They went from desperate jobs to housewives (testimony)

Former women farmers say there is a market for their work but they have too little capital to meet market demand.

Mushimiyimana Olive from Tabagui district said he makes his living doing illegal business and trade and earns money from gambling, so he is like a loser because he is not afraid of the night.

He said he was incarcerated for seven years and when he returned he found the children scattered and he had difficulty bringing them home.

Two years ago, she and 22 friends worked in a cooperative producing soap, and the government helped them buy a machine to help them do the work.

He said: “I got nothing except a seven-year sentence. I had my children scattered to take care of me. It was difficult for me, but now I don’t think about it. Before, I walked on the street and I was like depression. Now I am a happy woman and I want to know what I want.”

Uwinawe Jeanne of Gishuro Cell in Tabagwe District said instead of getting married, they chose the beekeeping project and it is profitable because besides breeding, they also engage in agriculture so that they can own their own house and sell to the market.

They left the farm and stayed to make soap, thus they began to help their family get rich

“We are the women who crossed the border to bring illegal products, we hated them, but now we grow, collect and sell to the market, we will leave soon because there is no profit,” he said.

Mushongonono Alphonsine said the work they did before their arrest was terrible because apart from the jail that awaited them when they were arrested, on their way to Binani they sometimes encountered criminals who would snatch the items they brought into the country.

“A lot of times you get bad people and they hurt you, but now that we’re out of the country, all the bad things that hurt you are gone,” he said.

Seven of the 14 departments in Nyagatare district are located on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Some people living near the borders used to trade in illegal goods such as alcohol, tobacco and kajwa.

While no figures are released, the Nyagatare district government says the amount of smuggling and drugs entering Rwanda has decreased since it launched a campaign to show the public the consequences of operating illegally and appointed port guards, many of whom do so in cooperatives and others as manual labour under the VUP scheme.