TOWARDS A NEW DESTINY

Daring To Dream: A Carpenter Tries To Build A Piano In Rwanda It's Monday afternoon and Désiré Mulumeoderwa is alone in his workshop, an oasis of quiet and creativity from the parade of motorbikes and perpetual hustle outside on Kigali's streets. The mud floor is littered with planks of wood in all shapes and sizes, scraps of plastic and other discarded materials Mulumeoderwa uses in his carpentry work. Chairs, cupboards and bed frames are in various stages of construction around the dimly-lit shop. Off in a corner by the door is a project unlike any other. Mulumeoderwa is building an upright piano. It's a new undertaking for the carpenter of 20 years — and for Rwanda. The finished product would be the first Rwandan-made piano, a musical milestone for this landlocked East African country. It would also be the first such instrument produced in Africa since South Africa-based Dietmann, a German company, shut down production in 1989. But the road to victo

PM reassures on battle against child malnutrition The newly established National Early Childhood Development Programme will help fast-track implementation of anti-mulnutrition measures in the country, the Prime Minister has said. Edouard Ngirente gave the reassurance yesterday in the Senate where he laid out strategies to eradicate malnutrition, especially among  children under five years in Rwanda. Although stunting as a result of malnutrition stands at 38 per cent among children under five, the premier said that there is hope that this number will be significantly reduced in the future given different programmes that are in place to fight malnutrition. The programmes include distributing fortified flour to vulnerable parents with children under five, working with community health workers to engage with parents with malnourished children so the latter can be taken to health centres for treatment, as well as running different campaigns that encourage mothers to breast

Farmers devise measures to prevent recurrence of foot and mouth disease Farmers in Eastern Province have turned to protected farms or indoor grazing to avoid losing cattle in another foot and mouth disease outbreak. The move comes weeks after the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources lifted quarantine on livestock which had been put in place following the outbreak of the deadly disease. George Mushime, a farmer from Karangazi Sector in Nyagatare, lost two cows to the disease recently. He has embarked on growing fodder on his farm to avail enough pasture for his cattle. “No more nomadic lifestyle,” he says. David Rugema, of Kinyana in Murundi Sector, Kayonza District, says that he does not have any reason to continue with traditional farming methods as it has been responsible for recurrent losses. “At first, I feared having exotic cows because they’re not resistant to diseases caused by tsetse flies in our area but now the Government has provided almost fr