Author Archive | janet

Rwanda Stories: Ildephonse – Tubeho Cooperative Leader

“I have big reasons to stay in the co-op for the rest of my life, for it has become part of my life and it is the family I have. I am now a man with a vision because I know where our co-op came from and I can see where we are heading. So many thanks to everyone who plays any role in making me who I am today. The co-op I am leading is flourishing because of our generous bakery donor, and support from World Dance for Humanity.”

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Rwandan Government Awards WD4H Top Honor

Recently, the Kayonza government sent representatives into their communities to assess the impact that international and local NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are having on people’s lives. These organizations include some of the world’s largest, most affluent groups such as World Vision, Heifer, Partners in Health, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). World Dance for Humanity, in partnership with African Blessings (our implementing partner in Rwanda) received “THE HIGHEST CLASS OF HONOR” – 1st Place!

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Faye’s First-Step Preschool

In November of 2017, World Dance for Humanity made a new friend: Faye Massey, a lively 92-year-old who became interested in our work in Rwanda. A lifelong teacher, Faye was inspired by the dream of one our co-ops to build a nursery school for the children who are too young to walk two hours to the nearest public school. Faye made an extraordinary donation which has enabled Icyerecyezo (“Vision”) Cooperative in Eastern Rwanda to build “Faye’s First-Step Preschool.” By Summer of 2019, when all was said and done, we finished the entire project!

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Rwanda Business Training

For the third year in a row, our Rwanda Business Training was generously funded by the Procter & Gamble Alumni Foundation. The 3-day Training in Kigali led by Justin, our Program Director, and Judy Rwibutso, our Business Coordinator. A group of 84 co-op members came from all over Rwanda to strengthen their business knowledge and share ideas. Some of the them have been running businesses for a few years; others have no business experience. The lessons were focused on planning, understanding profit and loss, creativity, marketing, diversification, savings and reinvesting profits, and banking – loans and collateral. Everyone shared their experiences and learned from each other’s mistakes and successes. The bond between them as WD4H co-ops gave them the confidence to share their successes and mistakes and achievements, their doubts and their dreams.

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Rwanda Trip 2019 – Sharing the Experience

On August 14th, 21 World Dancers and supporters returned from an epic Rwanda Trip that filled our hearts, expanded our consciousness, and connected us to humanity…as never before. We spent each day with the communities we serve – celebrating their progress, talking about their lives, working on the land, making donations (goats, bicycles, water filters, solar lights, mattresses, toothbrushes, reusable menstrual pads, cookstoves), and of course…dancing! See the photos, videos, reflections

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Dufatanye’s “Gorilla Grass” Craft Store

World Dance for Humanity is partnering with Dharma in Motion, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, to help the women of Dufatanye Co-op open a Craft Store en route to Rwanda’s famous mountain gorillas. This is a very special collaboration, which will result in an income-generating enterprise for the Dufatanye women, and an outlet for the crafts made by four of our other women-led co-ops.

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Thank You, Clean Water Ambassador Foundation!

Most of the cooperatives we work with struggle to get clean water to drink. Many walk a long way to get their water. Even if they have a local source, the water is usually unclean. World Dance for Humanity brought 200 filters to Rwanda in July of 2018 that were generously donated by Clean Water Ambassadors through WD4H supporter, Harriet Eckstein. One filter will serve 10 people (a total of 2,000 people) for about three years.

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Sharon’s “Mickey” & Mary Jane’s “Riley”

Twisungane (“Supporting Each Other”) Co-op received two beautiful cows in 2018, thanks to Sharon Kearin and the San Diego World Dancers, and Mary Jane Baumgartner. The cows were donated in memory of two beloved men – Michael Bronson (husband of one of Sharon’s dancers), and Thomas Riley, Jr. (father of Mary Jane’s friend, Annetta Patrick).

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Pamela’s Cow “A.J.” in Memory of Chris

Pamela Albert contributed this cow together with her family members. They named it “A.J.,” the nickname of Adrianna Josephine, the daughter of Chris, Pamela’s nephew who passed away in October of 2017. Chris loved animals, and inspired this passion in A.J. The cow was given to Ruganeheza Co-op, part of Never Again Fellowship, a group of co-ops founded by Genocide Perpetrators and Survivors, and the Twa (Pygmy) ethnic minority in an effort to survive and find peace together.

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Donna’s Cows “Faith” & “Justice” for Itorero

Itorero Nyarwanda Co-op was founded in 2017 by a group of young people whose parents are members of Imbereheza. Their name means “Rwandan Dancers” – the primary income generating activity of this co-op is the performance of traditional dance and music at weddings and other celebrations. In 2018, WD4H supporter Donna Eyman, a lawyer by trade, contributed two cows to Itorero, “Faith” and “Justice,” and the community has been celebrating ever since!

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Faye’s Cow “Faye” – A Gift to Icyerecyezo

Justin Bisengimana, Rwanda Program Director: “Faye Massey’s presence in the development of Icyerecyezo Co-op speaks across all generations. On top of her big school project, she is providing the right tools they need to improve their lives including this beautiful cow. Faye, thank you so much for supporting their farming through this gift, which will bring them milk to drink and manure for their crops. They won’t starve down the road because they have the right resources to work with.”

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Olga’s Goats to Dufatanye

In 2018. World Dancer Olga Herrera-Pinal raised funds from her family and friends to provide 135 goats for Dufatanye Cooperative. This community was founded by women with AIDS and has been a WD4H partner since 2017. It is located 90 minutes north of Kigali on the main route to Volcano National Park, home of Rwanda’s famous mountain gorillas.The women are working hard, with our help, to create a sustainable income for their members and a better life for their children.

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Rwanda Visit July 2018

During two weeks in July of 2018, 21 World Dancers and Supporters traveled to Rwanda to visit the 25 communities we are working with there. Each day we traveled into the countryside, climbed out of our little bus, and into the ecstatic, tearful embrace of these people whose lives we have changed, and whose courage, love, and self-sacrifice are changing ours.

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Congratulations to our 20 New College Students!

We received the incredible news today that 20 of our high school graduates have been accepted into COLLEGE for the 2018-2019 school year! This brings us to a total of 57 college students WD4H is sponsoring. It’s VERY hard to get into college in Rwanda, and we are so proud of our students, who accomplished this through sheer hard work and determination – and the steadfast support from their sponsors. Not one of these young people ever dreamed of having the chance to go to high school – let alone college.

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Creating a Co-op: Tubehotwese’s Origin Story

Tubehotwese’s origin story is similar to the story behind many of our co-ops. Still suffering from the emotional scarring and destitution left by the Genocide, the people had no idea how to work together toward a better life. Until they could create a community spirit, they would be condemned to a life of poverty. They had to figure out a way to bring their opposing thoughts, differences, and talents together. Justin first worked with them individually, helping them build self-confidence and develop the motivation to lift themselves out of poverty. Once they understood what they could do as individuals, they worked in small groups to figure out what they could do together.

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2017 Program Highlights – Year in Review

In 2017, the World Dance community celebrated together, stood up for justice, supported each other, helped out here at home, and brought critical resources and abundant love to 9,021 people in 25 Rwandan communities struggling to improve their lives. We are grateful to everyone who came to a class, participated in an event, or made a donation…and helped us make a difference in the world. Incredible things are happening in the communities we serve. Thanks to class fees, donations, and Thriller sponsorships, in 2017 we were able to contribute $180,102 in aid to Rwanda.

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4 Cows for Rwanda ~ A gift from All Saints by the Sea

In 2015 and 2016, All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito, California, donated 6 full-grown, pregnant cows to two of the communities we serve in Rwanda. The milk is providing a critical source of protein, especially to children, the elderly, and people with AIDS, and the manure has greatly increased crop yield. The cows bring life, sustenance, and hope to the communities, and are cared for and cherished by all. In 2017, All Saints graciously awarded a grant to purchase four more cows: two for Genda Ugire Utyo (“Go and Do That”) and two for Twiyubake (“Let Us Build Ourselves Up”).

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Thank you, Procter & Gamble Alumni Foundation!

One of our goals in Rwanda is to help each of our 25 cooperatives create a successful community-run business. As of March 2018, there are 12 businesses up and running and 3 being launched this spring. Of the 15 businesses, 6 were funded by the P&G Alumni Foundation. Our connection to this funder is through our Board Vice President Betsy Stivers, who served with the Procter & Gamble company for 21 years, retiring as VP of Product Supply for Global Health in 2001. Thanks to her involvement as an alum, we were able to seek funding from the P&G Alumni Foundation and were awarded a generous grant in December of 2016 that enabled us to: hire a Business Coordinator, offer a 3-Day Business Training to 60 of our co-op leaders, launch 1 new business and expand 2 existing businesses.

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The Journey Begins…

WD4H Intern Grace Stanley, a third year Global Studies student, is now in Rwanda, working with our team there and learning everything she can about the communities we serve. Subscribe below to follow her blog.   Feb 15: I am just overwhelmed with this feeling of gratitude to have the opportunity to be apart of the […]

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Student Leadership Training – December 2017

In December of 2017, my assistant Genevieve Feiner and I traveled to Rwanda to help with our annual Student Leadership Training in Kigali. Program Director Justin Bisengimana led the three-day training for 170 students, assisted by our Education Coordinator Chantal Kubwimana, Program Assistant Dany Rukundo, and Business Coordinator Judy Rwibutso. Genevieve captured the entire experience in photos and videos. Justin spoke eloquently, powerfully, clearly – giving the students concepts to expand their reality, gain self-confidence, and visualize themselves as leaders. During Justin’s lectures were partly in Kinyarwanda, partly in English. When he spoke, you could hear a pin drop – the students were so attentive, soaking in every word.

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Ruganeheza’s Ventilation Brick Business

Since they formed a cooperative in 2008, the dream of Ruganeheza (“Taking the Nation to a Better Future”) was to establish a ventilation brick business. All rural Rwandans use these for their homes, but no one was producing them locally. In 2014, Ruganeheza was able to raise enough money from their farming activities to start the enterprise. The project was bearing fruit, but some critical issues stopped them from moving forward with the project. The most pressing of these was that they had to devote 30% of their revenue to renting the brick molds from a distant supplier, which was clearly unsustainable.

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“Striving for Peace” – Business Expansion

Abaharaniramahoro (“Striving for Peace”) started out as a “singing cooperative,” occasionally earning money for the community by performing at local events. There came a time when they realized that singing alone was not going to sustain them, so they explored other income-generation ideas. They also started farming together to subsidize their meager income. After some time, they came up with the idea of adding value to their singing business by offering event rentals for weddings, baptisms, funerals, meetings, and concerts. They started with a few decorations and equipment they were able to purchase. The co-op made a request to WD4H to purchase addition assets, and the P&G Alumni Foundation grant fulfilled this, enabling them to expand their business and create a successful, sustainable enterprise.

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“Go and Do That” Co-op Launches Event Rental Business

Genda Ugire Utyo (“Go and Do That”) has been a farming community ever since they formed a cooperative in 2015. They are our biggest cooperative by far and have a deep understanding of what a cooperative can mean in the lives of its members. They see what can be achieved when a group of talented, determined people work together to improve their lives. When they began, they only envisioned working together on farming activities, but they are led by a spirited, ambitious group of women who devoted many months to researching other opportunities in their area. After some time, they came up with the idea of an Event Rental Business to service the weddings, funerals, and meetings being held in their district of Gahini. They were amazed and overjoyed when, in February of 2017, their project was funded by the P&G Alumni Foundation. They set to work finding the equipment they needed and launched the business in June.

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Rest in Peace, Naome

Today we mourn the passing of Naome Nyiraneza, President of the Tubehotwese (“Let Us All Live”) Cooperative. Those of us who have been to Rwanda knew Naome as a woman of great passion and vision, who led her community from the depths of poverty toward a better future. Under Naome’s leadership, the co-op gained a sense of unity and purpose, and the confidence and skills they needed to change their lives.

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Copakika’s Gorgeous Goats!

The generous year-end donations we received enabled us to buy 60 beautiful, full-grown, pregnant goats for the women of Copakika and Cooperative. Since we adopted this community one year ago, our Rwanda Team has been helping the members develop a sense of cohesion and purpose, and helping their leaders acquire the awareness, confidence, and skills they need to lift their people out of extreme poverty. Last August, we gave each woman a mattress to sleep on, which, in one stroke, gave them a new feeling about their lives. In January, we gave each woman a goat to call her own.

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“Sydney’s Seeds” – Permagardens in our Co-ops

In October of 2017, Permagarden training expert Thomas Cole traveled to Rwanda to teach his simple but highly effective farming techniques to five of our cooperatives, who, in turn, will be sharing their new knowledge with our other co-ops to provide a more bountiful harvest for all. The project is called “Sydney’s Seeds,” in honor of Sydney Baumgartner, a well-known Santa Barbara Master Landscaper.

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Health Insurance for Vulnerable Community Members

Our cooperatives all strive for economic development, but they cannot achieve this without access to healthcare. In order for a family to receive care at public health clinics, they must be able to cover the annual fee for each member which averaged $4.63 in 2017. This year 2017, these health concerns were answered by Jojo and David Barker and Annetta Patrick who covered the cost of health cards for those unable to pay. Jojo and Annetta, because of your generosity and love you have for Rwandans, your name is well known and is deep into their hearts. You mean so much in the lives of these community members

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The Kungabu Fish Food Machine Odyssey

In 2008, 30 impoverished Rwandan families founded the Kungabu Cooperative near Lake Kivu, envisioning a collective enterprise that would sustain all of the members: the farming of Tilapia fish. We began our assistance to the Kungabu in 2013 by donating cows, helping the young people go to school, and offering training in agriculture, co-op management, and business. We learned that in order to grow the Tilapia big enough to sell commercially, they needed expensive fish food pellets that could only be acquired in Uganda. But no machines of this kind were available for purchase in Africa. Our only viable option was to have the machine built in China and shipped to Rwanda via Tanzania. Thus began the odyssey of the Fish Food machine.

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Reusable Menstrual Pads for Rwanda

Carpinteria’s Crafty Ladies were busy again last spring producing REUSABLE MENSTRUAL PAD KITS for the women in our cooperatives. The kits were made with loving care and hand-carried by Festo and Odile, Rwandan students attending Westmont College here in Santa Barbara.The kits were distributed by our Rwanda Team to three of our Cooperatives which are all part of Never Again Fellowship:

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Mattresses for the Moms – Dancing for Joy!

In honor of Mother’s Day last May, our World Dancers and supporters donated a total of $6,000 to purchase 120 mattresses for women in Rwanda who have been sleeping on thin mats on the ground their whole lives. The mattresses went to three of our Cooperatives: Copakika (Kigali Co-op), Komera (Courage), and Umunezero (Joy). We recently received a beautiful report on the mattress delivery from Justin, our Rwanda Program Director. Thank you so much to everyone who helped bring this simple but life-changing gift to these women and their families!

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The Ejo Habo Orphans – Safe, Loved, and Happy

On February 20, 2017, a young girl named Violette appeared at the door of Justin Bisengimana, our Rwanda Program Director, with a tragic story about her family. Her father had survived the Genocide, but lost all his siblings and family members. Violette’s mother was very sick, and her father sold their house, land, and possessions to bring his wife to the hospital in Kigali and move the family there. Sadly, their mother died, and the money ran out. The father suffered a serious breakdown and is unable to care for his children. Justin took the children to Ejo Habo, the orphanage run by his mother, which is one of the communities supported by World Dance for Humanity. Not long after this, his mother found an abandoned baby outside her door. She suddenly had 11 additional children to care for.

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Goats to Itorero, the Dancing Co-op

Bringing a goat to a family means bringing a job, hope, confidence, and happiness in that family, and respect and honor in the community. In June of 2017, 76 beautiful little goats were delivered to Itorero Nyarwanda (“Rwandan Dancers”) Cooperative, one of the new communities within Never Again Fellowship. Itorero was founded in 2017 by a group of young people whose parents were members of Imbereheza Cooperative. Their primary business is singing and dancing at weddings and other celebrations. They are also working on farming as part of their economy. As it is with other cooperatives supported by WD4H, Itorero is focusing on organic farming, no chemicals in their crops. For them to make this happen, they need livestock to produce fertilizer. They can also sell baby goats to earn money.

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Lady, Maggie, and Franky – 3 Cows for Murindi

Murindi is a cooperative on the outskirts of Kigali that was founded by a group of women who were Genocide survivors. These are courageous, hard-working women who are raising cows in their small yards to sustain their community. Until now the cows have provided milk for the Murindi women and their children, with some milk sales outside the co-op. The women are trying to turn this enterprise into a small dairy. On June 1, 2017, three full-grown, pregnant cows were delivered to Murindi, making a total of 8 cows that were donated through World Dance for Humanity. (They’ll be receiving two more cows in January of 2018.) We are also hoping to be able to buy them a plot of land to make the full dairy operation possible. Each of the three cows delivered in June has a special donor who gave their cow a special name:

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Rwanda Business Training

Critical to the success of our community-run businesses in Rwanda is the three-day Business Training we host each spring. This year’s Training was sponsored by Proctor and Gamble Alumni Foundation through Betsy Stivers, a P&G alumna, engineer, World Dancer, and the Chair of our Business Committee. Sixty co-op leaders from across the country attended the three-day training held in Kigali. The experience has a profound impact on all the participants. After completing the course, the participants returned to their communities with new knowledge and skills that will help their businesses grow and their communities develop. The Training also deepened the bond between the co-op members, our Rwanda team, and World Dance for Humanity. It is this bond which is giving them the confidence to build a future with high aspirations and the tools to achieve them.

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The Menstrual Pad Project

Menstruation is a vexing problem for women and girls in poor countries all over the world. It is also a taboo subject in many societies, which means that very little has been done to provide an effective product for women instead of the old rags, bark, and leaves they’ve been using or disposal pads they can’t afford. World Dance for Humanity is bringing a sustainable solution, REUSABLE CLOTH PADS, to the women we work with in Rwanda. Here’s how it all got started…

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Abishyizehamwe Bakery – Open for Business!

Fresh Fritters, Anyone? Located in the remote mountains of northern Rwanda, the Abishyizehamwe (“United People”) Cooperative was founded in 2011 by 25 poor farmers, mostly women. They couldn’t afford livestock or fertilizer and were struggling to survive on their meager crops. In 2012 they went to World Vision for help, but didn’t receive funding because […]

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Water for Ruganeheza

There are many government-owned major water pipes that run throughout Rwanda, but they don’t reach the remote rural communities. Ruganeheza decided to build a pipeline that would connect to the government’s water supply, allowing water to flow directly to their community. This is something the government supports and encourages, as it allows them to get water to more people. In addition to the pipes, Ruganeheza constructed a water housing structure, equipped with several faucets, from which they can now sell water – at a very reasonable rate – to local communities.

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6 Women’s Stories

The people we support in Rwanda endured unimaginable suffering and hardship during the Genocide and in its aftermath. They overcame fear, isolation, and hopelessness by joining a cooperative and working with their fellow co-op members to stay alive. It is such a privilege to be working with these incredibly courageous human beings. Thank you for helping us give them the chance to rebuild their lives. Here are six of their stories.

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Rwanda 2016 Highlights

In 2016, WD4H sent $123,986 in aid to Rwanda. None of this went to salaries or administrative expenses – every dollar went to the projects, resulting in extraordinary progress in the communities we serve. By the end of January, WD4H will be helping 8,400 people in 25 Rwandan communities lift themselves out of crushing poverty.

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Mattresses for Tubehotwese

Just before the holidays we delivered mattresses to our co-ops which were purchased with donation from World Dance for Humanity. Many of the co-op members have never owned or even slept on a mattress, and some of them are in their 70s. We hope the photos and video can tell you how life-changing this was for them.

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All, Saint, and Sea – Meet the new Imbereheza Cows!

In 2016, All Saints by the Sea in Montecito, California, donated three cows to Imbereheza (Better Future), a cooperative in Eastern Rwanda made up of formerly warring Tutsi, Hutu, and Pygmies dedicated to living in peace together. The cows will provide fertilizer to improve crop production, and milk – which these people have never had before. The cows will change the lives of every co-op member forever, and will be cherished by the community.

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Rwanda Trip Video – Sharing the Experience

This past summer, 11 World Dancers and friends spent two weeks in Rwanda. It was an incredible trip that brought us closer to each other, and to the people we are working with there. We documented the entire experience so we could share it with you. Please – sit back, relax, and enjoy the intimacy and emotion of this journey.

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Rwanda Visit 2016

On July 12th, eleven World Dancers returned from an extraordinary two-week visit to Rwanda – more passionate than ever about the people we are serving there and the work we are doing together. The trip was very rough, extremely intense, and completely amazing. We spent almost all of our time in the villages… hugging, dancing wildly, and talking with the people about their lives. The changes we are seeing in each community are truly remarkable. Our contributions have given them the means to create a sustainable income and the confidence they need to envision and plan for the future. The experience we had belongs to everyone in the WD4H community. We are on this journey together – helping people survive, and succeed…one step at a time.

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The Kungabu Fish Farmers

The Cyangugu region in southwestern Rwanda is one of the poorest in the country. The people depend on subsistence farming and the meager wages they earn working on tea plantations owned by Indian companies to survive. In an effort to lift themselves out of poverty, 30 families in the area near Lake Kivu decided to pool their labor to form a farming cooperative in 2008. They had a vision to start a business that would sustain all of the members: the farming of Tilapia fish. They named themselves, “Kungabu” which means “The Fish Farmers.

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