Virginia Regina worked the streets of Nashville, Tennessee in the United States for seventeen years as a prostitute. For almost two decades she faced humiliation and violence thanks to having ended up in a vicious cycle of prostitution. She says emotionally “I lost custody of my children and also ended up in prison”. “This is an experience that I can never wish for anybody to go through anywhere in the world.” After coming out of prison in 1997, Virginia decided to put her life back on track. This she would do by leaving her vice laden life and embrace a new life altogether. To start a new life she was assisted by Thistle Farms an organization in her home state of Tennessee. She joined a two year residential program-Magdalene house, run by Thistle Farms. She says that her life story has helped her to communicate with other women who have had a similar experience. She has now fully dedicated her life to helping others in the same predicament to put the past behind. As part of those efforts, she visited Rwanda together with the woman who helped her to end her long miserable life, Becca Stevens. Stevens the chaplain of St. Augustine’s chapel at Vanderbilt University in the US, runs the Non Governmental Organization Thistle Farms, that has together with another organization Sisters of Rwanda been working towards bringing women who have been into prostitution back to normal life in Rwanda. Since1994, Stevens has been involved in a number of projects aimed at helping women with problems of drug abuse and prostitution. For days they spent time working with women in a similar program like the one Stevens started in Nashville. Jared Miller, who co-founded sisters of Rwanda together with one pastor Joseph Ayienga, says that they have been able to convince several women to leave prostitution. They have helped many learn life skills. These include making candles from honey and coffee. They are also making high quality beads from waste paper which they plan to sell in high end stores in the United States and to top hotels in Rwanda. They also produce body products like soap. “The proceeds from these projects go back to support the women in the program” asserts Miller. By working in Rwanda for some time, Stevens was able to realize that many women in Rwanda, forced by their life circumstances into prostitution, are not so different from the ones she has helped overcome this problem back home in Nashville. “Women all over the world are abused and exploited, but those in prostitution lead a very violent life” she says about her experience working with former prostitutes. However she hastens to add that from her experience, in Rwanda they face far more complications than those in the US. Nevertheless, like Virginia, they have had to contend with similar problems and from the experience of having succeeded in reforming many in Nashville; they hope to do the same in Rwanda. And by partnering with sisters of Rwanda, they are able to do that work with much ease. For now two years, Sisters of Rwanda has been helping prostitutes gain life skills for two years now in Rwanda. Initially, according to Miller, they started with twenty three women in Migina slum in Kigali teaching the women who had worked as prostitutes such activities like embroidery, sewing and poultry, which would help generate income for the organizations programs. “Later we realized that these were being done by many other people and we decided to start making soap, candles and beads”. All these products according to Miller are marketed under the brand name Keza, which portrays the good things that Rwanda has to offer. This, he hopes will help to show the people who buy their products in America that there is abundant beauty in Rwanda. Miller adds “our products represent the unique beauty that Rwanda has to offer and the women who make them”. He says that together with other partners, they aim to root out prostitution from the country and want to advocate for laws that would punish those who buy prostitutes since they also help to fuel the vice. “As long as it is only the women who are punished for prostitution, the vice will continue. The men who buy them should also face the music”. Like Virginia who plied the streets for a very long time, he believes the ladies go into prostitution in order to survive. By creating income generating activities for them, they have been able to lead many away from the vice. By visiting and being involved with former prostitutes in Rwanda, women like Virginia and Stevens were able to learn that this problem dates back to pre-1994 genocide Rwanda. However Virginia is quick to add that the genocide made this problem unique in Rwanda and the challenges and complications of resolving it also became unique as a result. She says that her visit has had a powerful impact on her. “The commitment of these women here to overcome their past and move on is overwhelming”. They are eager to provide their own livelihood and also to live an independent life free from the dangers that come with a life of drugs and prostitution. Contact: frankkagabo@yahoo.com
