From the outside, it looks like a little house by the side of the road, like so many others, except for the sign painted over the entrance that reads Umubano Restaurant. A restaurant it is not, however, much less a house like any other. A little notice board indicates its real function: Bistrot Chez Bizarete, selling banana wine and passion fruit juice.
Coffee production is a traditional source of income for many Rwandans. But in the aftermath of civil war and the 1944 genocide, most coffee growers had to start again from scratch. An IFAD-financed project gave them a hand, helping them organize into cooperatives and gain access to Europe’s lucrative fair trade markets. The project not only led to a substantial increase in their income, but it also contributed to the national reconciliation process.
From April to the end of June, the Sakara coffee washing station in Rwanda’s province of Kibungo, bustles with activity. Coffee-growers in the nine surrounding areas come to weigh their crops. For the 845 members of Iakab, the association that manages the washing station, it is the beginning of a fruitful season.
Josephine Garasharankwanzi was very young when she and her family left native Rwanda for Uganda in 1959 to escape the first massacres against Tutsis. She grew up in Uganda and married a soldier with whom she had 11 children.
Jean-Claude Ndayambabaje is a 24-year-old entrepreneur in Kigali. He is a young man, but already he runs an Internet café with ten computers and an Internet connection. “When people around me find out my age,” he says, “they often ask, "Who helped you get started?" I tell them it was Agaseke Business Financial Centre. It's different from any other institution. It has easier, more flexible requirements than banks do”.
Source: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Read full story...
In Africa, where large and ever growing orphan populations pose the greatest crisis yet for children, the Rwandan experience provides a blueprint for other nations.
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