Micaela Ricaforte and Tien Thai, guest writers
On March 28, students of all majors gathered in Upper Turner Campus Center (UTCC) for the screening of a documentary called “Mama Rwanda” about women in Rwanda, Africa, who have become empowered to help the poverty in their community by starting their own businesses.
APU’s Department of History and Political Science partnered with Pi Sigma Alpha, the AEI Executive Council and Hope International to host this event. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with Regional Representative for Hope International Haley Smith, M.A.
Smith spoke about her organization and the work they are doing to help communities like those depicted in the film. Hope International focuses on investing in and providing the financial means for these women to start their businesses.
“These women are taking ownership over not only their families, but their entire country,” Smith said. “They are creating businesses and jobs for their community members. They’re working very hard and they’re working with one another. By creating a living income, they’re using dignity and work to eradicate poverty in their communities.”
The film chronicled the journeys of Christine and Drocella, two Rwandan women with their own successful businesses. After the 1994 genocide, the population of Rwanda was 70 percent women. Christine, a mother of four, needed a way to support her family after her husband died, so she took a family recipe for banana wine and started her very own company. Today, she has the leading banana wine company in her nation with over 40 employees. Christine believes that her role is to empower her colleagues to become entrepreneurs themselves.
“I show them how to develop an idea and figure out how you can sell it,” she said in the documentary. “My role is to raise people from down low to a higher level.”
Drocella saw a need for unity and financial stability in her community after the genocide. She started an agricultural co-op with 20 of her neighbors and set up a joint bank account for them. She said that a major challenge was reconciling her neighbors to work together, as some were perpetrators of the genocide and some were survivors.
In the documentary, co-op member Bernard said, “We have left behind the conflicts of our past.”
Drocella also taught co-op members how to save their money and invest it back into the crops. In the documentary, she asked each co-op member to contribute $1.30 so they could borrow a loan to invest in tomato crops. Unfortunately, they were turned down for the loan because they did not have enough to make the down payment.
Organizations like Hope International, however, are designed to work with groups like Drocella’s that need loans to invest in their businesses. As a Christ-centered organization, Hope International offers savings and credit associations and microfinance institutions as well as discipleship and education. They work throughout Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Associate Professor of Political Science, Abbylin H. Sellers, Ph.D., said, “Hope International models what can be done to help those from impoverished countries. Hope empowers the citizens of the country to take ownership of their own lives instead of just receiving a handout from a developed country. Ultimately, Hope is able to assist over 11,000 communities in the country.”
Seller said the purpose of hosting such an event on campus was to spur conversation and inspire students.
“We here in the United States do not face the grave survival circumstances these women face each day, yet we can take the story of these Rwandan women and apply their perseverance and hard work to our own circumstances particularly when we need to overcome life’s difficult challenges.” she said.
Maya Maley, a sophomore political science major, said “Bringing this event to campus really shows APU’s heart for the community and reconciliation.”
Hope International is planning two “Experience HOPE” trips to the Dominican Republic this summer, one to take place June 8-10 and another July 5-8. For more information, visit their website: www.hopeinternational.org/take-action/trips.