In many of the East African communities that African Road partners with, the most vulnerable people are youth and women. From children and young people who were orphaned by the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, to girls caught in domestic servitude and child marriage in Tanzania, Changemakers and African Road are working together to restore dignity and opportunity.
Rwanda
Togetherness Cooperative: A meeting place, soccer pitch, community and business, formed and maintained by genocide orphans who are living a better life together.
The Togetherness story was only possible because of Changemaker and African Road partner, Pastor Steven. Having grown up as an orphan, he was compelled to take in children orphaned during the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi. Overwhelmed by the need, he created child-headed households, with older boys responsible for younger boys and older girls responsible for younger girls, and also a community space to play soccer.
Soccer is the heart and soul of Togetherness Youth Cooperative, and still the #1 favorite community activity. In the early days, soccer helped Steven to reach out to kids and give them a source of hope and joy. Now soccer is a source of community and education, and with continued investment in the pitch, will become a training hub and business opportunity. Partnership with the Portland Timbers enabled Phase I construction of a FIFA-Jr regulated soccer pitched to be completed in 2020, with a special field dedication ceremony in 2024.
With the help and support of friends of African Road, six acres of land was acquired for soccer and a community hub. Land provided a place for buildings and a solar powered well for both the orphaned youth and the local community. They now have thriving pig farming, poultry, banana growing, bakery, and flour mill businesses. They’ve even opened an innovative preschool business on the cooperative land to generate jobs and income for the community, while meeting the needs of the neighborhood.
Most remarkable is that empowered and encouraged, the youth themselves have led the way, becoming confident entrepreneurs, capable of taking action and making things happen.
One step at a time, they are moving from poverty and hunger to meeting their own needs and caring for each other.
Also at Togetherness, All Souls Women’s Cooperative is a women coop group that received VICOBA training. With the support of African Road, this training empowered the women to build businesses (like their sewing business), save money, farm beans and corn to provide sustenance for their families, and purchase health insurance. All Souls has been indetified as a VICOBA hub in Rwanda, with Togetherness’s president, Penina Mukashema, as the lead facilitator.
As cooperative member, Annette says, “we used to say, ‘We can’t do anything ourselves. We can’t manage anything.’ After training, it was like we were awake. We started to see what we could do and the goodness of working together. I think we have accomplished a lot.”
Also in Rwanda, a group of women who gathered after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to cry together and share their suffering, now build businesses and lives together. The New Destiny Women’s Cooperative have worked strategically and against the odds to make good profits and investments. They are all able send their children to school regularly. Today, they no longer need support from African Road.
Tanzania
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Changemakers Consoler and Eliya Wilbert have fostered over 60 girls who would otherwise be at risk of child marriage or indentured servitude. New Hope for Girls, under the leadership of Consoler, provides these young women with safety, encouragement, education, and, crucially, opportunity for the future.
New Hope for Girl’s mission and transformative power are informed by Consoler’s own childhood experience of gender-based violence and marginalization. Consoler and her supportive husband, Eliya, devote themselves to creating a family home and safe haven where girls who have suffered can heal and be loved, cared for, educated, and gain life skills, enabling them to grow to become independent young women.
Those who join New Hope for Girls, become lifelong family members. The girls cooperate together and learn alongside each other, older girls leading and guiding their younger ‘sisters.’ Together, these girls not only heal but also discover their gifts, passions, and skills, then they are equipped with education or training that enables them to launch and thrive. New Hope for Girls is committed to identifying a well-suited and meaningful path for each of the girls. These young women are learning to dream again.
African Road has partnered with Consoler, Eliya, and the New Hope for Girls family since 2015, supporting their organizational aim to become increasingly financially self-sufficient while they support more young women to be equipped and empowered. Funding for small business initiatives provides income for the work of New Hope for Girls, offer opportunity for meaningful training and jobs for girls, and helps New Hope for Girls to generate resources for growing stability.
Women’s Empowerment
If you want to create positive change, start by empowering women. So often women are the connectors, community formers and builders and those who empower others. Their hope is infectious.
Across East Africa, in partnership with African Road, groups of women are changing their lives, and positively influencing others.