Bugesera women weave their way out of poverty

When Chantal Nyirabambari, a 49-year-old widow lost her job as a teacher about seven years ago, for lack of required qualifications, she felt life was coming to a halt. For several years she had known no other source of income apart from a monthly salary from the Ministry of Education. So, life without a salary was never going to be easy for herself and the children. “I was one of the teachers laid off due to lack of qualifications in 2007…this made me a financial destitute for some time. I was desperate as my four children couldn’t get two meals a day”. But as the old adage puts it, nature does not allow a vacuum; and everything happens for a reason. Today, Nyirabambari is one of about 200 women in Mayange sector of Bugesera District who have been economically empowered through weaving and selling baskets. The women, most of them former cultivators, started a basket weavung cooperative where they sell their products, a development that has turned round their financial fortunes. Most have now even accumulated savings. Some members of the cooperative, commended the trainings they got from Mayange Millennium Development Project as an eye opener and a pillar for women emancipation and financial empowerment. Artisans in Bugesera commend Millennium Village’s projects for its tangible impact in bringing them together in a cooperative and improving their lives. The project trains rural women in hands-on income generating activities and avails them with startup materials.Felicienne Ufitimana, 32, said the women put their creativity to the test through basket weaving. “I can say without exaggeration that the baskets have always been beautiful…they are neatly woven and unique small baskets that ornament most Rwandan households. They therefore command a good market within the country, region and even Europe and the US,” she said. Ufitimana reflected on the past when she was totally dependent on her husband, whose income was also very low. “I used to earn only Rwf 500 per day in agriculture activities, either in my garden or digging for other people. Today, the situation is quite different in the basket industry. I get Rwf 3,000 on average per day…this has drastically improved my livelihood”. She says that because of increase in income, she is now thinking of big projects such as constructing houses for rent. “Ever since my income increased, I came up with a number of objectives…I am constructing a new house and look forward to buying a Friesian cow in the near future”. And Chantal Nyirabambari, has since put behind her the worries of not having a monthly salary and wishes the retrenchment had come earlier. She says weaving baskets has made her rich. The former primary school teacher lived a penny less life until she joined the cooperative. “I can assure you that I am now a rich woman…I make more money than I have ever done in my life. When I was stopped from work because I lacked requisite papers, I thought I would starve together with my children, but God had other plans for me; my monthly income is above Rwf150.000,” she said. The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is a multi-dimensional development intervention aimed to help reach the Millennium Development goals at the local level. Donald Ndahiro, the project’s Director says women have demonstrated incredible progress in lifting themselves out of poverty, since they started working with the Millennium Villages Project six years ago. “Most of the women never went to school, so we chose activities that would be friendly to them. Weaving is part of Rwandan culture; at least every girl has an idea of weaving. It was thus easy for us to teach them how to make money out of it. They are doing incredibly well…their economic status is good,” he said.

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Bugesera women weave their way out of poverty