Joseline moved to Kigali in 2022 from Nyaruguru-Northern Province, in a bid to find employment and fend for herself. Having no education, her options for employment opportunities were limited to domestic work.
Fortunately, she was able to secure a job at one of Kigali’s commercial buildings where she works as a housekeeper-cleaning the premises, washing, office messaging (if clients or staff need lunch in Camelia or any other place, she’s the one they send), among other things.
Working for a ‘small’ private company, Joseline earns 60,000frw a month, pay that comes with no benefits: lunch, transport, insurance, annual leave-basically any incentive that ‘big’ organizations may offer their employees.
Joseline’s background:
By the time she moved to Kigali, Joseline had a three-month-old son, one she singlehandedly looked after as her husband remained in the Northern province.
Upon finding employment, she was required to bring in a house helper to watch over the kid while she went to work. Although the act was an obligation, it only stretched Joseline’s expenses-adding more coins to her daily grocery budget, not to mention her monthly expenditures.
Nevertheless, she devised means to make the situation work, until she couldn’t anymore. When the little boy made a year, with her heart ‘bleeding’, Joseline took him to her mother in the province while she returned to Kigali to continue with her job.
Cost of living in Kigali:
An article published in April 2024 by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) indicates that Rwanda’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) main gauge of inflation increased by 4.2 percent in March 2024, with a slight decrease compared to the month before.
Overall, there has been an increase in inflation country wide for the past years-since the outbreak of COVID-19, which has exacerbated the cost of living in many households.
However, although that’s the case, reports indicate that employees’ salaries in most organizations, domestic workers alike, have not increased to accommodate the roof shooting standards of living.
Joseline, for example, still earns the same amount as two years back. Talking to SENS, the 26-year-old, and a single mother to a toddler said, “life is becoming harder by the day”.
With her monthly rent costing 35,000frw (minus electricity and water), food, transport to and from work, plus other necessities, she can barely send money to her unemployed mother in Nyaruguru as upkeep for her son.
Nathanaele (not real name) on the other hand, despite earning eight times more than Joseline, was overheard complaining to his work mate about how Kigali is becoming tougher by the day.
This was after he went to buy milk for his son, only to find a carton that cost 12,000frw just a few weeks back priced at 14,000frw.
Then there’s Anita, who earns way less than the former’-20,000frw a month. The only ‘advantage’ she has over them is that she neither pays rent, transport, nor food, as she is a full-time employee at the house she works.
Although her employee tries to make life easier, Anita’s wish is to earn more than that, both for her wellbeing, and that of her parents who are always checking the calendar, to see when her payment will be due to present their longlist of needs and wants.
Making ends meet:
For the ‘skilled’, those with 9 to 5 jobs a day and free weekends, moon lighting or joining the gig economy has become the order of the day.
“A nigga gotta do what they gotta do to survive in this economy”, said a friend who preferred anonymity.
Whether the emerging employment trends will end up becoming a solution to the economic hardships or not is debatable. Primarily, because it’s not every day that such opportunities come by.
“It is possible to be a full-time journalist and a freelancer at the same time”, noted Ken (real name withheld). However, freelancing gigs don’t come by every day, he added.
Additionally, despite one’s willingness to jump onto the trends, their working conditions turn out to be an obstacle. For instance, Joseline works twelve hours a day, six days a week.
“If possible, I wouldn’t mind taking on an extra job now that my child is with my mother in the village. But again, I leave work late, yet I have to show up early the following day,” she echoed.
Moreover, some employers, despite their employees delivering what they should within the required timeframe, don’t permit them to take on extra jobs, terming it as ‘conflict of interest’. This in turn restraints talented individuals from taking on multiple opportunities in fear of being exterminated.
Ultimately, unemployed fresh graduates find it unfair that their counterparts fight for the already few employment opportunities in the name of ‘wanting to make ends meet’.
Could implementation of a minimum wage then be the solution:
According to wageindicator.org, there is no minimum wage in Rwanda: “Officially, there is no minimum wage in Rwanda ” reads an article whose validity was dated April 2024. Adding that, “In most cases, it is the minimum wage contained in 1974, 1973, or 1972 Labour Law which is being used.”
However, some reports show that some sectors; like the tea industry and construction, have a minimum wage of 500 to 1000 frw and 1500 and 5000 frw per day respectively.
The Rwanda Labour Code states that wages are paid in intervals of day, week or a month, stressing that in whichever case, employees should receive their payment in a timely manner.
Spending as you earn:
Alternatively, individuals are urged to spend within their means to avoid falling into debts, let alone resorting to crimes or other immoral acts in an attempt to sustain ‘expensive’ lifestyles.
“It makes no sense for an individual living alone, with a salary of less than 100,000frw a month to hire a housekeeper, instead, they should find time within their schedule to do the housework.”
Saving or making “enough” money is a nebulous concept that’s constantly changing. And there’s always room to go up. Earning a living wage — however, in Rwanda — isn’t the same as living comfortably.
