The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Rwanda Day 1
December 9th, 2008 Posted by admin

After 20 hours of flying and 48 hours away from home, I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome of the 2008 Peace through Business Rwanda women. Many of them came to the airport with beautiful flowers in their hands to welcome me with such warmth and excitement that I felt like a rock star!

Driving to the hotel was quite interesting as I tried to take in all of the people walking around, the buildings that I could see, and some sense of where I was considering all I could see was the lights dotted around the Land of a Thousand Hills.

Becoming acclimated to the time zone hasn’t been a problem and when the sun came up at 5:00 this morning, I was ready to go! Of course, getting email taken care of has been tricky at best, but I managed to get some emails handled. After confirming and setting appointments I took off to go register at the US Embassy then go to the Rwanda Memorial.

The Memorial is moving and quite beautifully done. I spent time at the mass burial grave sites in prayer, and enjoyed the different gardens along the grounds. Jet lag is zapping me, so I will take a nap before finding activities tonight.

Posted in Rwanda |

Leave a Reply


Meet The Women You Can Help

Chantal “Sarah” Bucyana

Mrs. Bucyana has been in business and self employed for the past 14 years. Currently she owns and operates Elite Beauty Salon in Kigali City. It is a unisex salon providing hairstyling, manicures, pedicures, cosmetics and retailing beauty products. Mrs. Bucyana’s future plans include expanding her business to include a Beauty Skills Training Institute [...]

[Read more]

Betty Habimana

Betty currently owns/operates a combination garment trading & tailoring shop and an arts and crafts shop. She also represents groups of business owners in trade fair & cooperatives outside the country, bringing business back to Rwanda. Betty has recently expanded, adding two additional locations and employees to operate them. Betty continues to work with IEEW [...]

[Read more]

Amir Taj Sirat

Peace through Business® 2007 graduate. Taj owns a ball making business, employing women of Afghanistan to produce all types of balls - soccer balls, volley balls, etc.
After her participation in Peace through Business® 2007, Taj realized she was making a good profit. She increased her revenues by 17%. Always interested in social and political affairs, she realized [...]

[Read more]

Gloria Uwizera

Gloria Uwizera owns and operates a textile and batiks design company called “Glo Creations”. Opening in November 2004 in Senegal, relocating to Rwanda and has two employees. Gloria was very involved while in Oklahoma Peace through Business, participating with her mentor Anna Lisa Campbell in a local art workshop for children. She’s very active in [...]

[Read more]

Marguerite Nyagahura

Currently owns & operates a hair salon, transitioning to owning & operating First Impressions Daycare by mid-2008. Space is secured & furnished to care for children 18-36 months and after school care for children 3-6 years. Update: After completed Peace through Business 2008 and returning to Rwanda, we received the following from Marguerite:
“Finally some news [...]

[Read more]

Bertha Kabuto

In business for 20 years, Eden Harvest and Highland Farmers, a food wholesaler, Bertha Kabuto has supplied supermarkets, restaurants, schools, military establishments and universities with foodstuffs ranging from maize to sea food. She fulfils large national contracts and has supplied the largest organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). In addition to a [...]

[Read more]