............ . . Widow's family rises from destitution   By George Kalisa   RECEIVING a fertilised friesian heifer six years ago has changed the life of Flora Uwera and her eight children. “President Paul Kagame is my father and my mother. To me, he’s a friend indeed. When my husband died I thought life would never be the same. I had no idea of how I was going to bring up my children,” Uwera narrates. Uwera is one of the first beneficiaries of Kagame’s initiative of poverty reduction in the Gicumbi district of the Northern Province. Uwera, who got the cow in 2003, lives with her children in Cyuru village, Rukoma sector. Uwera at her farm in Rukoma “If I met the President, I would give him an account of the life I lived before he gave me this cow and the life I lead today,” the joyous window said as she gave fodder to the cow. Uwera said before Kagame gave her the cow through the poverty reduction programme codenamed Gira Inka (One Cow per Poor Family), her family could only afford one meal per day. She said her children had dropped out of school and she could not provide their basic needs, adding that the cow has solved her family’s dietary needs and endless financial constraints.   Cows being distributed to the beneficiariesunder the Gira Inka (One-Cow-per-Poor-Family) programme “Look at my house today; with the proceeds from my cows I was able to move from a poor house to this decent one. In this house I have been lucky to host famous people, including the Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza. Let’s go inside and I show you the visitors’ book where he signed,” she said. From the one cow she got, Uwera has managed to accumulate seven more, two of which are bulls. She said she gave the first female offspring to another family and gets 30 litres of milk per day. Uwera said the money she gets from selling the milk has enabled her to educate her children. When Kagame took over power, many Rwandans lived in abject poverty. On April 12, 2006, the Cabinet of Rwanda adopted a decree that established the Gira Inka. About 257,000 families have been targeted as beneficiaries of the programme in ten years.