About the Nyamirambo Women’s Center (NWC)

The NWC story began in 2007 when 18 Rwandan women formed it as an NGO dedicated to educating, empowering, and employing women.  They train women in literacy, gender inequality and gender-based violence, sewing, and computer skills.  For a string of years, NWC was funded by a few much appreciated donors.  The free classes were well attended, and seeds of confidence were taking root, but the money was inconsistent, and we hadn’t created a path to employment.   

In 2013, a new idea was sparked: employ the women who had learned to sew in a cooperative, making inspired products that live beautifully on every continent, and a self-sustaining means to fund NWC.  Umutima, which means “heart” in Kinyarwanda, designs simple shapes, refining their finishing, and repeating what works.  The NWC is now 50+ sewers strong, working alongside their original shop in Nyamirambo.  Their kitenge fabric, a staple in East Africa, is 100% cotton and washable — and we source the best quality and most unique patterns.   The NWC also hosts community tours — discovery walks in Nyamirambo, and traditional cooking and basket weaving classes that personalize Rwandan culture. 

A Personal Story - Goreth

Goreth grew up in the Kamunye District in the southern province of Rwanda. As a youth during the Genocide of 1994, she lost her father and quit school thereafter to help her mother take care of her siblings.  Years later, she moved to Kigali and worked as a housemaid, eventually enrolling in the sewing course at the NWC in 2014.  After the course concluded, she moved back home to open up a restaurant, which was doing poorly.  As her restaurant business was failing, a member of the Women’s Center called her, seeking former sewing students to join Umutima Cooperative. Once again, Goreth came back to the city to work. And that’s where she sits happily today.

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