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

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

 

 

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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.

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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