country, particularly by taking care of orphans despite enduring their own trauma.
She recalled the guidance of First Lady Jeannette Kagame, Founder of Unity Club, who has repeatedly emphasized that the Intwaza remain a source of inspiration and resilience, a message she highlighted earlier this year while commemorating with Intwaza in Huye and Nyanza during Kwibuka30.
At that time, Mrs. Jeannette Kagame said: “We thank you because you are a living lesson of resilience. To rebuild life from nothing after everything you went through, during and before the genocide, is an extraordinary act of bravery.”
Representing the Ministry of National Unity and Reconciliation (MINUBUMWE), Ingabire Veneranda noted that the Bugesera Impinganzima Home was inaugurated by First Lady Jeannette Kagame in 2018. She explained that the facility initially welcomed 35 elderly survivors, and within three months received 22 more, bringing the total to 57.
The number has continued to grow. Today, the home accommodates 71 elderly residents, six men and 65 women aged between 57 and 98.
Ingabire expressed gratitude to President Paul Kagame for conceptualizing the Impinganzima homes and to First Lady Jeannette Kagame for her unwavering commitment to the wellbeing of the Intwaza. She also commended Unity Club for its continued support.
One of the Intwaza at the Bugesera home expressed joy at the identity shift from being called Incike (a term once used for isolated survivors) to Intwaza, which reflects dignity and strength. She thanked the Bugesera District leadership for their consistent support.
“We are grateful. We once carried a painful label of being ‘incike’, but today we are known as Intwaza. We are Intwaza with children who visit us, entertain us, and make us feel cared for,” she said.
She also extended heartfelt appreciation to Unity Club for their frequent visits, conversations, and compassion, noting that Bugesera District leaders always support them in both difficult and joyful moments.
Impinganzima homes were established in 2014 at the initiative of First Lady Jeannette Kagame to ensure the wellbeing of elderly survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, many of whom were left without families. Today, they live with dignity under the cherished name Intwaza.
