Rwanda: A dark past - A bright future
Written by: Hamide Latifi, Country Director - Kosovo
Kigali, Rwanda
December 22, 2006

It is December and in Kosovo it is the middle of winter.  I am writing this letter from Rwanda, however, and here it feels more like late spring or early summer—fresh and comfortable.

Looking outside, the lush landscape gives the impression that everything in Rwanda is flourishing, from the bushes and trees to the women in our program.  Once I scratch beneath the surface and speak with some of our participants, I realize that all of the blooming flowers are, in many cases, decorating the harsh Rwandan reality, where women are struggling to overcome impossible poverty and injustice. Still, women and men alike are fiercely determined to rebuild their country into something they can be proud of.

I visited our rights awareness and job skills training classes.  How badly these women want to be there!  I wish you could see it for yourself. Some of the women walk for hours to attend class, often carrying their babies on their backs since they cannot afford childcare. One baby was only five days old!  The women sit together, making baskets with the kids still sleeping on their backs.  The women look after each other and each other’s children with so much care and love, never complaining, determined to use this opportunity as their way out of poverty, isolation and marginalization.

I spoke with several of the women as they made their baskets—used for everything from carrying products to and from the local market to storing food—for the first of three days that week. One of these women was Vestine.  My brief encounter with this young woman has expanded my small world and reminded me of the incredible power of determination.

Vestine is 22 years old and lives in Kigali with a friend since she has no place of her own. Her husband abandoned her when she was almost eight months pregnant.  She now has a 13 month-old baby boy, but she has not heard from her husband since he left.

Abandoned at the worst time, alone with no door to knock on, she somehow managed. “I dedicated my baby to God,” she said, “since I saw us as completely alone. I don’t know where my husband is, I haven’t heard from him since he left, but I think that he lives in Kigali. I have family: mum, 7 sisters and 2 brothers. They live in another part of the country. The family knows about my difficult life, but they can not help me, because they have no resources, they are struggling for themselves.” 

Vestine participates in our program and is learning to make baskets. When I first met her she was wearing a nice dress, colorful and seamed quiet fine. Later, I traveled with some of our Rwandan staff to visit Vestine at home. I did not recognize her. She had on an old blouse and it was so dark in her room.  There was nothing to see but a small, empty space. Her child was crying hungry and grabbing her breast, but there was no milk. Her eyes were wet with tears.

With such dignity, she went on to tell me her story, saying simply that she will complete course and change her life. “I believe that by learning the skill of making baskets, I will be able to form a cooperative with other women to make baskets and together we will sell them.” She adds, “I have tried to do small business, sell small things in the street, but I haven’t got a regular place and I was chased by security in the city.” Local security forces do not allow women to sell products in the road, requiring that they have a stall in the market instead.  Since Vestine could not afford a stall, she had to stop the only income generating activity she felt capable of doing.

Vestine has basic reading and writing skills and I wanted to hear from her how she imagines her future.  Through a translator, she spoke calmly and with tremendous determination, as if she had already begun her journey. “I will continue to work with my group to do baskets. I hope we get orders and sell them. I believe God will help me to have a better life. I think each day about my sponsor and pray for her. May God bless her. I wish her all the best for Christmas and in the New Year.”  

Vestine finished by saying, “my son will have better future, I will work for him to make it.” I believed her completely. She will make it. She has determination, and a burning desire to change her life. There are literally thousands of women like Vestine, who work tirelessly to improve their lives and create a better future for their children. They have been given this chance through the support of their sponsors from all around the world, and they know that, and appreciate it very much.

There is so much to be done in this country with such a dark past.  But, with so much hope, I cannot help but envision a brighter future. As the Director of Women for Women International – Kosovo, when I came to Rwanda I was carrying pain with me for women in Kosovo whose lives had been devastated, and Women for Women International is working so hard to help them get their lives back.  In Rwanda, after meeting women like Vestine, my pain got deeper. But this is not a reason to cry or give up. In fact, the opposite is true. There is plenty of room to work, build and develop—one woman at a time. Stronger women lead to stronger nations.

This is why, dear sponsors and friends, I did not write this letter to make you cry but to make you feel proud to be part of our global community, working to build bridges across oceans.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year! 

Vestine Mukarukundo, making basket




One of the women in the basket class with sleeping baby!