Kigali: Proving It's Not What You Wear, It's How You Wear It

The RAs have recently begun to work with a group of women who, mostly through the awesome power of micro-finance, have become fairly successful - even extremely successful by Rwandan standards. Yesterday we went to see Alice, who along with two other women owns a very nice restaurant. They were selling second-hand clothes, but decided to open their own business when they got a loan. They paid the first loan back in 6 months and are considering a second one so they can expand. Alice took us back to see the kitchen, which made RA2 a little nervous that they would never be able to bring themselves to eat in a restaurant again, but not only was it very clean, it was very cool. There were big open pits with pots and meat cooking over them and the biggest pile of meat and onions we have ever seen. Alice and the other women rent their restaurant space, and share the building with two other, complementary businesses: a bar ("We cannot sell beer because we are Christians") and a game room in the back. They're going to be taking English lessons with us once a week, and Alice was very excited to hear we would help her write out her menu in translation. "People come in and they are asking me for chips, and I think, oh God, what is this chips?!"

Today we met Jackie, an utterly fabulous woman who owns a small store that sells clothing and eggs. These may sound like incongruous business practices, and it was definitely funny to see all these sharp clothes behind the counter and piles and piles of eggs on the floor in front, but it was actually a great business strategy. Jackie gets both her clothes and eggs from Uganda, where they can be bought for much cheaper, even after paying for a taxi to transport them. She and the woman who runs the shop with her have a few big contracts with hotels, including our favorite chain, the Serena, here in Kigali. She also sells them and the clothes out of the shop. She has a loyal customer base because she only charges enough to make a very small profit, and people know her prices are always fair. She also has a great deal with the farms who supply her eggs; someone picks up the eggs for her, and she pays the farmers after she sells them.

This leads us to two points we've picked up about women and business here: women always pay their debts, and women in business bring their neighborhoods up with them. Even though they don't get paid upfront, the farmers always get their money from Jackie, and Alice and her friends paid back their loan in 6 short months. Jackie sells her eggs cheaper than anywhere else, allowing locals who normally couldn't afford them to better feed their children. Jackie, Alice and all the women they work with also employ local women who wouldn't otherwise have work, and Jackie sends two of her children to boarding school in Uganda, where they are getting much better grades than they were and learning English. We're so excited to have them meet the women we've been working with. They're an incredible inspiration, and they demonstrate how far women in the country can move up, and how quickly, with just the smallest amount of help.

The thing that is most striking about these woman is how different than they look from the women we work with. They look relaxed. Meeting them was a complete breath of fresh air; it really makes a difference when you don't have to wonder how you're going to feed your kids the next day. Women here literally wear their success. Everyone here takes care of themselves and their children, and try to keep their one or two shirts as clean as possible. The people we know who don't have much money usually own just a shirt or two and some cloths that they fold to make skirts and carry babies, and even the people we know here with a reasonable income only own a few outfits. But the successful women we know here make sure their few outfits are fabulous, and they wear them with great pride and confidence. Men wear suits to work, and I think the attitude with which they wear them could be described as "casual". There's more of a sense from men that their success is inevitable. But successful women wear it like they earned it, and it's very cool to see. Jackie was wearing a brown satin shirt with gem buttons, a brown and maroon patterned skirt with gold trim, and zebra print shoes with a cute pink manicure. It has made me re-think my approach to clothes, and consider what it means to wear the success you earned with pride.