Gatera Ndagijimanade takes risks to venture in collection of waste in Kagali at a time most families do not have proper disposal facilities for used face masks
The existential threat of coronavirus pandemic has shone alight on some everyday heroes, who going forward will remain in consciousness.
Some heroes, however, will remain in the shadows but it doesn't diminish the great job they continue to do even at a time like this, one example is Gatera Ndagijimana.
Gatera is a garbage collector, everyone is locked up in their houses and doing their best to protect themselves and their families, but then garbage has to be collected, and Gatera is putting his life on the line to collect it so in turn he can provide for his family.
His day starts at 5am, when he mounts a garbage truck that goes from village to village collecting garbage from Kigali households.
I had noticed how gracious he always is, smiling and greeting people as he goes to collect waste.
Curiosity about his life got the best of me, I wanted to know how he is protecting himself from contracting the virus, especially while doing the kind of work which ranks high among the work environments that can easily expose someone to the virus.
One day as he was collecting garbage from our home I asked for a few minutes of his time for a chat, which I said I would compensate for.
He apologised that he has no Christian name because he was never baptised by his parents, which I brush off as inconsequential.
The day we talked, numbers of people testing positive for coronavirus had skyrocketed, surpassing the 1,000 per day.
He is putting on a red face mask, which is visibly dirty just like his blue overall-which one would say comes with the territory of his work.
Hundreds of thousands of worn and dirty disposable face masks are disposed of in home garbage bins every day upon people returning home, many of these masks are worn by infected people and they carry the virus.
Gatera is not even putting on any gloves, and I ask him how he is navigating the risks of contracting the virus while doing his work in a critical time like this.
He says that the only protection is putting on his mask and washing his hands after work, he only tested once at the beginning of the pandemic and he was negative, but he says he has also not fallen sick since.
But all this paranoia around contracting the virus is not what is pre-occupying Gatera's mind, his mind is on his child and wife whose mouths he has to feed and provide shelter for.
He shares with me that on the garbage truck he works, only four people are paid a monthly wage, the rest earn from selling aluminium, steel and other items they pick from the rubbish As they collect people's garbage, they are also collecting, sometimes they get these items, other times they don't, and that's how their reality is, a gamble.
He belongs to those that scavenge for discarded items to sell, and for some days now he has been shooting blanks Culturally and socially speaking dignity is a highly valued virtue for Rwandans, and many sacrifice a lot to see that they work in dignified environments, but this is not a luxury in Gatera's world.
"I never think about how degrading my job might be, I have locked those thoughts far away, my singular objective is to feed my people and pay rent "If I had a better job I would readily do it but I don't have it, so I try to do this one to the best of my abilities".
Gatera says in his line of work he often comes across people who look down on him, or treat him like he doesn't even exist, especially those whose garbage he picks, but he doesn't let that get to him or change his attitude.
"I know I matter to my child and my wife, the only downside is that at times go home with nothing, and I even find my boy asleep, yet I have to wake up early the next day."