I love my day job, but I’m crazy about what my friends call “the purse project”. My sister Anne and I are just now getting the business off the ground – we’ve spent the last 8 months working out the details.
You can check out the “Our Story” page  about how this came to be…but for now I can tell you we’ve only been able to start this business because international relief agency Food for the Hungry has two staff members, Christi Whitekettle and Tom McGregor, who live Rwanda.
My sister works for FH. We started working with Tom and Christi late last summer to standardize the shape of the purses, choose the weave designs, find coordinating fabric that would be appealing to US customers, etc. For example, to standardize our product size, we had patterns made of the purse shape our friends and colleagues seemed to like the best so Tom and Christy could distribute them to the artisans. So far we have received 8 completed purses, with more on the way.
These first 8 purses were made by Narcisse and his sister Primitive. Narcisse is 23 years old, the fourth of five children. Their parents have both died- their father of illness in 1998 and their mother in an auto accident in 2000. After their parents’ death, the children were looked after by their oldest sister. Currently, Narcisse and Primitive live with one other sister, her child, and her husband, who is not often there.  With the money he has earned so far, Narcisse has bought health insurance, bought a field for farming, and has begun building his own house. The establishment of this home is very important to him, as culturally it must be built before he can get married.  In the future, Narcisse hopes to complete his own home, marry, and purchase a cow.
I could tell you more about Narcisse, but I think this excerpt from Christy’s email gives you a better picture…
“Tom (McGregor) has been working with Narcisse for the past year, but I remember the first week that I met him- just as we were beginning the handbag project. He had come to drop off a different delivery after a long delay. As I shook his hand, I could feel and see that he was running a fever and struggling with illness. He had not seen a doctor or gotten medication because of lack of funds. Since that time, largely because of the purse project, we have seen Narcisse on a regular basis. His wellness has visibly improved. He and his sister are still very quiet and humble, but looking well, and showing increasing energy and enthusiasm.
A few weeks ago, Narcisse and Primitive were in the office making their weekly delivery of handbags. As we were bringing the meeting to a close, the siblings turned to us, their faces beaming. They thanked us profusely for our help in purchasing their work. They told us that they had lost their parents as children, but had found parents in us due to our consistent support of their work. They were overjoyed at being able to use their added income to improve their home and their lives. We were able to affirm to them that it was indeed they who were doing wonderful work and making a way for themselves, and that it is our pleasure to be able to connect them with a market.”
Rwanda
Land of a thousand hills
The name "Gitarama" is in honor of the Rwandan region where many of the artisans making the purses live.
Rwanda is a tiny, landlocked country, right in the heart of Africa. Known as "The Land of A Thousand Hills", Rwanda’s hilly terraine offers precious little farmland - which is sadly ironic given that farming is a primary industry in Rwanda. There is a tradition in Rwanda of dividing family farmland into separate plots for each of a family's children as they mature into adulthood. Obviously, this means that an impoverished family's small plot of land is divided into smaller and smaller portions, generation after generation. A major challenge is finding a source of income that is not based on growing crops.
Banana trees are everywhere in Rwanda - weavers do not have to own farmland to have access to banana trees. If you have ever been to Rwanda, you know how plentiful bananas trees are. During your visit you no doubt ate bananas many ways - fried, mashed, sautéed. You may even have tried delicious banana beer. Gitarama purses are a perfect product for Rwandans to export because they are made of readily available banana leaves. By purchasing a Gitarama purse, you will provide a local artisan with a way to make a living that is based on the abundant, renewable supply of a local plant.
Click on the map to go to Rwanda’s official website
