{Mukamunana, 55, is married with 12 children. Together with other community members in Mukama sector, Nyagatare district, formed a cooperative for beekeeping, COABIMU in 2006.}
She was one of two only women in the association as other women had not yet overcome myths and misconceptions excluding women in beekeeping. For many years beekeeping sector was considered as reserved for old men.
It was believed for instance that bees would perish if a woman approached them during her menstrual period. Mukamunana was elected as advisor in the Rwanda Beekeeping Federation in 2011. Her experience later attracted more women in beekeeping.
{{How did she overcome myths?}}
“Beekeeping doesn’t require much physical effort; neither does it necessitate big land. You only need to follow up your bees once in a beehive,” she said.
Regarding some myths and misconceptions excluding women in beekeeping, Mukamunana says it was time to demystify them. “Why should we (women) be left behind in development while men were forming cooperatives?” she wondered. “As a woman, you can generate income and support your family rather than always depend on your husband,” she added.
{{Achievements}}
Mukamunana says she benefited a lot from beekeeping. “Five of my 12 children are in primary and secondary schools and I am able to pay their school fees because of beekeeping,” she rejoices. In addition, two children completed secondary school and she is planning to send one of them to university next year. “I owe all this to beekeeping since it served as a starting point,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t be able to pay school fees for her children if she was not in that business.
However, Mukamunana recognizes that she was able to progress with the help and complementarity of her husband, married since 1976.
She further said that their cooperative benefited its members in different ways. Every member was given a cellphone, a goat and anyone in need can get a small loan from the cooperative to start other income generating activities (IGAs). “I addition to the cooperative beehives, I have got my own beehives that can generate 120,000Rwf in a quarter.
With this income I was able to start other small businesses such as tomato growing, rabbits rearing, poultry keeping etc,” she said adding that they renewed their living house and bought a cow as a result of those IGAs.
“When they realized that even women can do beekeeping, other women started joining,” she said. Their cooperative now counts over 40 women out of 224 members, while they were only two women when they created COABIMU eight years ago.
Women represent 14% in beekeeping sector in Rwanda currently
COABIMU cooperative has owns 80 modern beehives, 65 of which with bees and 10 traditional hives.
Mukamunana is grateful to ADRA Rwanda that provided training sessions as well as startup inputs related to beekeeping since they started. ADRA gave this group honey extractor among other equipment. “We owe everything to ADRA that built our capacity, gave us skills and enabled us to do things on our own.”
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