Life had been unfair to Epiphanie Niyongira. Having lost her family during the Genocide, she was forced to move in with relatives. It didn’t last for long, since her foster family soon started mistreating her.

“I started wondering why I had been born, I was tortured,” Epiphanie remembers. “So I left that family, and began wandering and looking for a place to stay.”

Nwiza Theresa Kayijuka shows off some of the widows’ products. (photo Timothy Kisambira)

Mukabaranga took her to Centre César in Kimironko, where the orphan learned to make beaded jewelry. “I am happy because I like this work, and the little money I earn helps me get on with life, and pay my school fees,” explains Epiphanie, who is now in senior six.

There are more such happy stories to be heard at Center César, which has changed the lives of many widows and orphans, mostly from the genocide. It trains them in using beads to make jewelry and decorate handicrafts.

“My entire family was killed in the Genocide and this drove me to start this center to give widows not only something that earns them living, but also hope,” says Nwiza Theresa Kayijuka, one of the founder members and marketer of the center.

More than 200 widows and orphans are today being taught skills and making jewelry, handicrafts, bags as well as nightgowns, which are sold locally as well as abroad.

Although the business is catching on, one of the big challenges remains the payment of the widows.

“We are paying the women according to the sales, so when business is brisk they earn more, but when things go slow we can’t give them much,” explains Kayijuka, adding that the goal is to make them self-reliant.

“I dream of the day when these widows will no longer need us and be able to support themselves,” she says. Yet she anticipates that when that happens, their places will be filled in quickly since the center plans to expand its programs to the whole country.

Laughing a lot

Centre César does more than just pay the widows, though. They also pay school fees and there is a food bank which provides beans, baking flour, rice and sugar, among others. On top of that, they have day care service for young kids who go to school, and to look after the children of the women who are at work at the center.

Leone Kalisa is one of the widows whose life has been turned around at the center. As a mother of four, she barely managed to eke out a living selling second-hand clothes. “It was a hard life. The clothing business is seasonal, so there were periods when you had to be very patient; but even during the high season, I would not earn enough money,” Kalisa explains.

“It became hard to take care of my kids, and I felt like God had forgotten me. Then, when I was at my lowest, I came across the coordinator of Centre César, Nicole, who told me about the center and what it had to offer to widows. At that moment, I knew I was saved,” Kalisa says.

Today, her family’s life has completely changed. “Now, I am sure that at least I can take care of my kids; I am very happy to be here, life is moving on well,” Leone Kalisa smiles. “They teach us new skills to make jewelry every time that they need new products. But what makes my day is that when we are working, we discuss many things concerning our future, and we laugh a lot. It helps you forget the past.”