Ubushobozi Project

One of the houses in Musanze town is home to eight young girls who make a living by sewing funky bags. “Ubushobozi number one” is their motto. The word ubushobozi means ‘power’ in Kinyarwanda.

From volunteer to owner
Laura (27) moved from New York to Phuket, Thailand with her mom about seven years ago. They’re both pre-school teachers and came to Rwanda four years ago to volunteer in a primary school project. Today, they coordinate the Rwandan sewing assocation from their homebases in Thailand and New York.

During their voluntary stay they met Dusi, a young local guy who introduced them to daily Rwandan life and the problems many young girls faced. After meeting a couple of them, Laura and her mom decided to come back and help them out and founded a women’s weaving association.

In 2007 they rented a house in Musanze and Dusi gathered eight young teenaged girls who were either orphaned or heads of family, living in difficult situations. “The girls are between fourteen and eighteen years old, coming from several remote villages,” Laura says, “many lost their parents at an early age or have to take care of younger siblings. Life if tough for them.” Sewing machines from China needed to do the job: learning these girls to become highly qualified seamstresses and sell their products on a local market to gain an income. “They each got their own machine, which makes them really proud,” Laura adds.

A little help from a friend
In New York, Laura and her mom got help from Betsy and Belinda, who were very familiar with the Fair Trade business and knew exactly how to set up an association to register the project. They started doing fundraising in the United States and from then on everything went at rapid’speed.

“Meanwhile we are sixteen in total, including the girls,” Laura explains. “We have a security guard, a gardener, a cook, a secretary and several teachers,” she adds. The project has turned from a sewing association into a trade school. Every day after lunch, the girls get English class from Seraphine and Gisele – who’s also the president of the association – is their sewing teacher. From time to time they have dance class and in the near future they will also get someone to teach them how to weave baskets, another popular local handicraft. Through the fundraising, the association also bought two laptops for the house and the girls learn how to use them in ICT class. “Everyone’s got email and they just love Skype,” Laura laughs.

Funding
The association’s got one bankaccount in New York, which is guarded by Betsy and Belinda and used for fundraising, expenses and profits from sales. “We have a weekly budgetmeeting in Musanze and we report back to the women in New York once a month,” Laura explains.

Through fundraising, the girls are provided with everything they need: sewing material and a plate of food every day. Each one also gets a daily allowance, which they earn through the sales. The bags they’re making are shipped to the US, where they’re sold by Fair Trade shops all over the country. Cooperating with shops in New York, California, Vermont and one in Puerto Rico, they’re becoming very successful.

Future
As the association is growing, they’re looking at making new products. Laura explains: “some of the girls love sewing and have become pretty skilled. They’ve been doing the same thing for the last three years and we want to teach them something new, like making skirts or dresses. Other girls are not so much into sewing, but became more interested in doing other creative things.”

In June, Laura’s mom will fly in from Thailand to take over from Laura who’s been here a few months to coordinate the project. “It’s just great fun to help out and spend time with these girls, but the women here are doing a great job and we’re happy with the success of the project,” Laura concludes.

For more information about the project, donations and pictures of the merchandise, please visit www.ubushobozi.org or become a fan on facebook. Bags cost 10.000RWF/ 15EUR/20USD. Any friends interested can contact me to order a bag - deadline 28/4/'11.