In 2011, I had the pleasure of living and working in Gisenyi Rwanda for three months on a number of different projects. One of these projects involved working with women who had suffered from different forms of gender-based violence.
I met with these women twice a week to help them start up a co-opertive making beautiful dolls and traditional Rwandan Baskets. I helped the ladies register their group as a cooperative and find a stand in the market to sell their goods. I went back in February
2013 and I am happy to report that these women are still successfully selling their goods.
One person in particular who has inspired me and has shown me that change is truly possible when provided with opportunity is Margaret. When I met Margaret she was at the clinic and had just
had her leg amputated because of an infection. Here in Rwanda you are not provided with food for your stay by the hospital. Rather this responsibility is passed onto your family. Since Margaret is an orphan and she does not have a good relationship with her
aunt or cousin with whom she was living with at the time, myself and two ladies whom I was volunteering with would bring her food every day. The more I sat with her the more I got to know her story through an interpreter.
Margaret is a young girl of 15 uears with a 5-month-old baby named Eric. Eric came about as the result of a rape. Her neighbour had raped Margaret at 14 outside of her own home. I asked the clinic to perform an HIV test on Margaret
and Eric and luckily they are both negative. Margaret is an orphan; her parents were killed in post genocide violence when she was very young. As a result she was raised by her aunt (her mothers sister) and her cousin (her aunts son). However the relationship
that she has with these people is very hostile. Her aunt barely has enough money to feed herself and her son and therefore Margaret is not wanted and Eric is viewed as another burden. Margaret was constantly being thrown out of the house with her young infant
and forced to sleep on the streets and sit in the market place to beg for money. Her story broke my heart and I made it my mission to find something, anything to lift her out of the situation she currently found herself in.
I tried contacting numerous international and grassroots organizations for help however no one wanted to make Margaret “their problem”. After all they “couldn’t help everyone.” But I was determined not to give up. In the mean time
I continued to bring Margaret food everyday in the market by including her in my roster of people I was feeding. Margaret was breastfeeding so the decision was simple. I knew that if Margaret didn’t eat, Eric wouldn’t be eating either and this would have long
term effects on his developmental health.
On a weekend trip to Musanze to trek to Diane Fossey’s grave, I stumbled upon an organization called the Ubushobozi project. I immediately decided I must go visit and see what it was all about. The girls at the Ubushobozi project
gave me an overwhelming welcome and Laura the founder who happens to be an American girl from New York City just happened to be present. She explained to me that she taught the girls how to make bags which she takes back to New York City to sell at a couple
of stores as well as on the Internet.
All of the profits come back into the project and the girls get a hot meal everyday, an English lesson, a computer lesson and a cultural dance lesson. I must have spent hours there talking with Laura and the girls, I explained Margaret’s
story and asked Laura if she was looking to hire another girl. It just so happened that she was and so I told her I would talk to Margaret about the opportunity and bring her by the following week for a visit. They only problem I had was the Gisenyi is an
hour and forty-five minute drive from Musanze and so if Margaret agreed to stay and work at the project I would need to find her a place to live in Muszanze. Laura put me in contact with a local man named Gilbert who works with street children in Muszane,
Gilbert in turn put me in contact with an Italian man named Roberto who just so happened to have a house for former street girls where they are given accommodation and a hot meal each day.
I talked to Roberto and I asked if he had room for Margaret and Eric and if I would be able to bring Margaret by the same day the following week in order for her to meet the girls. He was more than happy to help and so the plan was
set in motion. When I got back to Gisenyi I talked to Margaret through a translator told her what I had found and asked if she would be willing to come with me the following week to check it out. I told her there would be no pressure for her to stay and that
if she weren’t comfortable with the situation we would keep looking for something for her to do. She agreed to come to Musanze with me to check it out.
A week later when I took her to Musanze on a Friday she didn’t want to come back home. She was so pleased with what I had found that she wanted to move in that day. The girls at the project and in the house welcomed her with open
arms. I told her she would have to come back to Gisenyi just for a couple of days so that we could work out all the kinks and they she would be back in Musanze for good on the Monday. I spent the entire weekend getting her everything she needed from toiletries
to a mattress and picking up all her clothes and I helped her move up to Musanze on the Sunday night with the agreement that she would start work on the following Monday. I gave her cab fare to get to work the following day and my phone numbers to call me
incase of any problems and the rest is history.
Margaret couldn’t be happier. She went from being an illiterate girl on the streets with no parents and a baby begging for food every day and relying only on people's kindness which most of the time resulted in her not eating for
days at a time, to getting two hot meals every day, a roof over her head, a bed to sleep in, she is learning a skill and learning to speak English as well as earning a living wage. She now has a choice, control over her own life. I spoke to Margaret almost
every night through the translator to make sure she was getting on okay as well I went back to visit her many times. Each time she is looking healthier and happier.
She is learning English quickly and her self-confidence has improved remarkably. She went from being a shy girl who wouldn’t look you in the eye to making eye contact with a big smile and a firm handshake. She has choices and control
over her own life. However it wasn’t only Margaret and Eric that have benefited from this experience. This experience has taught me to be persistent. To focus on a goal and refuse to give up until you have accomplished it. I firmly believe that I am meant
to do the type of work that will make a significant impact in the world and a difference in the lives of the people I am trying to help. This is why I make sure that each and every project I start I follow through and ensure that it is sustainable and has
a lasting effect.
The Future We Are Creating
In Rwanda there is a gap in services for teenage girls who were left out of education programs for younger children. These girls, many of them orphans, were forced by circumstance to become heads of household, supporting themselves
and other family members, their employment opportunities limited to farming and housekeeping.
I would like to fix this by providing each employee with a sewing machine, sewing instruction, fabric and all related materials and providing a safe environment for learning where they are free to be creative and innovative. As well
as paying them a living wage, providing a daily nutritious meal, and instruction in English, mathematics, health and sex education, and providing medical insurance for themselves and their dependents so that they are able to lift themselves out of poverty
and create a better future for themselves and their communities.
