March 26, 2020

Seven Men Walk Over 250km to Escape COVID-19 Lockdown

Moïse Kimenyi March 26, 2020

Trustworthy and indepth news stories are more important now than ever.
Support our newsroom by MAKING A CONTRIBUTION HERE
The route displayed on the map is the main highway connecting Rubavu district in western province, to Huye district in southern province. Driving takes about 4hrs, while it could take you nearly two days walk

A group of men who were working more than 250km away from their homes did not believe the government-imposed lockdown to control spread of COVID-19 virus will end soon.

So they set out to return to their villages. The problem though, there are no vehicles, and security personnel are detaining anyone found outside yet everyone is required to be inside their home.

The seven men surfaced at the Huye district headquarters yesterday late evening, saying they just needed a place to spend the night. Indeed, officials at the district let them sleep there.

Today morning, the group restarted their walking journey to their villages in neighboring Gisagara and Nyaruguru districts. Their story, confirmed to local media by Hagumineza Protogène, Huye district official, reads more like a an amateur video shoot.

The seven men are: Minani Emmanuel (27), Nsabimana Jean Pierre (30), Ndayisaba Alexandre (23), Gilbert (26), Sibobugingo Emmanuel (17), Ndayisenga Eric (25) and Nsekanabanga Eric (40).

Their story goes that; the men are employees of Kivu Belt, a public-private partnership project extracting methane gas from Lake Kivu, Western Rwanda. Their work place was Rubavu district.

Last weekend, government ordered a total lockdown of the country in attempt to stop spread of the COVID-19 global pandemic. As of this Thursday morning, the confirmed cases in Rwanda had reached 41, but fortunately no deaths yet.

For the seven men, their work place was in Western province, but home villages are in southern province. Due to lockdown, their work place had come to a halt. They may have been left with not much of a choice; either stay in Rubavu without money and food, or find a way to reach their villages.

The men chose the latter option; and opted to walk. The date when they began their journey is not known, for now. According to Huye district official who spoke to them, the men walked through villages, not using the main highway as it is much farther, and risky as the authorities would find them.

“When they arrived at Huye district headquarters, they said they were very tired and couldn’t walk anymore. They said the safest place for them is at district,” said the official, quoted in local media.

The men said they didn’t have permanent contracts with their employer Kivu Belt, their jobs were no more.

From Rubavu district to Huye district is 213.1km. This morning, they set off for their districts. For those from Gisagara district, thet will walk for another 30 or so kilometers, while those going to Nyaruguru district will walk for an additional 60 or so kilometers.

In a vehicle, it takes about 4hours to cover this distance. It is estimated, it could take about a day and 8 hours when on foot.

We can't do quality journalism without your support

Perhaps it goes without saying — but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue are declining, The Chronicles remains committed to "Serving Your Right To Know The Truth". Stand with us as we document Rwanda's remarkable journey for you and the future generation. Do you value our journalism? We can't do it without you. Show us with your support by CONTRIBUTING HERE.
Email your news TIPS to info@chronicles.rw or WhatsApp +250788351327.
You can also find us on Signal

Society
November 25, 2023
431 0

Celebrating World Diabetes Day with GT Foundation

Business
November 22, 2023
276 0

Agaciro Development Fund, Hinga Wunguke Partner to Strengthen Food Systems, Promote Agricultural Markets

Featured Stories
November 7, 2023
9 0

While Rwanda Wants Genocide Suspect Kayishema Extradited, Tanzania Isn’t Letting Go

Business
November 2, 2023
1 0

Launch of First Digital Employment Platform in EAC

155 Comments

  1. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like
    you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead
    of that, this is excellent blog. A fantastic read.

    I’ll definitely be back.

    Reply

  4. Let me give you a thumbs up man. Can I show my appreciatation amazing values and if you want to seriously
    get to hear and also share valuable info about how to make a fortune yalla lready know follow me my fellow commenters!.

    Reply

  6. What’s up i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anyplace,
    when i read this post i thought i could also create comment due
    to this good paragraph.

    Reply

  7. Thank you for the good writeup. It in truth was once a leisure account it.
    Look complicated to far added agreeable from you!
    By the way, how can we be in contact?

    Reply

  8. Hello there! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to
    make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when browsing from my iphone4.
    I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able
    to resolve this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share.
    Appreciate it!

    Reply

  9. Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads
    up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Opera.
    I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with
    browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know.
    The design look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon. Thanks

    Reply

  11. I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles
    or weblog posts on this kind of space . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this site.
    Reading this info So i’m satisfied to convey that I’ve
    an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed.

    I so much indisputably will make sure to don?t forget this web site and provides it a look on a continuing basis.

    Reply

  25. When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox
    and now each time a comment is added I get
    several emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts.

    In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope
    you write again soon!

    Reply

  42. Hi there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I
    was wondering if you knew where I could get
    a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using
    the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

    Reply

  56. İzmir Travesti Reklam Portalı
    İzmir Travesti sayfası. Bu sayfada şehir’deki en elit trans
    bireylere ulaşabilir, fotoğraf, video ve iletişim bilgilerine sahip olabilirsiniz.

    izmir travesti İzmir Travesti Reklam Platformu

    en güzel izmir travesti kızlarına ulaş.

    Reply

  74. Hi there everyone, it’s my first go to see at this website, and piece of writing is really fruitful for me, keep up
    posting such articles.

    Reply

  75. Hi there! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site?
    I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with
    hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another
    platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the
    direction of a good platform.

    Reply

  78. Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed
    reading it, you can be a great author. I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back down the road.

    I want to encourage one to continue your great writing, have a nice day!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *