Rwanda IAKB

The IAKB women's coffee comes from several groups. This is the story of one of these, The TURWANYEBUNEBWE association in SAKARA.

"We are women of SAKARA - the "FIGHT AGAINST LAZINESS ASSOCIATION".
For many years we have been living in utter misery, at the mercy of men we marry and the family we marry into.
We have been beggars for clothes, for soap; for pocket money.
We have been shut out from what is happening elsewhere.

"Family planning", "wealth building" were foreign words to us.

Then in 2000, we said enough is enough, let us come together, let us welcome anyone willing to believe in our cause and fight "la PARESSE" (Laziness). We agreed to concentrate on coffee. We women are the ones who have always planted, we weed, control the pests, harvest the cherries, and carry them to be processed, yet we haven't until now seen its impact on our lives.
32 women (age varying from 18 to 56), and 6 men created "TURWANYEBUNEBWE" ("fight against laziness") association. The men decided to join to give us their moral support and their expertise in coffee growing. Our vision was to better our livelihood, our mission was to benefit from coffee. In 2002 we acquired land as a gift from the local authorities and planted 2000 coffee trees, then added 1500 trees five years later!

The journey wasn't for the lean and weak spirits. Before the first harvest, we lost all the men and eight sisters. They were tired to wait and keep working until the first crop. But for those of us who remain, we really hover over our coffee, we are women of habit. Every Friday we work together and have fun doing it!

In 2007 we celebrated our first harvest, thus our first income. The yield was 1200 kg of cherries, of very good quality
We were excited. In 2008 we enjoyed a yield of 2160 kg,
Our yield is increasing each year and in 2009 reached 3100 kg.

"We are women of destiny!
With the support of IAKB, we are on fire. Our vision is broadening. We want to produce more in quantity and quality.

Come and visit us, visit our plantation and support us to diversify.

We are doing more than producing coffee. Coffee is a means not an end. We are learning about family planning, home based income generating activities and more."