Perpetue Mukamuhoza, 51, is a resident of Gatare Village in Nyanza Sector, Nyanza District. She has lived with her husband for the last 27 years.Their marriage has been characterized by quarrels and sometimes beatings from the husband.
Without an income, dependent on his husband for survival, she could hardly think of extricating herself out of that misery.
“There are times when I could decide to leave him and just live with friends. But then I could not live with my children at friends’ or relatives’ homes; that is how I always ended up coming back. I remember the last time I left him, he had sold off some household property so he could pay bride price for another woman. There are even times he could sell an item simply to take local brew,” recollects the mother of seven.
In 2007, Mukamuhoza joined the Dukunde Inzuki Cooperative and, from the Rwf50,000 given by Action Aid Rwanda, started a small business of selling vegetables and fruits.
She got profits and expanded her stock, and as the confidence from her suppliers grew, she could get some on credit and pay later. “I made sure that I involve my children in the business. In 2011, I got a Friesian cow, courtesy of Action Aid Rwanda, which calved in 2012. Now from the cow I get milk, for home consumption and to sell and fertilizers for my gardens where I grow beans, potatoes, maize, beans, cassava and soy beans.
“My yields have now increased because of the organic fertilizers I do apply in the gardens. But because my gardens are seated on a small piece of land, I sell off some fertilizers. During holidays, the children get involved in the sale of the manure from which we get Rwf15,000 a month and Rwf20,000 from the sale of milk,” says Mukamuhoza.
Mukamuhoza gets more than money from the Friesian cow that she got two years ago as she delightedly explains; “Another thing, my husband now respects me. I do buy the household items, so we no longer lack. My children go to school and I clothe them as decently as I can. He cannot touch any of those cows and sell them.
He knows they are a government property. And when he sees you coming from Kigali every now and then, in those big cars, he just knows that even selling household items bought with income from the project can spell him trouble.” She concludes; “Muri Make, (Kinyarwanda speak for ‘in a few words’) from the cow donated to me by Action Aid Rwanda, I do not only earn an income, but respect from my husband and dignity from the community as well.”
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