Azizi Life...Muhanga District, Rwanda

For one day while in Rwanda, Kate and I got to go outside the city to the Muhanga District where we spent the day with 7 women who are artisans with another co-op, Ingobokarugo Cooperative, in Rwanda. They make baskets and jewelry that they then sell through Azizi Life who sells their items to folks in the UK and the states. Through purchases of these items, the women are able to earn an income for their families, provide a way for their children to go to school, and contribute in other ways to their household.

These women opened up their home and time to us to show us what a day in their life looks like. We did everything from hoe in the field to carrying the cow’s lunch on our heads, to preparing their one meal of the day to learning how to make the jewelry they make ourselves!

This was an extremely eye opening experience. I saw families and children who live completely on the land…and there’s a joy that I couldn’t explain. These people are living in what to us here in the states would be seen as some of the most impoverished situations. But they have everything they need…and then some. In these communities, the families and neighbors share everything. When it’s time to kill the pig or cow…it’s shared with the entire community. When someone needs a house..all the men in the community come together to make the mud bricks and build the home. This mentality and way of life is fundamentally different from so many other cultures in the world. This is also what made the genocide and the murder of neighbors by neighbors an all the more shocking reality.

I’ve already touched on the ways this community and village were affected by the genocide and what that did for us during our stay there. You can read about that at this link…

http://www.claireelysephotography.com/blog/?p=8968

Something happened that day that I will never forget...As we were leaving the families including all of their children sang and danced for us. While dancing their traditional tribal dance, they were thanking us for being a part of their lives for the day. They don’t know us…they definitely don’t understand us and yet they were so welcoming…they then asked us to sing and dance for them. We of course weren't prepared and even laughed at first. But then we decided to sing Amazing Grace. They had never heard the song and it was a very moving experience. We began to get emotional singing it and had a hard time getting through the song. It occurred to each of us while singing about grace and eternity to those who don't even speak the same language that one day we will all sing together. We will worship and sing praises to God with members of God's family literally from every tribe and every nation..

when we've been there ten thousand years..

The kids in the villages all run to the street when they hear a car coming. They don’t see cars very often so when one pulls up they drop everything and run after it…waving and often yelling “mzungu!” which means “white person!” The photos of the kids and families doing this are some that I will treasure forever. The experience of that joy and welcome given to strangers was the gospel being played out. There is something in all of us...something that is not of us and it is God’s work to restore chaos in a broken world. Out of this chaos is a redemption that can be felt in the smiles, the dances, the hugs, the claps of even those who don’t even know the same language as us…and even in the car chases by children so excited to see someone different from them…there is a hint..a whisper of God’s grace, goodness, generosity, and joy that is real and that being in this world we have the privilege to share with others.

You can support the women and families seen in these photographs and other Rwandan artisans by visiting the link below:

http://azizilife.com/

And if you're ever in or near Rwanda, go visit Azizi Life and spend a day in the life of these people. You'll be changed forever.

http://azizilife.com/get-involved/experiences

^" After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10

Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

Umucyo...A sewing cooperative for women in Kigali, Rwanda

 

This week is about the "why" of our going to Africa.

When I was 14 years old, I met a girl who quickly became a dear friend of mine. One of the ways we bonded as teenagers and into college was the realization that we both had this desire and sense that we were called to do something in other nations with the talents we had been given. Betsie’s talent is an innate sense of design, specifically in clothing and accessories. We eventually both ended up at LSU majoring in our respective creative fields that, little did we know, were preparing us to begin to walk in those desires God had placed in our hearts years before.

'

While living in Austin her first year out of college, Betsie became acquainted with Noonday Collection based in Austin. The goal of Noonday is to provide jobs for artisans world-wide and sell the items made by those artisans here in the states. This was Betsie’s heart. Her dream had, throughout the years, begun to be more finely tuned into a desire to teach women how to sew and make designs in order to sell them and feed their families in the process. Soon after her beginning at Noonday Collection, Betsie was invited to go to Rwanda for two weeks and teach the women at the Umucyo cooperative (pronounced oo-moo-cho) there how to make some of her personal designs and others from Noonday. Umucyo had been around for a couple of years and was started by associates with Noonday. The name "umucyo" means "light" in Kinyarwandan, the language spoken by Rwandans.

Betsie found herself in a room with 12 women who now suddenly had a way to support their families, feed their kids, and worship God with their hands. After two weeks there, Rwanda stuck with Betsie. She was then asked to be the representative on the ground for Umucyo in Rwanda. She answered the call, raised $10,000 to live there, and flew out June 2013. She has been there almost a year now. When I first heard she was going, I knew I would do just about whatever it took to get over there to not only see first hand what she was doing there and how God was using her, but to attempt to tell the rest of the world what she was doing and what these women now had through photographing and videoing their story.

So that’s what led us to Rwanda.

Half of these women were affected by the genocide of 1994. Many of them losing multiple loved ones. Grace lost her entire family except a brother. Others have experienced injustices literally by next door neighbors while still others have had to flee their home countries and leave family and tribes behind because of fights among tribes and races. These women are mothers, wives, sisters, grandmothers and some are seeking to support themselves without a husband or father in a culture where a woman supporting herself would not have been possible not too long ago. God has provided not only an income for these women, but a way to do what we were all called and made to do…and that is to work in some capacity and to glorify God with our hands and gifts. These women have been provided that dignity, that way to serve others, and that way to worship and glorify God! Praise God for that and for the means to do so.

Half of these women were affected by the genocide of 1994. Many of them losing multiple loved ones. Grace lost her entire family except a brother. Others have experienced injustices literally by next door neighbors while still others have had to flee their home countries and leave family and tribes behind because of fights among tribes and races. These women are mothers, wives, sisters, grandmothers and some are seeking to support themselves without a husband or father in a culture where a woman supporting herself would not have been possible not too long ago. God has provided not only an income for these women, but a way to do what we were all called and made to do…and that is to work in some capacity and to glorify God with our hands and gifts. These women have been provided that dignity, that way to serve others, and that way to worship and glorify God! Praise God for that and for the means to do so.

Betsie plans to return to the states this summer and through part of the fall in order to raise support for a second year in Kigali. The photographs, videos, and interviews we took while there will be used to show those back home what  God is doing through Betsie and Umucyo Cooperative. We will have art shows in multiple cities and will sell the products Betsie’s women have made as well as share these photos, videos, and stories of the women who the cooperative is daily providing for.

Please stay tuned for information on these shows. Dates and locations will be announced in the summer. At the shows, you'll have the opportunity to purchase the items the women made in order to support them and support another year for Betsie to go to Rwanda. You can start that process of sending her and helping her finish her first year by donating to Betsie at the following link or by emailing me at hello@claireelysephotography.com.

https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToRwanda

Follow Umucyo and the work they do at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/UmucyoSewingCooperative

You can also go ahead and purchase some of the items the women make each day at the following link. Some of these bags and aprons will make great wedding, birthday, and Mother’s day gifts!

http://www.noondaycollection.com/bags/charlottes-bag

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire