Coffee project helps rebuild Rwanda

Remember Gemima, who survived the genocide? She is one of the many Rwandan women helping to rebuild Rwanda today.

After the genocide, Gemima joined a coffee-growing cooperative supported by PEARL. Today she's growing coffee and prospering. 
Photo by Sandy Peters

You can listen to Gemima and others talking about how women are helping to rebuild Rwanda  at BBC's Woman's Hour: Rwandan coffee widows.

Read more about Gemima in BBC online: Coffee buzz lifts wartorn Rwanda. Read the online Detroit News article, Coffee, MSU help perk up Rwanda, discusses how the PEARL coffee project aims to help farmers--many of them widows--grow and sell gourmet coffee beans.

Your turn:
Comment on something that you found interesting; for example, the coffee-growing project, the role of women in rebuilding the country, or the Abahuzamugambi Bakawa cooperative.

Comments

[Sung Hwi Chung]

I am interested in the role of women in rebuilding Rwanda. Women had to prosper in Rwanda's economy and their society because many men died during the genocide. For example, Gemima Mukashyaka, who is a smallholder of a coffee farm from the Abahuzamugambi Bakawa cooperative, is flourishing in Rwanda's economy. She was a survivor of the genocide and inherited a coffee farm from her parents. In South Korea, women don't have authority because they have to take care of their children and family. Moreover many men do important jobs such as president and chief of enterprise. Therefore, Rwandan women are bravery people and a model of woman's power.

[Yong Jin Lee]

Since so many men died in the 1994 genocide, women must work to rebuild their country and family. I am interested in their coffee which is called Arabica. This coffee has a fantastic taste, but many people do not know about this. Arabica tastes really smooth and enjoyable. Rwandan people decided to grow coffee because they have good environmental conditions. I hope people, who like to drink coffee, know about this coffee soon so they can drink good tasting coffee and help Rwandan people to rebuild their country and help them to have a better future.

[Eunjin Kim]

I was deeply impressed with Rwandan women’s power. It is very difficult for them to rebuild their society because the men usually do that. However they had a strong will to survive even though they had lost their families. I think that it is very hard because this requires a lot of spirit as well as great physical effort.

[Lim Ju Hee]

I like to drink coffee, but I didn’t know much about how it is grown. After reading this article, “Detailed Tasting Notes”, I unearthed interesting facts about coffee. For example, it is very interesting to know that Arabica Bourbon is one of the world’s oldest and most popular coffees and has a really great taste. It is not sour but bitter, so this is very novel. It is a good chance to learn how coffee is grown. If I have the opportunity, I’d like to try to learn about the process of making coffee.

[Demba]

The Rwandan genocide was a disaster. People lost their property in the aftermath, but they never stopped struggling. Some women have joined a co-operative community that has worked to grow coffee and that has really helped. They have been able to earn some money to survive through their efforts. As the coffee is getting better, they are earning more money. Thus, the children have been able to start going to school and the society is successfully being rebuilt. Also, if women run out of money sometimes, they are able to borrow some money from the co-operative to pay their children schools. So, the role of women in rebuilding Rwanda has been very important.

[Mi Hye Ahn]

I am interested in the role of women. In the case of Gemima, she didn’t want to live with her husband, so she escaped from her house. Then, she suffered from poverty and genocide. After the genocide, she started growing coffee by joining a coffee-growing cooperative, so she doesn’t worry about that anymore now. I am surprised by her courage and action. Even though she is a smallholder, she does her best, and that helps to rebuild the country economically. In the case of Korea, it is difficult for women (especially, widows) to become independent by themselves. So, I am surprised that her courageous action helps to rebuild her country.

[Seo InJi]

I think the coffee-growing project (PEARL) is a very good idea and it might be a good case model for helping other countries because this project is not just giving something like money, food, etc., but helping Rwandans stand on their own feet by growing coffee.

As we learned on the website, Rwanda has good conditions for producing coffee; however, people didn’t have enough skills to produce good coffee. But through the project they can improve the quality of the coffee that they produce. I think contributing money is a very easy way of helping and it can also have an immediate effect, but it might influence only for a short term because it is not their own effort. On the contrary, this kind of project is an effective way for a long time.

[Sujeong Hong]

By reading articles about rebuilding Rwanda, I can learn how to help those who are in difficulty. It makes me think about what I can do. I just want to help others. For example, I can give money. However, some people have helped Rwanda in a different way. They have helped Rwanda, and Rwanda has also helped them. It is mutual effort. It impressed me a lot that some people, including MSU, helped Rwanda rebuild by planning the project PEARL. The project not only helps farmers organize associations and have more income, but also helps MSU build a program of applied research. It serves a double purpose; they help each other. So I'd like to help someone by using my major.

[Eun Hyun Lee]

It is interesting that small things can change everything. Even though selling coffee looks like a small effort to rebuild Rwanda, it is not small. Most people only think of a big change when they have problems, not trying to start from small things. However, Gemima starts from a small try. This can have effects on many other people to think differently. In my case, North Korea suffers from famine but people do not know how to start helping them. So I think examples of Rwanda can be good for our situation too.

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