Life was not easy for Gloriose Murekatete and her family of five children and husband from Gashora Sector Bugesera District in Eastern of Rwanda. She has lived in extreme poverty since 1996 when she got her firstborn. She could manage to neither pay school fees nor feed her 5 children. She was at a loss and thought life was very unfair.
Murekatete was enrolled into the green project in June 2022. Before being enrolled, she was a tailor working for the nearby tailoring workshop and relied on poor farming with her family for living. According to Murekatete, before the project intervention, she lived in fearful life thinking that nothing she can do by herself to raise her income can increase their life in agriculture.
After the trainings offered by SOS Children’s Villages in Rwanda through the Green Project on entrepreneurship and business skills, whereby farmers got knowledge on how they can start from a small money source and start a small business, Murekatete changed her mindset and decides to start her own business.
In the line of starting an income generation activity, she started by purchasing her own tailoring machine from the loan she got from Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) group equivalent to 90,000Frw ($90). She purchased five pieces of garments (known as London) equivalent to 25,000Frw ($25) and paid rent for a house in the center equivalent to Rwf 20,000.
The money she used to pay rent and purchase of garments came from the savings of the transport fees generated during different trainings offered by SOS Children’s Villages in Rwanda through the Green Project. Then after, she started to sell the garments, doing tailoring for the clients in the area, making bags and uniforms for nearby schools.
Gloriose said, “In a short period of eight months starting this business, I managed to generate a capital of Rwf 300,000 including money I used to purchase garments, materials used in tailoring and payment of rent compared to Rwf 45,000 at the beginning of the business. This capital has been calculated after deducting all costs including paying school fees for five children and providing basic needs for the family”.
In addition to that, together with the income generated by her husband through agriculture, they were able to save in the VSLA group. “Based on what I have achieved, I have continued to re-invest the profit I got and have given myself a target of establishing my own tailoring workshop to provide jobs for others in the near future,” Gloriose added. They have also invested in producing maize and beans through the application of climate-smart farming practices in season B of 2022-2023.
“I appreciate the support of SOS Children’s Villages who have brought the green project to support us. I assure you that even if the project phases out now, I am able to sustain what I have achieved and build a stable family,” she said.
Climate change is a global issue posing a fundamental threat to vulnerable families. SOS Children’s Villages implemented a Green Project in Gashora Sector, a semi-arid Agro-Ecological Zone in Bugesera district, which aims at raising awareness of environmental protection and improving living conditions of affected families. The project supports 50 families with 250 children.