Violet Murekeyiteto started out selling avocado in her home area of Gitega, a Kigali suburb, but the little money she earned was barely enough to cater for the expenses of her home, let alone provide what was necessary for her two children. Even with her husband’s pay, it was still not enough.

"Life was tough, finding what to eat was hard and it was a whole other issue when it came to paying school fees,” the 28-year-old says.

Last year, she heard of and became part of the Impanuro Girls Initiative, a non-government organisation that empowers girls and women, and life began to change. 

"I have benefited a lot from this initiative.  They have taught us how to go about starting up small businesses even with a small amount of capital,” she says.

Murekeyiteto says that with the programmes she received, she managed to expand her business, which boosted her earnings.

"By the time I joined I was selling avocado only, now I also sell cowpeas and sweet bananas. I pay for my children’s school fees and I take good care of my family; I hope to continue growing,” she says.

Marie Ange Raissa Uwamungu, the founder of Impanuro Girls Initiative, says a lot of women have had their lives transformed through the initiative and going by the impact so far, she hopes to turn it into a long-term initiative.

Her initiative helps girls and women through counselling and training. They are advised on how to create small businesses, and educated on the prevention of early and unwanted pregnancies, and much more. Women also receive lessons regarding hygiene.

Uwamungu says through this programme, young girls are encouraged to develop the spirit of self-confidence, hope and a vision of what they want to be in the future. They are also taught the relevance of preserving Rwandan culture.

"We teach women and girls the Rwandan socio-cultural values and also encourage them to be sources of good inspiration to society.”

Birth of the initiative

Even though this programme was launched last year, Uwamungu came up with the idea of creating Impanuro Girls Initiative in 2010. She thought of a programme that would address the issue of early pregnancy, and at the same time, foster women empowerment.

"I have always had this project in mind; to gather women in one place and educate them on issues that affect them. I had no idea where to start though, I was somehow scared and shy back then; scared that the people I knew in my community would not be interested in my cause,” she says.

The growing need to make a difference for fellow women kept on pushing her and in 2013, when she got a chance to mentor a group of young girls in her community, she never looked back.

She took it even further by joining African Leadership Initiative Regional Centre (YALIRC) in 2016.

"I decided to apply for YALIRC because I wanted to get more leadership skills, especially in civic leadership.”

Attending YALIRC was one of the best decisions she made, she says. 

"It made me the woman I wanted to be. I started planning on how to start my initiative through what I had learnt,” the 24-year-old recalls.

Uwamungu holds a Bachelor’s degree in translation and interpreting from University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences.

Her passion for empowering fellow women led her in that direction, and she hopes to expand her initiative such that more women benefit from it. So far, women in Nyarugenge District benefit from the services.

Impanuro Girls Initiative is still young but a very significant number of women and girls are benefiting from it. So far, a good number of women have already started their own small businesses and for the girls, some of them have started showing promise,” she says.

Beneficiaries share their views

Chantal Ingabire had her son when she was only 17 years old. She had to drop out of school and for 15 years, the 32-year-old led "a miserable life”. 

"I survived on temporary jobs, the father of my child used to help me but when he got an accident, he was bedridden for two years, and so he can’t support me anymore. I take care of everything from the expenses at home to paying school fees, and it has not been easy,” she narrates.

Joining this initiative has helped her in a number of ways, she says, but she is most grateful for the hope she now has for the future.

"It’s not easy being a single mother, at times I felt like I was the only one with problems but this initiative has helped me rebuild my life and I now have hope that life will be better,” she says.

Through this initiative, Ingabire has access to saving groups from which she manages to secure school fees for her child and take care of her mother as well.

She also believes that with the business management skills she has, she will start up her own business in the near future.

Djarira Nzasenga says this initiative is making a big difference, especially for the young women who are given guidance on how to avoid early pregnancies.

"This grooms them into responsible women with a bright future ahead of them. The other thing is the encouragement one gets from this initiative, you understand that you have the potential to do absolutely everything as long as you have the determination,” Nzasenga says.

The mother-of-one plans to open up a business next month where she will sell clothes.

How can young girls be shaped into visionary citizens?

editorial@newtimes.co.rw