Kigali: Refugee artisans bring a taste of their heritage through the German Christmas market
“I am delighted that refugees are integrated in the society. It’s really great to have them here and share their heritage with us.”
SOS Herman – Gmeiner Primary School, Kacyiru, Kigali. – In conjunction with the handmade pediatric adjustable chairs for classrooms or feeding for children with special needs made from cartons, Burundian and Congolese artisan refugees living in Rwanda used their unique skills to share their heritage with the Rwandan community through original and fresh designed fashion accessories at the German Christmas Market.
Recurring cycles of instability in the great region has raised in humanitarian crises and forced displacements. For that reason, Rwanda opened its borders to host thousands of Congolese and Burundian refugees who have fled their countries since 1996.
“People here are so nice and welcoming. We are also given opportunities as nationals to make our own lives, even if it is not always easy for us,” said Keza Colette, 38 years-old Congolese refugee.
In the crowd of more than 180 entrepreneurs, Colette and fourteen representatives of refugee groups were selling their products to hundreds of participants at SOS Herman-Gmeiner Primary school located in Kacyiru, Kigali.
Colette sells unique handcrafted handbags, place mats and tablecloths. She affirms to have gained much from participating in the Christmas market, as it was an opportunity for her to meet other refugee entrepreneurs as well as Rwandans who are doing the same business.
“This was an occasion for me to meet other entrepreneurs, share experience and challenges, and learn about various ways of taking my business to another level by improving our products quality and making new designs,” she said. “We had some of our products sold as well and that money will help our families.”
Refugee artisans bring a taste of their heritage through the German Christmas market
Refugee artisans bring a taste of their heritage through the German Christmas market
“A wire and needle: A taste of a Congolese heritage”
A single mother of three, Collette fled Goma, DRC in May 2012, letting behind everything she had including her husband. She only took her children and fled to Rwanda. Colette says that life was not easy in the refuge, until she remembered that she has skills in making some products in rice plastic bags.
“When I fled I lost everything: my husband, my home, my belongings … everything.”
“My kids and I had a miserable life in the first few months in Rwanda, I was left with the only thing that could save our lives: skills to bring out benefit from a plastic rice bag, a wire and a needle.”
“There was no time to attentively pack all my things and make my luggage during my hasty last moments in Goma. I only took my children and grabbed few small items that I could carry and run away!” she said.
When Colette takes a wire and a needle remembers her home town Goma and everything she left there. Behind every piece of cloth she sews, every handcrafted handbags, a memory of a happier and united family in DRC recalls.
“Through my handcrafts I’d like people to understand the feelings we Congolese refugees have, whether we were living in DRC or here in the asylum, and what we’re going through,” she said.
This is the second time that refugees living in different camps in Rwanda and in urban areas participate in the annual German Christmas Market. Ernest Maniriho, a visitor to the exhibition, said the handcrafts moved him to tears.
“I was very touched by these products made by refugees. Every product, every painting, every sewed cloth … has a story behind it and that makes it very unique,” Ernest said.
“I am delighted that refugees are integrated in the society. It’s really great to have them here and share their heritage with us.”
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