March 2009 trip, part 2

Posted by Cari Clement

Monday, March 30
Early meeting at the RAPP office, then head into town to confirm my return flight. Fringe benefit of having to go to town was lunch at Bourbon in the UTC center – and some of the best cappuccino I’ve ever had.

Then it’s back to Remera where Patrick and I have a meeting with Odette and Emerita from the Urumuri cooperative. We are still trying help Urumuri sort out its financial difficulties and these ladies comprise the Supervisory Committee. We want to be sure they know we are there if they need help and we encourage them to make the right decisions as to what to do with their money. It is for the entire cooperative to decide, not us and not just a few from the group, but all the members – or at least a quorum.

Sunday, March 29
Sundays are very slow and quiet in Kigali – that is, unless you attend church – which most Rwandans do. The singing can be heard throughout the city every Sunday morning. And walking around the city is so enjoyable when the traffic is down. Kigali is both a beautiful place to walk – and a challenging one, with all the hills. Who said 1,000 hills? Add three more zeros to that number, please.

While Laura goes to Cercle Sportif, I connect with friend, Susan Moinester, founder of Manos de Madres (http://www.manosdemadres.com/), who just happened to come to Rwanda at the same time I did, and we both go to visit Cooperative Solidarite, a basket-weaving co-op comprised of members of Rwanda’s native peoples, the Twa. Their baskets are excellent and I bought a few to sell at the CGOA booth. Susan, who sells their baskets on her website and to stores, is feted as a rock star.

Susan, still on US time, needs sleep, so Laura and I connect for dinner at Chez Lando, across the street from the Beausejour.

Saturday, March 28
On the last Saturday of each month, all of Rwanda virtually shuts down for “umuganda” – community clean-up day. No cars are allowed on the streets and everyone must stay in their neighborhood and clean up. The fact that this actually works is evident in the city, one of the cleanest ones in all East Africa. It lasts until noon, after which time the city slowly comes back to life. But the slow start to the day is most welcome, as there was much paperwork to do. I spent the morning working on ledger sheets, sales recording sheets and a Time Trials sheet so a knitter can test her speed and calculate where improvements should be made – and, most importantly, how much should be charged for labor. Too many of the knitting groups are so anxious for orders that they don’t calculate what it costs them in time to knit and finish a sweater. So the time trials sheet should help.

Around noon Laura took me on my first local bus ride to the local market, Remera’s answer to the local Farmer’s Market, but WAY different. There were literally hundreds of vendors selling everything from flour to fabric and from pans to pineapples. What a wonderful, colorful scene – and what a day to have left the camera at the hotel! Laura picks up things to make for dinner at her house tonite. I can hardly believe I've been to Rwanda 10 times now and never traveled on a local bus or went to the local market. Gives a whole new meaning to "local."

After the Remera market, Laura and I went to downtown Kigali to hunt for fabric for displays at the upcoming Rwanda Knits booth at the August CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) annual convention where my friend, Judi Farer, and I will be selling knitting bags, horn buttons, yarn baskets and other products from Rwanda, all profits to benefit Rwanda Knits.

Dinner at Laura’s was great. Rwanda Knits’ teacher, Immaculee Ilibigiza and her daughter, Pamela (check out her outfit, designed and knitted by her mom), with former Rwanda Knits’ project manager, Geofrey Katushabe (who is now attending grad school), enjoyed a home-cooked meal. While most homes do not have running water, an outdoor spigot makes getting water pretty simple, just outside the back door – but it does make taking showers a bit more challenging…..

Friday, March 27
This was a very “fun” day that coupled review of the week’s workshop with hands-on activities such as learning how to repair a knitting machine to finding design inspirations to converting them into a finished product. But first a review of product pricing from Thursday, as this is a critically important part of the cooperatives becoming successful.

Before the “pause café” (morning coffee break), I showed the attendees how to remove broken machine modules to create a new machine bed from two broken ones. I also demonstrated how to keep machines clean and stressed the importance of keeping all the components of each machine together.

After the break, I displayed printouts of ideas for products that could be made on the machines. This got everyone’s wheels turning. Seeing the effectiveness of a tangible example from the workshop on contracts, I felt it would be good to have a tangible example, albeit a more positive one, for today’s quick discussion on design. So on Thursday, I gave Faina, one of the top knitters and a member of Hosiana, a photograph of a shrug with a drawing of a rectangle with stitches and rows and yarn, and asked Faina to knit the rectangle and bring it in today, with the expectation of showing the group how a shrug is made. But today Faina returned, not with the rectangle, but with the finished shrug, complete with crocheted trim! All it takes is inspiration and motivation – and, as you can see, a great model (Caritas, also from the Hosiana cooperative) – to take an idea and a picture through to a finished product. But the best thing was how long it took Faina to make the finished shrug – 2.5 hours – and how much everyone felt it could be sold for in the local market – 7,000 Rwandan francs (about $13) and everyone was delighted, especially since most of the attendees make just over 500 francs a day. Just as an FYI, a whole school uniform sweater sells for between 4,000 and 3,000 francs and takes a lot longer to make. I was also trying to make the point that speed is at least as important as style.

The workshop today ended at 2 p.m. to allow those who traveled long distances, especially the Dian Fossey members who will be retuning to Ruhengheri in the Virunga mountains, to get home before dark. Everyone chose to take home the money we would’ve paid the restaurant for lunch so they would have cash to bring home to their families – and everyone also left with a signed, sealed and stamped diploma from their attendance at the workshop.

After everyone had been given their “lunch money” and transport money back to their home towns, Laura and I departed for the quarterly board meeting at the RAPP offices, just down the street. This was a great meeting, expanding the board by an additional two members, one, my friend Richard Niwenshuti, and the other, new friend, Mattew Nzabonimana. RAPPSIDA Program Director, Jesse Hawkes, and myself, Program Director of Rwanda Knits, agreed to relinquish their PD titles and become Program Chairs, so that all PD’s would be on-the-ground in Rwanda, as it should be, and eventually Rwandans, also as it should be. After a successful meeting and an exhausting day, Laura and I headed to Sole Luna, a wonderful Italian restaurant overlooking Kigali, just down the street from my hotel. (BTW, there is rarely any restaurant in Kigali that doesn’t have a great view, as everything is on a hill – even the valleys have a great view – looking up…)