A Profile of Joy Ndungutse

Rwanda Partners First In-Country Partner

Joy Ndungutse was living in exile at the time that genocide erupted in Rwanda.  But when she heard what was happening in her homeland, she returned immediately to be with her people.  Once in Rwanda, Joy joined the Rwandan Patriotric Front to help fight for Rwanda's liberation from the rule of the country's genocidal leadership.

Originally trained as a businesswoman, Joy is now using her gifts in marketing and production to train impoverished women in the rural areas of Rwanda to make high quality baskets and shawls.  With these skills, Joy is hoping to help these women find their way out of poverty by providing them with a new means of earning a living.  Ninety percent of Rwandans live in rural areas, subsisting by agricultural means.  But factors such as deteriorating soil conditions and the inability of Rwanda to successfully compete in the world marketplace against larger agricultural producers have made it extremely difficult for most rural Rwandans to make enough to live on.  Earning less than $1.00 a day, these men and women really have no hope of ever making enough to break this cycle of poverty unless something changes significantly.

For Rwandans to be able to find their way out of poverty, new skills and products must be developed and new markets outside Rwanda must be established.  And that's where Rwanda Partners comes in.  Joy has invited Rwanda Partners to invest in her dream of building a training and production center for rural women to learn skills of basket making and weaving.  Not only will rural women be receiving this training, but women who formerly made a living through prostitution will be given access to developing these new skills as well.  The government of Rwanda has put the training of rural women at the top of their priorities in their efforts to significantly reduce poverty.  In fact the government of Rwanda is so excited about this opportunity, that they want to make this center a national training and production center to be used to train women from all over the country.  They are providing the land for the center free of charge in order to facilitate this vision.

Anne Gahongayire, the Secretary General for the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, recently wrote these words in a letter to Tracy Stone:

"I must first thank you very much for what you are doing for Rwanda and particularly for the Rwandan women.  We strongly recommend the projects you are considering with Joy such as finding markets for the baskets Rwanda women are making and also for building the training and production center for the various products.  This is one of the government's top priority areas, because women in Rwanda are well organized but they lack the resources and facilities to train and build their capacities in various areas that would impact on their lives.  Thank you again for your support, encouragement and partnership."

Working together, we can make a significant impact on the lives of Rwanda's poor.  Won't you join us in helping to make this new vision for Rwanda a reality?

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