The Rwanda Basket Company is a program of Rwanda Partners that is working to change the lives of impoverished weavers in Rwanda. Rwanda Partners is a nonprofit organization that is working to restore and heal the people of Rwanda through reconciliation and poverty reduction programs.
The vision for The Rwanda Basket Company was formed in 2004 when Greg and Tracy Stone (co-founders of the Rwanda Basket Company and Rwanda Partners) led a mission trip to this impoverished East African nation and encountered a poverty such as they had never seen before. As a result, the Stones committed to serving the people of Rwanda – forming a nonprofit organization called Rwanda Partners that works alongside the Rwandan people in the areas of poverty reduction and reconciliation.
A New Vision is Born
During one of their first trips to Rwanda, the Stones were introduced to the beautiful handmade baskets that play an integral role in everyday life in Rwanda. These exquisite works of art quickly made an impact on not only the Stones but on everyone who saw them back in the States.
Changing Lives One Basket at a Time
The vision of the Rwanda Basket Company is to empower the impoverished women of Rwanda to rise above their subsistence level existence by providing them with the training, tools and support needed to sell their baskets in the west. The Rwanda Basket Company accomplishes this in several ways:
Providing “Master Weavers” to work with these impoverished women to help them improve and expand their weaving skills
Paying the weavers directly a premium wage for each of their baskets
Supplying high quality sisal, dye and other materials needed to ensure a quality product
Making available to the weavers (many of them genocide widows or wives of imprisoned perpetrators) such life skills training as healing and reconciliation workshops, trauma counseling, and basic medical assistance
Opening up multiple markets in the west for the weavers’ baskets, thereby ensuring them a much better wage for their products than they could ever hope to receive in Rwanda
