Arsenal fans, through the Rwanda Arsenal Fan Club (RAFC), donated food to families in the Kigarama, Gasabo district to help them cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The donation was forwarded to some 480 families as the RAFC continues with their programmes of reaching out to the needy, since their inception in 2013.
“Looking at the Kwibuka26 commemoration [the 26th Commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi] period and current [coronavirus] crisis that we are facing, we realized our relatives and friends who lost their beloved ones during the genocide, could be facing an even greater challenge during this Covid-19 lockdown that was implemented as a preventive measure to curb the spread of this coronavirus,” RAFC's president Kevin Aaron Mwami told The New Times.
“That is in addition to the long-term consequences of the genocide that they have and still endure. So, we rushed to gather our usual efforts from within ourselves and come up with solutions and means that could constitute as relief during these days.”
The donation also involved some cash transferred to the families, which Mwami believes will help the recipients cope with individual challenges.
“We also know that some of were daily wage earners. There might be some specific needs that they have that we do not know, so in addition to the package, we’ve also topped it with a simple token of cash to each household for their own expense,” he explained.
Felicita Kabasinda, who is one of the beneficiaries, said the RAFC gesture is testament to Rwanda's leadership is the best.
“I am glad you have visited us," Kabasinda told the same publication.
“Seeing young people doing such good deeds gives me hope that our country is in good hands. I call upon all Rwandans especially young ones to love their country. Next time you return to visit us, I will have prepared a poem for you.”
In 2019, the organisation donated commercial greenhouse and mushroom seedlings to elderly survivors in Kinyinya.
In the previous year, two widowed and elderly survivors saw their houses renovated in the Bugesera district.
The RAFC was founded almost seven years ago and is currently made up of over 1,000 members.
Their motto - Be A Gooner, Be A Giver - has seen them help promote socioeconomic development programmes, sports, governance, domestic tourism and culture promotion in and outside the East African country.