Since we're on Spring Break now, I'm going to try and catch up on this blog and post about some field trips, experiences, and my time in Egypt. Better late than never, right! :)
Last month we took a field trip to the wonderful women's co-op, Gahaya Gifted Hands. I've blogged about this place before. Gahaya was co-founded by Auntie Janet and her sister, Joy, the mother of one of my former students. Janet and Joy grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda, and were able to secure sponsers to go to school in the States. After university, they both decided to return to their home country of Rwanda that had been devastated by the 1994 genocide. They started this basket weaving co-op underneath a tree with only a few women. Today, Gahaya Links has over 4,000 weavers in 52 different co-ops in Rwanda! They became the first co-op to export items to the U.S., and you can now find Rwandan Peace baskets in Macy's department stores! They call them Peace Baskets because the women have put aside their ethnic differences in order to work and weave together to build their communities and a country that was once so devastated. They also have a fashionable jewlery and handbag line as well! We were so grateful that Auntie Joy took time out of her busy schedule to teach us how to weave sisal and allow us the opportunity to visit with the women who work so hard!
Beautiful, hand-woven beads make beautiful necklaces!
Inge and Laura trying their hand at jewlery-making
Auntie Joy, displaying their new fashionable handmade dresses!
Hard at work, stitching the cloth handbags
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