With the outbreak of covid-19 in March 21st ,2019, Rwanda announced a country lockdown and started to test people with travel history and contacts of those who tested Positive. The virus was transmitting readily between people, primarily by inhalation with much higher mortality rate in older adults and other high-risk groups and was transmitted by infected people who have no or minimal symptoms.
By Kagame Karekezi Fred
Nothing Mattered more than security and protection of Rwandans, so Rwanda National Police started recruiting officer cadets with new measures of covid-19 prevention put in place; exams were carried respecting World Health Organization’s rules of mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing.
Cadets who passed exams were taken to isolation center at Kagarama in July 2020. Here everything was sterilized and administered for covid-19 prevention. Instructions included: avoidance of touching surfaces especially in public settings or health facilities, cleaning surfaces regularly with standard disinfectants and frequently cleaning hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.
Officer Cadets were first tested for covid-19 upon arrival and monitored for symptoms for a month. After several tests, RNP gave a go ahead for the eligible officer cadets to go to the Police Basic Cadets Course at Police Training School (PTS- Gishari).
The Police Cadets Course INTAKE 11, officially started on 31st 08.2020. Cadets saw attending training during the pandemic as a great opportunity excited to live in a safe haven where they would continue to have the purpose of serving and protecting the country as the only way to achieve the impossible is to always believe it’s possible.
The course had three phases. In the first phase, trainees received tactical and physical training plus Military Science. PTS offered a world class medical care to ensure trainees daily safety then they entered phase two with a better idea of what to expect.
As a tradition, at the end of phase one, cadets go home for a course break but this time due to the rise of covid-19 cases, cadets didn’t go home. So, the PTS leadership opted for a better option of giving them a course break within the PTS compound where all leisure facilities were available for them.
The second phase emphasized on Police science and military Science. In this phase family visits were not possible. Thus, PTS decided to give phones once a month to all cadets in order to help them talk and connect to their families, friends and loved ones reassuring them that they were in good hands and everything was going well. Cadets did several route marches wearing masks, carrying the newly Manual training’s stretchers and kits assimilating a sick person hence learning the aspects of teamwork and first aid.
The third phase consisted of the pass out parade of the newly introduced Chinese parade. Intake 11 is the first ever Police Cadet Intake to carry on this parade which is entirely ceremonial.
In this times of fear and panic, cadets showed no sign of pessimism about a training done during a deadly pandemic. They showed hard work, teamwork, quick response, confidence and decision accuracy all along the course. Then a vaccine came and they were all vaccinated with WHO ‘s approved vaccine AstraZeneca.
All trainers and trainees followed WHO’s Rules of prevention constantly even after the vaccine. It’s important to note that covid-19 didn’t stop any training activities including physical activities, and no one died from this deadly and horrible virus.
Officer Cadets were lucky enough to have a year to study how to serve the country with efficacy and learn how to lead and give commands as better officers. This is because they had time to train hard helped by efficient instructors. These instructors provided a unique environment in which they could train and mentor cadets more efficiently.
The course all along has been optimistically fruitful as it was a journey of discovery that thought cadet’s valuable life skills, discipline, survival tactics and endurance among others.
The Basic Police Cadet intake 11 will always be seen as a different class in the toughest times of the pandemic and as Michael Phelps once said, ‘’there will be obstacles, there will be doubters, there will be mistakes but with hard work there are no limits.’’
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