The following stories from Rwanda are extracts from the booklet 'Women in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry."
STORY BY VALARIE MUKANDAYISENGA
My motivation and the reasons why I decided on this sector:
• As a professional technician in RAC, it is good to help others get a good life.
• I will raise public awareness about the refrigerants which are being phased out and their toxicity.
• I will go into all areas using refrigerants and check if they are still using the toxic ones, and I will tell the directors to remove those old components and buy the new which use good refrigerants.
• I decided to work in this sector because I am a professional technician in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) and I need to help everybody by teaching them about the environmental and human health impact of RAC.
• I will help my country in its task of removing toxic refrigerants and using the good, new refrigerants.
• I’m very happy to be in this sector because I’m a woman and because many people have hope in women and human life.
• It will help me to teach them about RAC.
• I will teach people that saving Mother Earth means not releasing refrigerants and chemicals into the atmosphere but recovering the refrigerants to reuse.
My training and education
| School | Year | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Higher education: Kicukiro College of Technology (IPRC Kigali |
2009-2012 | Advanced Diploma in Mechanical Engineering/Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration |
| E.T.O Muhima | 2005-2008 | Professional Certificate of Secondary Education Level A2 / Mechanical Engineering |
| Secondary education: Groupe Scolaire Officiel de Butare |
2003-2005 | Ordinary Level |
Challenges and successes
1 When moving damaged compressors as I was working with other technicians not trained in air-conditioning and refrigeration, they cut the pipes without keeping the refrigerant, which they put into the atmosphere.
- Telling them that it was not good to remove any component in an air-conditioner or fridge without keeping the refrigerant and it was not good to let out the refrigerant as it damaged the atmosphere and human life.
- Teaching them every day about toxic refrigerants.
2. Not enough equipment in some areas/companies for doing maintenance and repair.
- Telling the directors to remove those old components and buy new ones which used good refrigerants.
3. In many areas, there are many kinds of refrigerants that are being phased out or toxic.
- Teaching everyone every day about the evils of toxic refrigerants.
- Telling them the advantages of refrigerants that are not toxic.
Experience
EKAL Company Ltd Jan. 2012 - March 2013
Maintenance Director
• Installation of new air-conditioners in Parliament of Rwanda (offices of deputies and senators)
• Repair and maintenance of air-conditioners in Parliament of Rwanda
• Repair and maintenance of air-conditioners in Ministry of Justice (Rwanda)
• Removal of old air-conditioners and installation of new air-conditioners in Ministry of Justice (Rwanda)
• Repair and maintenance of air-conditioners in Rwanda Development Board (RDB)
• Installation of new air-conditioners
Kigali Serena Hotel April 2013 - June 2014
Room & Maintenance - Tech Desk Attendant
• Generating daily, weekly, and monthly reports to the managers through Outlook
• Repairing, replacing and maintaining technical spare parts (air-conditioners, fridges, electricity, plumbing)
• Planning schedule and coordinating work of other technicians
• Servicing and cleaning air-conditioners, fridges, cold rooms, and water dispensers
EKAL Company Ltd June 2015 - present
Maintenance Technician
• Organizing routine servicing schedules of air-conditioners and fridges (Rwanda Development Board)
• Installing new air-conditioners
• Fixing faults or arranging for replacements to be installed
• Keeping production managers informed of progress
• Organizing teams to make sure 24-hour cover is available
• Making scheduled checks on machinery and parts
• Finding and fixing faults and recalibrating instruments
• Oiling and cleaning machinery and parts
• Overhauling and replacing parts according to schedule
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STORY BY MARTHE NIKUZE
1. Education: Advanced Diploma in Biomedical Engineering.
2. Working experience: From 2016 to the present as air-conditioning and refrigeration technician and customer supporter in charge of customer problems concerning RAC machines.
3. Training: I have completed training in general maintenance, biomedical workshops, air-conditioning, heating equipment and refrigeration.
4. I was motivated to work in the RAC sector because it was my first job and I found it very interesting. It helps me to meet new people and I like to be close to the environment. I would like to increase my knowledge in this field to help protect the ozone layer and the environment from the negative effects of refrigerants. I also wish to be able to train other technicians in the future.
5. But we have challenges for ozone protection because we don’t have much knowledge on it and some technicians don’t even care about the effect of refrigerants on our future, and we also still have fake refrigerants on market, and so I need to keep working in this field to help protect our environment and the ozone as well.
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STORY BY FLORA NIYONIZERA
I decided to work in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (RAC) sector because I wanted to make my contribution to the development of
my country by reducing ozone pollution and encouraging women to work in RAC.
I have had training on ozone layer protection from the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), as well as training in servicing and general maintenance, which has included testing, diagnosis and repairing of refrigerators in different fields at Kabgayi Hospital and six months of professional training in car air-conditioning at the Kabgayi Garage Company Ltd.
I completed my Advanced Level in Motor Vehicle Mechanics at IPRC West (ETO Kibuye) and my university studies at Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) IPRC Kigali in the field of air-conditioning and refrigeration technology.
The challenges have been that most people do not understand the importance of ozone protection and why we need to reduce atmospheric pollution. Also, I was the only girl in the class.
I have installed new air-conditioners in different offices and done servicing and general maintenance of older air-conditioners as well as testing, diagnosis, repair and charging of the refrigerant in different laboratory refrigerators and in Kabgayi Hospital as a refrigeration and air-conditioning technician.
