Changing the world one random act of kindness at a time.

Random Acts

Changing the world one random act of kindness at a time!

Kindness for Women in Rwanda: Icyizere Cooperative
For Gish's Change a Life Item in 2018, Giles Duley told the story of Olive and of her, and the other surviving women’s, dream: creating a cooperative farm and market. That dream became reality when Gishers combined their forces and raised more than $266,000. The raised funds enabled Random Acts and the Legacy of War Foundation to provide farmland and the resources to establish a cooperative farm and market.

Icyizere Cooperative: How It Started

In 1994, conflict between two warring parties escalated into the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandans, devastating thousands of families. During this crisis, Olive was in the hospital giving birth to her child. She returned home to the unthinkable — her entire family had been killed in the conflict.

In the years after, she adopted six orphans from the genocide and began the painstaking task of rebuilding her life and community. But due to the nature of the conflict, many of the men that were responsible for the murder of her family still lived in her village. She came to the realization that in order to live, she would have to begin to forgive. As the olive branch of forgiveness was extended, these men began to help put the community back together as well, bit by bit.

Olive and the other surviving women in her village started farming potatoes as a way to support their families, but this backbreaking work yielded little profit. They dreamed of owning their own plot of land and forming a cooperative. In 2018, GISHers and Random Acts supporters from around the world raised more than $266,000, which made Olive’s dream a reality.  Now she and her community can continue to thrive for years and generations to come. 

Giles Duley on the Land For Women Cooperative

How It’s Going:

  • In June 2019, the Legacy of War Foundation helped establish the Icyizere Ruhanga Cooperative. It was the first Land For Women cooperative farm. Many of the women have taken on leadership positions, and some are now training members of the second cooperative, Imboni Gikomero. Through Land for Women, many women could start a business and take control of their own livelihoods. 
  • In August 2021, Land for Women held a ten-day introduction with the current women’s cooperatives in Rwanda. The goal was to provide the women with an overview of agricultural concepts and techniques before the start of the agricultural cycle. The entire training curriculum is a three-year program with practical and theoretical components. It includes 15 modules and combines themes like sustainability and climate-smart farming with business, leadership, nutrition, women’s rights, and literacy.
  • The plan is to launch two new Land for Women cooperatives around Rwanda, lifting up to 200 families out of poverty.

“Through forgiveness, we found peace.”

Olive

Photos on this page provided courtesy of Giles Duley and Legacy of War