>> Rwanda Kopakama Women's Coffee

"We are the salt of KOPAKAMA, though the majority of the cooperative's members are men. Without us the cooperative wouldn't even be here - it is us who nag the men to join and participate!
No, we can't yet compare KOPAPAMA to the Parliament of Rwanda where 56% of members, including the Speaker, are women, but we are heading there. There are 192 of us and we represent 23% of the 823 members of the cooperative. Three of us have been on the board since 2004: one of us is vice president, and another is president of the internal control committee. That is how much we are trusted.

Why talk about ourselves?
"We are survivors not only of the 1994 genocide and war but also of the huge challenges we face every day in our families and communities. Not long ago, before the new inheritance law was enacted in 2000, women in Rwanda couldn't own a coffee garden. Against our will we were denied the right to be landowners! That is history. Nowadays Rwandese women can and do own land and of course coffee gardens. Many of our husbands have given us plots with coffee and others have allocated us parts of their plots to manage, harvest and sell. That means that for the first time we have our own income from coffee to spend as we like. Before that the men got the money and controlled how it was spent.

"With our coffee income we women pay school fees for our children and we buy medicines. We buy things for the house, and we can buy ourselves clothes, especially the African wraps we always wear."

"Together we produced 4000kg of green coffee last season. The season was bad because there was a very small crop. But the great thing is that we have sold the coffee at a good price, which will make a big difference to our lives. Next year we will have a much bigger crop, so we are full of hope

What next?
"Our plan is to bring in more young women in particular. It is breaking our heart to see how high the teenage pregnancy rate is in our community. We intend to set up a formal women's association and to start new activities like non agricultural income generating activities to motivate the younger generation. Women's coffee from KOPAKAMA is the way forward!"

>> 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."