Jacqueline

We never cease to be inspired by the women of our partner cooperative Twiyubake, and Jacqueline, its president, is no exception. She is a mother of six and plans to open her own boutique someday. But when Jacqueline does something, she wants to do it right. That’s why she hopes to travel Europe and America and research how successful businesses run there, using the lessons she learns to build her own thriving enterprise.Jacqueline’s dreams are no small feat, particularly given the hardships she has overcome. Twiyubake is comprised of genocide widows who work side by side with the wives of men who killed their husbands. Before banding together as a cooperative, many of these women lived in abject poverty, struggling to obtain basic necessities like food, clean water, and shelter. But through their courageous decision to leave the past behind them, to value forgiveness over enmity, these women have built new and prosperous futures for themselves and their families. Today, they are flourishing entrepreneurs, and their beautiful and intricately woven banana leaf products have garnered widespread admiration and success. They are paragons of strength, setting a remarkable example of what reconciliation and unity can look like.