Kigali – “Young people, in the name of Jesus, let us leave those ibyuma behind. Fight them. Let us fight them together.”
This is the heartfelt appeal addressed to Rwanda’s youth by Bishop Papias Musengamana of Byumba, who is also responsible for youth ministry within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Rwanda.
In Kinyarwanda, ibyuma means “steel,” but in youth slang the term is now used to refer to illicit homemade alcoholic beverages and, more broadly, to drugs.
In his homily at the closing Mass of the National Youth Forum, held in Byumba from August 19 to 23, Bishop Musengamana warned young people about misleading messages spread through social media and billboards.
“There are advertisements on billboards that say: ‘It’s my right’. Every child adds whatever completion they want, saying ‘It’s my right. Using drugs is my right, committing sexual immorality is my right, behaving as I want is my right.’”
The Bishop then appealed to the authorities to pay greater attention to the messages aimed at young people through the media and advertising. According to Bishop Musengamana, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as sexual immorality, are also the result of family vulnerabilities and failures.
“We should not look at the problem only through those who consume drugs, but also look at those who produce them, parents who have neglected their duties, and as the Church, let us see what we can do to help them,” the Bishop said.
As reported by ACI Africa, Bishop Musengamana had previously visited the youth rehabilitation center in Nyagatare. Describing his visit, the Bishop reflected on the difficulties faced by the young people in the facility.
“When we look at the challenges facing young people, starting with those we visited, we talk about being witnesses of hope; how can you have hope as a 14-year-old child entering your prime years, only to spend 15 years in a rehabilitation center?”
Another tragedy concerns infants born to young mothers in rehabilitation facilities. “A newborn child has value that far exceeds the mistakes made by its mother; rather than spending 15 years in a rehabilitation center alongside a mother who made mistakes. On this matter, I strongly ask for advocacy for these children to see what ought to be done,” said the Bishop of Byumba.
The figures illustrate the scale of the problem. According to Fred Mufurukye, director of the National Rehabilitation Service , in June 2025 Rwanda’s four rehabilitation centers housed 6,215 people addicted to various types of drugs, as well as 2,721 people whose alcohol dependence was so severe that they were unable to engage in other activities.
Mufurukye also reported that 521 students had been expelled from school for drunkenness, while 776 had dropped out because of drug use. Another 861 people had lost their jobs due to alcohol abuse, while 846 were no longer able to work because of drug addiction.
The consequences also affect families: 243 couples had separated because of drug use, while 159 families had broken apart as a result of alcohol abuse.
Rwanda plays a marginal role in global drug markets, but it is emerging as an overland transit point for heroin from Kenya and Tanzania and, above all, for cannabis. Smuggled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or Tanzania, cannabis is the psychoactive substance most widely used by young Rwandans.
It is also in light of these figures that Bishop Musengamana’s appeal resonates: “Fight them. Let us fight them together.” In the Bishop’s words, the challenge concerns not only those who use drugs, but also calls upon families, institutions and the Church to work together to restore a sense of hope and a future to young people.
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