Rwanda Group

Contact Information

Contact with Rwanda Group

Paij Wadley-Bailey
155 Main Street, #209
Montpelier, VT 05602
USA
Tel: +1 802 229 9910
E-mail: pwadleybailey(at)aol.com

President

Monique Rodocogora
c/o Rodocoroga Augustin
P.O. Box 250
Giseny
E-mail: momosrud(at)yahoo.fr

Vice President

Monique Umubyeyi
(see contact WILPF Rwanda Group)

Treasurer

Alice Kayirangwa
(see contact WILPF Rwanda Group)

Secretary

Callixta Rwigamba
(see contact WILPF Rwanda Group)

 WILPF Rwanda - not yet a section, but a group!

(Last updated: 26 March 2010)

RWANDA/WILPF PARTNERSHIPS
Sponsored by Vermont Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF),
Ward Brook Center, Montpelier Vermont and Remera, Rwanda, and
Vermont Anti-Racism Action Team (VARAT)
Info: Paij Wadley-Bailey (U.S.)  (pwadleybaikley@aol.com)
Ingebere Erika (Rwanda) – ( ricasilia@yahoo.com)

Rwanda/WILPFgroup was founded in January of 1994.  In addition to WILPF’s Campaigns and Issues, the group decided on 5 additional issues they felt the need to address:  poverty, gender relations, health/prevention, education, and environment/ecology.

Initiatives that have already begun:

SIMPLE WATER FILTER.  Water is a critical issue in Rwanda.  Much of the water available is polluted in many forms.  Rwanda/WILPF group is researching the production of a simple water filter, using the red Rwandan clay.  Working with the indigenous (Twa) peoples of Rwanda, who for centuries are known for their pottery, is the plan, in 2009. 
There are several sample water filters from around the world; however, Rwanda/WILPF prefers that the filter be produced without the use of plastic.

HEALTH.  “Our Bodies Ourselves”, a well-known world-published health book for women and youth, will be translated into Kinyarwanda.  At present, the authors (The Boston Health Collective) is in negotiations with a small collective of Rwanda/WILPF women in Giseny, to translate relevant parts of the health book into Kinyarwanda.

EDUCATION. Very recently, Rwanda officially became an Anglophone country. Thus, there is a big thrust for the teaching/speaking of English. If successful in fundraising, Rwanda/WILPF will be involved in the teaching of English (April 2009).  And, in collaboration with the Ward Brook Center – a Vermont-based AND Rwanda-based non-profit which promotes education and action for the spiritual and material reconciliation of African and European peoples – Vermont/WILPF will be providing English As A Foreign Language (EFL) instruction to women who can then teach EFL to other women
in some of the villages.

MICRO-BUSINESS.  Rwanda/WILPF group members in the southern province of Kibuye, have begun to produce laundry soup for marketing, as well as tye-dying of textiles.  Vermont/WILPF provided the start-up funds; the plan now is for this branch
in Kibuye to become self-sustaining and economically independent, hopefully in the near future.  In the province of  Kibongo, women have organized a contingency plan whereby the village put their little bit of francs together, then  purchase goats, chickens, etc., offer them to families, who then pay back the contingency plan when they are able; and thus other families have an opportunity to begin a farm.

For further information, please contact Paij or Erika whose emails are listed above.

(Updated 1 October 2008)