Cooperatives transforming Nyagatare women

After many years of social and cultural discrimination, women in Nyagatare came-together and formed cooperatives, an initiative they are proud of. On a recent visit to Nyagatare, several women from different cooperatives told the Sunday Times what drove them into cooperatives. The women, a number of whom are mothers, also revealed the daily constraints and challenges they face. Sifa Muke, the president of Nyagatare Women Handcraft Cooperative said that the cooperative was formed to financially support Nyagatare women. When involved in income generating cooperatives and associations, women are able to support their husbands maintain the families’ standards of living. Nyagatare Women Handcraft Cooperative trains women how to knit and weave sweaters and babies’ cloths. The women also make earrings from natural fibres. Women who join the cooperative are taught how to knit using machines. “Most of these women are driven to the Cooperative with different passions and visions,” Sifa Muke says. Immaculate Mukanyarwaya, a student at Nyagatare Women Handcraft Cooperative, is a mother of 9. She is proud of the fact that they are all in school. She says that one of the major reasons that obliged her to join the cooperative was to become financially stable and be in position to contribute to her children’s school fees. “Alongside knitting, I weave earrings which I sell. The money I get from earring sales helps me provide the basic needs for the family,” says Mukanyarwaya. Leonille Mukadutiye, a trainer at Nyagatare Women Handcraft Cooperative says that she earns a living from training women in Nyagatare. With this, she says she is capable of catering for her family. Peninah Musabyemariya and Shilla Niyonsaba are partners in Seruka Cooperative that rents out wedding tents, public address systems and wedding dresses to mention a few in Nyagatare town. According to Musabyemariya who heads the cooperative, they started with Rwf8 million. Accordingly, they purchased the wedding tents, public address systems and wedding gowns. Narrating how they both operate the cooperative, Niyonsaba says that balancing a family, school and work is not a simple task, however their willingness to support the families keeps them going. Musabyemariya and Niyonsaba are currently students at Muvumba Polytechnique doing Business studies.The two are also married and are nurses by profession. They revealed that unlike some women whose husbands don’t allow them into business, they have the full support of theirs. According to Jane Mbabazi in charge of gender in Nyagatare district, the cooperatives were formed as an effort to promote women in the district. Ends