Making Peace with Baskets

After a day visiting producers (basically the people who create the handcrafted goods and grow the local produce) I find myself back at the now infamous coffee shop and feel compelled to tell you a little bit more about why it is one of Rwanda's many recent success stories.

Rwanda's Maraba Bourbon Coffee Shop is set on a hill overlooking the city. It solely sells Rwandan tea and coffee. The beans are grown near Huye (Butare) and have excelled in international tests (in a US test they were classed as the second best worldwide.) Maraba is a very special type of Arabica coffee from Bourbon coffee trees.

The coffee plantation is run by Abahuzamugambi Cooperative, many of whose members have been widowed in the genocide and are struggling to support their families. The sales of this coffee have enabled them to pay school fees, rebuild damaged homes and buy livestock.

As I watch people drinking coffee around me (I don’t drink it myself but am more than making up for this by the litres of mango juice I consume!)

I think about all those coffee producers and how economic development is truly working. It’s great to see Rwandans and organisations like Shared Interest helping one another grow. In fact the coffee shop is surrounded in traditional Rwandan handicrafts (many of which have been made by the very producers that we will be training over the next three years.)

This morning Joan and I met with Chantal, the Managing Director of Zwadi handicrafts (Zwadi is the Kiswahili word for gifts.) She showed us the eye-catching baskets that are created locally (after visiting many African countries I have become an expert on this subject!) But these ones are special, not merely because they are intricately made but because they have an awe-inspiring story behind them, told to me by Violet, one of Zwadi’s producers.

The baskets were originally known as Tutsi baskets as it was only the Tutsi tribe that made them. However following the genocide there weren't enough Tutsis to make them anymore - so as part of the peace reconciliation process the Tutsis taught the Hutus how to make the baskets - so now both tribes work together without divisions or prejudice to create what is now appropriately named as the Peace Basket!

I was so impressed by this story that I bought several! These baskets and many other handicraft products we see in shops in the UK not only represent exquisite workmanship but they tell us a story about traditional skills and cultures. But perhaps most importantly of all, people buying these products enable women like Violet to earn a living.

It is vital to remember that the producers don’t want aid, what they want is the ability to make a living and provide for their families just like the rest of us!

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