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Today, April 7th, 2017, marks the 23rd commemoration of the Rwandan genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed over the course of 100 days. In honor of this day, we want to take a moment to reflect and pay tribute to those who continue to endure the effects of those tragic events.On this day of remembrance, we also want to recognize the incredible progress that Rwanda has made over the past two decades.
Before the genocide, women in Rwanda did not have equal rights as men—they could not inherit land, open a bank account, or work outside the home without their husband’s permission.
However, when the genocide ended, Rwanda was 70% female—women were left to rebuild their country. They cared for children on their own and took in orphans; they paved roads and repaired buildings; they sowed fields and collected the harvest. They tried as best they could to piece their lives back together.
Today, Indego Africa is honored to share the powerful story of one of our dedicated artisan partners who is not only building a new life for herself, but also creating a brighter future for her country.
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I was a child during the genocide, but I remember being separated from my parents, and my mom asking my sister to take care of me before they left. I never saw them again.
In the years since, I have learned about the genocide and always wondered why friends, neighbors, and other family members did not help my parents.
Before the genocide, I remember being a happy child and drinking a lot of milk. My family had a lot of cows and that meant that we were not poor. Our parents took care of us and provided us with what we needed.
After the genocide, this was no longer the case. I survived with my siblings and we had nothing. Our cows were slaughtered and our parents were no longer with us. We had to learn how to manage on our own and live a new kind of life, because the comfortable one we were used to had stopped so abruptly.
I grew up hating everyone, thinking that they were bad. I hated my life and everything that came with it. I hated school even though I knew it was supposed to help me gain the skills and knowledge I needed to improve my life.
I failed out of my high school and life became even worse, but one day I managed to find some training in sewing and my life slowly began to improve. When I heard about Cocoki, I joined the cooperative and started working closely with other women.
When Cocoki partnered with Indego Africa, we started improving our skills and working on brand new designs, which brought excitement and joy into my life.
The more time I spent at Cocoki, the easier it became to make friends and open up to some of my colleagues. I started making decisions that helped improve my life.
Now I have my own bank account, driving license, and a piece of shared land with my siblings. Our goal is to build a house, just like the home we used to have with our parents. I now provide for myself and help raise my little nephew, but I know even more is coming; I just have to work hard and continue to make my parents proud.
I have found a new home at Cocoki, and I know I have a great future ahead of me.
In 2016, Indego Africa launched its Vocational Training program in Rwanda for young people seeking...
This year, Indego Africa turns 10 (yes, we can’t believe it either!) and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate! Every day for the past decade, the Indego Africa team has woken up with the collective goal to empower women and support artisans around the world. We wanted to do something extra special to honor our 10th anniversary and celebrate our partners in Rwanda and Ghana-- that’s why we’re sharing a decade of growth, impact, and stories!We have lots of amazing features, launches, collaborations, and events coming your way this year and we can’t wait to share them with you. To give you a sneak peek (and to get you as excited as we are) we’re including a list of all the fun things to come below.
For the rest of 2017, keep your eyes peeled for...
- A special 10th anniversary gallery event on July 19th featuring beautiful images and stories from the inspiring refugee women of Akeza Burundi Cooperative at the Mahama Refugee Camp in Rwanda
- The story of Gahembe Cooperative and the #bossladies of our Vocational Training program who have started their own successful weaving business in Rwanda!
- Some very special new items on our ever-expanding baby & kids line (we're talking some serious cuteness here...)
- An exclusive interview with Indego Africa's founder, Matt Mitro
- #firstfriends conversations with some of Indego's earliest artisan partners including women from Cocoki and Twiyubake Cooperatives
- A feature on our upcoming sewing cooperative in Tamale, Ghana!
- The launch of our brand new Senufo Stool, the traditional designs of the Senufo tribes in Mali and Ivory Coast
- Our special 10th anniversary zine giving you an inside look at a decade of our programs, partners, and impact in Rwanda & Ghana
…and much more!
Stay tuned by signing up for our newsletter and following us on social media (@indego_africa). You won’t want to miss the exciting things to come!
Happy International Women’s Day! While we celebrate women every day (because, hello, there’s so much to celebrate!) we wanted to do something extra-special for this year’s #IWD—something that would speak to our mission of women’s empowerment and show our unwavering support for women’s rights around the globe.
Now more than ever, we are committed to fighting for equality, empowerment, and opportunity for women everywhere. Our brand-new, feminism-forward “EMPOWERED.” sweatshirt represents this commitment (and gives you the chance to be part of it too!)
Hand-embroidered by women in Rwanda, our EMPOWERED. sweatshirt is about confidence and independence. It’s about education and equal opportunities. It’s about that feeling you get when you make an important decision, stand up for what you believe in, or make your voice heard. It’s about communities around the world that are stronger, healthier, and safer because women have rights and choices. It’s about strength in solidarity and global sisterhood. It’s about about whatever empowerment means to you.
100% of the proceeds from our EMPOWERED. sweatshirt will be invested into education programs for women in Rwanda and Ghana. When you rep our sweatshirt, you’ll be repping it in spirit alongside these more than 1,000 #bossladies who are becoming leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers in their communities.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, and our new EMPOWERED. product launch, we chatted with some of our amazing partners in Rwanda to hear firsthand what empowerment means to them and how Indego Africa fits into the mix. Here’s what they shared with us:
“For me, empowerment is the process of working together and learning from other women. It’s the ability to exchange ideas with others and put them into full practice.” – Jacqueline
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“Empowerment means being self-confident in doing anything I want and achieving it no matter what the circumstances. Through working with Indego Africa, I have achieved this self-confidence. Today, I can look for a loan to invest in my business. I know how to work with banks and how to manage my income. I pay for my children’s school fees and support the family along with my husband. I now share my opinions freely with other people, while before I was too shy to speak in public.
I can truly say that I am a role model for other women in my community. All of my female friends are happy and proud of me for the changes I’ve made in my life. Empowering women is important because it impacts all of society.” – Anne Marie
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“I am an independent woman. I contribute a lot to my family—through Indego Africa orders, I’m able to pay their health insurance, school fees, and other basic needs, whereas before it was only my husband who contributed. Today, I even employ someone to work on my farm and have helped him change his life and his family as well. Empowering women is a radical thing to do, because it helps them increase their self-confidence and lift their families and communities out of poverty.” - Henriette
Three cheers to empowered women, and empowering women, around the globe! To shop our EMPOWERED. sweatshirt, and make a difference in the lives of women in Rwanda & Ghana, click here
Happy, happy International Women’s Day! (~Cue the confetti~)
In Rwanda and Ghana, our partners are embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, getting creative, and overcoming challenges to start their own businesses. We wanted to hear more from these inspiring women about what entrepreneurship means to them and why they do what they do. In the interview that follows, these trailblazing women share inside stories about their businesses (and the growing pains that come with them)—about achieving work-life balance, navigating stumbling blocks, building future goals, and finding inspiration. They also share empowering advice for other women—any age and anywhere—who are looking to make their dreams happen.
Mavis Adongo
Founder of a bolga basket weaving cooperative
Kumasi, Ghana
Mother of three
29 years old
"To be a good leader, extreme patience is required."
__________
Why were you interested in starting a bolga cooperative? What does bolga weaving mean to you?
Bolga basket weaving is the first trade I studied growing up. I love to make baskets and watch people admire, purchase and use them. It has always been my passion to start up a group focused on making beautiful and colorful bolga baskets for sale.How does it feel to be a leader of your bolga cooperative? What do you think it means to be a good leader? I am extremely happy to be taking the lead in establishing a bolga basket cooperative in Kumasi. I believe a good leader has the interests of his or her co-workers at heart and truly cares about the welfare of all members both personally and professionally. To be a good leader, extreme patience is required. People come from varying backgrounds, thus having patience as a leader can help you deal and work effectively with these people in order to succeed and enable the business thrive.Do you like partnering with Indego Africa? If so, why?
Indego Africa has been a godsend to me. They love me and are willing to help me show off my skills. They discovered me, and have showed that they love me. I pray all the time that people buy stuff from Indego Africa so that I can have many orders.
Have you faced any challenges as an entrepreneur and a mother of three?
Children get sick sometimes and as a working mother when they do get sick it is one of the worst experiences ever. I need to stay at home and care for my children, yet I still need to work and keep my job.
There are times when I have struggled with caring for my kids. There was a time when my husband lost his job, I had to pay off a bank loan and our rent was due. We really had a hard time.
Starting a bolga cooperative in Kumasi can help us make some money to support our families. With more hands on deck, we can improve on our designs, reach deadlines and collect large orders.What are your dreams for your children’s future?
I want them to have an education. With an education, they can get good jobs and become leaders in society. They will be able to care for me when I am old.
I know that one day I will not be here with them, so I want them to have formal education because I know they can survive in this world if they do.
75% of adolescents who live with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are girls. Research by the U.N. shows that social, cultural, and economic factors—including gender inequality, gender-based violence, lack of financial independence, and lack of access to sexual education—can make young women especially vulnerable.
Last year, we at Indego Africa expanded our work with artisans in Rwanda to include a new focus on empowering youth. We launched a Vocational Training program to help young, unemployed women in rural Rwanda—a highly vulnerable population—build careers in the artisan sector through technical training and business education.
The goal of this program was to help young women gain critically-needed employment opportunities and earn sustainable income. However, after the program started, we discovered another critical need: sexual health education.
While a group of Vocational Trainees were learning to sew at the
Abasangiye Cooperative in Rwanda, they overheard older members of the cooperative talking about their HIV treatment. The young women became worried that they could be infected through pin pricks while sewing and immediately raised their concerns with our Education Manager in Rwanda.
Through conversations between our Rwanda team and the Vocational
Trainees, we recognized that these young women needed training on HIV prevention and transmission, as well as sexual health education more broadly. They were concerned about their health, specifically about HIV/AIDS, but did not have sufficient information about how to protect themselves.
We firmly believe that women and girls around the world deserve
access to relevant, comprehensive sexual health education in order to make informed decisions about their bodies and their health. According to UN AIDS, in sub-Saharan Africa only 28% of young women report that they have sufficient knowledge about how to protect themselves from HIV.
Further,
in 2015, 7.3% of adolescent girls in Rwanda experienced a teenage pregnancy (up 20% from 2010), a statistic driven by a lack of knowledge about reproductive health, as well as access to health services.
To
address these critical knowledge gaps, we set up Sexual Health Training workshops for all of the young women participating in our Vocational Training
program and invited our older artisan partners to join as well. The course, taught by an experienced female Rwandan health trainer, focused on HIV/AIDS and STI transmission, prevention, and symptoms, but also incorporated lessons on gender-based violence and reproductive health and care.
The instructor provided the young women with guidance about how to discuss sexual health with partners—conversations which can be challenging, especially when unequal gender roles or financial dependence come into play—and also encouraged them to be proactive about “knowing their status” through regular check ups and blood tests.
For
some of the students, the workshop was the first time they had ever learned about sexual health in an educational setting. Others had received sexual health education before, but often in less detail. The workshop gave them an opportunity to learn about these topics in a safe, positive environment and to ask as many questions as they needed. Further, for the older women, the training gave them important guidance on how to talk with their children about these issues.
“It’s
so important that we get this training while we are young,” a 23-year-old workshop participant, Jennifer, said. “The youth are the ones who have a poor understanding about sexual relations here in Rwanda, especial girls of my age. Many get pregnant or get HIV because they do not have this information.”
Another positive (and
heartwarming!) outcome of the training was that it helped sensitize the participants to the experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS and the need for empathy. One 19-year-old woman, Liliane, said:
“The
most important thing I learned is to take care of HIV/AIDS positive people. We should never exclude them.”
As we strive to create a
world in which young women and girls can reach their full potential, it is crucial that they have access to information about their health. Moving forward, we are committed to continuing our Sexual Health Training program for young women and expanding the curriculum to cover reproductive health, a topic which several of the participants asked for. In our mission to achieve gender equality and empower women knowledge is a powerful, and necessary, first step.
In Rwanda and Ghana, our partners are embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, getting creative, and overcoming challenges to start their own businesses. We wanted to hear more from these inspiring women about what entrepreneurship means to them and why they do what they do.
In the interview that follow, these trailblazing women share inside stories about their businesses (and the growing pains that come with them)—about achieving work-life balance, navigating stumbling blocks, building future goals, and finding inspiration. They also share empowering advice for other women—any age and anywhere—who are looking to make their dreams happen.
Claudette Mukeshimana
Vocational Training Graduate
Founder of Gahembe Cooperative
Bugasera, Rwanda
25 years old“Determination and a strong spirit can take you wherever you want to go.”
____________________How does it feel to start your own business and become an entrepreneur?Indego trained me to be an entrepreneur. Before I had nothing, but now, I know how to save and manage a business. This job has made me an open-minded person. Sometimes you might struggle to make a product or make a mistake on an order, but you continue to work. I used to think that I would be an entrepreneur, but I didn’t think that I would be an artisan. Indego’s Vocational Training program helped me so much because at the end I was confident and capable of doing anything.What does empowerment mean to you? To me, empowerment is more than earning money. It is building knowledge and skills that will help you in your life.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in starting a new business?Do what you love, what you are passionate about. Before I started this business, I had nothing. Some of my friends in the village laughed at me. But I decided to borrow money and start my business and today everything is good. I did that because I love this work. It is valuable. Determination and a strong spirit can take you wherever you want to go.
I have started to advise other youth. Today, I am no longer a job-seeker, and my advice to them is to start their own businesses and do what they love. Where there is a will, there is a means. They should use their full potentials and turn their dreams into reality because everything is possible with a willing heart.Are there any women you look up to or admire? If so, who and why? How have they influenced you?Yes, I have some women. There is a woman who always inspired me; she is called Claudine. I knew her from many years ago. She started her business early, so I decided to follow her path. She built a house for her family, she has livestock and she has a very good marriage. She has a well-decorated shop, and I am sure I can do that as well. If she did that, why can’t I do that too? Moreover, the president of Covanya Cooperative, where I trained, inspired me so much as she gave me many examples of what she achieved from being an artisan. She has animals and built a house as well. I have a number of inspirations.
What are your goals for the future?My first goal is to continue to be a member of the Gahembe Co-op. My ultimate goal is to create my own shop of artisanal materials. Another thing I want to do is to teach the rest of the youth what I have learned. What I do is valuable, and I want to share it with others.
This holiday season, we’re supporting (RED)’s fight against HIV/AIDS! We’re teaming up with socially conscious brands from around the world to take part in (RED)’s Holiday Shopathon, a month-long holiday shopping campaign to help end HIV/AIDS in Africa. Founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, (RED) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to make it easy for people and businesses to join the fight against HIV/AIDS. As part of (RED)’s Holiday Shopathon, Indego has made a contribution to (RED)’s efforts, which will go directly towards funding HIV/AIDS programs in Africa. We’ve also turned some of our favorite holiday products “(RED)”! See what we mean here.
We are so excited to team up with this organization which is making a powerful difference in the lives of people and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. In light of this partnership, and World Aids Day, we wanted to share more about the work that Indego has done over the years to support women in Rwanda who live with this disease.
HIV/AIDS has a unique history in Rwanda, where rape by known HIV/AIDS positive men was used as a weapon of war in the 1994 genocide. Amnesty International estimates that at least 250,000 women were raped during the genocide, though the number is most likely even higher.
Today, women who survived live with the devastating aftereffects of this violence, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and, for those who were infected, HIV/AIDS.
To bring awareness to these women and their experiences, we interviewed four of our partners affected by HIV/AIDS who work at the Abasangiye Cooperative in Kayonza, Rwanda: Esther, Gaudance, Uwamaliya, and Laurence.
Abasangiye began as a therapy group for women who survived rape during the genocide. In 2010, we began partnering with the women of Abasangiye to help them learn how to sew, form a cooperative, and earn income.
However, before this partnership began, many of these women were living in extreme poverty, and struggling every day to manage their illness, as well as the feelings of helplessness and despair that came with it.
As one of our partners, Esther, said: “Before working with Indego Africa, my life was bad. I was alone and sorrow was my only friend.”
Partnering with Indego Africa has helped women like Esther find solace and purpose in their every day lives by working, earning income, receiving education, and supporting their families.
As our partner, Gaudance said:
“My parents died in the genocide, and when I found out I was infected, it felt like it was the end of the world. I kept my results secret because I didn’t think I could talk to anyone about it. At that point, I couldn’t even afford food to support myself. But once I met Indego and began to make products and earn income, my life started to change, and I began to feel strong.”Many of our partners report that access to work opportunities and economic empowerment has helped them overcome some of the mental health challenges they once faced as a result of their diagnosis. Gaudance shared: “I used to have negative thoughts every day. But since joining a co-op and working with Indego Africa, my mental health has changed. I now feel better about myself and more hopeful for my future. Indego Africa has become my second medication.”
Further, our partners find the experience of working together with other women at their cooperatives to be deeply therapeutic. It provides them with opportunities to discuss their lives and challenges and build support systems with their peers.
As Uwamaliya described: “I used to isolate myself because I was ashamed. Coming together to work with other women and share our experiences made me realize I wasn’t alone, and I started to heal.”
We are so inspired by the transformations that the women of Abasangiye have experienced through access to opportunity and, in turn, to hope. While their lives may not be easy, they are able to live each day filled with more happiness, confidence, and and positivity than they once ever imagined.
Abasangiye member, Laurence, said:
“Before working with Indego Africa, I had no other thoughts except HIV/AIDS. I couldn’t think about my future. But now, I always set goals for myself at the start of a new year. The time that I once had to think about HIV/AIDS and death has been replaced by thinking about what I can do for my future. I have hope and I know my future will be bright.”
She continued: “What makes me happy is to see myself alive and working and to know that I have helped people in their lives when I could. My sister is now at university, and she got there because of my help. Whenever I have a chance to work, no matter how small an order may be, it brings me joy.”
We are thrilled to partner with (RED) to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and to support women in Rwanda, as well as in Ghana, as they create brighter futures for themselves and those around them.
As Laurence said: “I look forward to seeing my children become future leaders and to help improve life in my community.”
To shop our (RED) collection, and make an impact on the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS, click here.
