Last week, I visited the Ibaba workshop in Rutongo and was totally amazed. I placed a customized order few weeks ago for a friend of mine who is expecting her first baby and I decided to go to the workshop to take my order instead of waiting in Kigali. I already knew their products but seeing the ladies behind the wonderful embroideries was so great.
Ibaba Rwanda is a social enterprise empowering women with a beautiful story. During the seventies, in Rutongo, Belgian nuns started to teach embroidery to help young women from the village . After the training, they could start working in the workshop earning a salary and adding an income for their families. This great initiative represented for many years a great source of empowerment for women of Rutongo . The women of Rutongo had an incredible expertise in embroidery and they were known beyond Rwanda’s borders. Having an embroidered piece from them was a must.