Founded by two sisters from Alabama, Jenny and Anne McCain, Gitamara celebrates the natural beauty and creative workmanship of native Rwandan artisans.
As a full-time Regional Manager with Food for the Hungry, an international relief and development agency, Anne visits some of the most economically challenged countries in the world. Through her trips, Anne has met craftsmen in Peru, Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic, just to name a few, but it was the purse she saw on her July 2008 trip to Rwanda that truly grabbed Anne’s attention.
Anne on her July 2008 Rwanda trip, meeting a child in one of villages where the purses are made.
Made entirely of local materials, the purse was at once smart and elegant, hand-crafted by local women trained to create the intricate patterns that make the purses so striking. Anne was amazed to learn that each purse takes about three days to complete.
Anne sent her sister, Jenny, pictures of the purse, and as the two talked Jenny and Anne realized these purses offered a unique opportunity for the sisters to combine their skills to develop a new distinctive line of purses that would not only be attractive to consumers, but also enable talented Rwandans to develop a sustainable business.
A corporate attorney with an entrepreneurial bent, Jenny grew up watching their grandmother design clothing for the family’s apparel manufacturing company. She spent many an afternoon with their grandmother perusing fashion trade magazines and sorting through fabric samples. Jenny’s love of fashion and design continues – she keeps the latest issue of W, piles of J. Crew catalogues and dog-eared Tory Burch mailers on her nightstand.
Jenny and Anne believe you will love your Gitarama purse and the hope it represents. Your purchase enables the Rwandan artisans to support their families in a sustainable way and continues the progress currently happening in the country. Each artisan is paid a generously fair wage and Gitarama returns its profits to the broader Rwandan community through financial contributions to Food for the Hungry International – Rwanda.
