Thank You for Supporting Strong Women!
Published 16 Jul 2024
Last month, our team travelled to Rwanda for our annual sourcing trip, when we cup and select our upcoming offerings. During our time on the ground, we were delighted to travel north to meet with the Rambagirakawa women’s alliance — to share the outcome of the Supporting Strong Women campaign and tour the site of the proposed childcare centre.
challenges of caretaking for small children while also managing their business endeavours, Melbourne Coffee Merchants pledged to raise $15,000 AUD to go towards the construction of a childcare centre at Ruli Coffee Washing Station, hoping that this facility would support the women in their future prosperity. To achieve this ambitious goal, we knew we’d need to turn to our coffee community to raise the funds collectively — and so, Supporting Strong Women was born.
The goal of the campaign was not just raising money, we also wanted to create a platform to share the women’s stories and inspire our customers and peers with the strength, resilience, enterprising attitude and future-focused approach of Rambagirakawa. Over the many years that MCM has visited Rwanda, it has been a privilege to spend time with these incredible individuals and gain wisdom and insight from the women, and we wanted to share this experience with our wider coffee family. Supporting Strong Women allowed us to celebrate the alliance’s members and their many initiatives and achievements… and, of course, their delicious coffees too!
We launched the campaign in early 2024, and from the very beginning we were blown away by the passionate response to this cause. So many people joined hands to donate not only money, but also their time, their hard work and resources to various fundraising efforts. Many of our roasting partners promoted Supporting Strong Women to their own customers, spreading the story of female Rwandan coffee producers far and wide. With this collective and coordinated approach, we managed to raise more than double our initial goal, with an astonishing $34,000 AUD being donated to cover over 85% of the cost of constructing of the childcare centre.
It was such a joy to share this happy news with the women of Rambagirakawa in person! On the day, team MCM proudly represented the Australian and Thai coffee communities, emphasising the collective efforts in reaching and exceeding our fundraising goal and highlighting the dedication of the campaign’s many contributors. We carried with us a print of the original artwork that inspired the campaign’s messaging, along with a certificate naming every participating roaster — both of which will hang on the wall of the childcare centre once it is completed.
It was an emotional day for everyone involved! After being greeted by song and dance, Rambagirakawa’s president and founder, Odette Murakatete, gave us a brief welcome speech. In it, she stated: “There are no words that can describe the way we feel for you… you have been with us, you have responded to the burden we are carrying and relieved it.” In response, we shared our deep gratitude to the women for providing MCM and our friends and customers with such a rewarding opportunity to contribute to something meaningful and long-lasting for the producing community. With lots of dancing, many hugs and a few tears shed, together we celebrated the conclusion of the campaign and the beginning of a new chapter for the women of Rambagirakawa and their families.
Raising funds is just one part of the picture — it is only with the partnership of our long-time suppliers, Dukunde Kawa, that we can make this dream a reality. We feel so lucky to work with this ambitious and innovative cooperative, who continually resource and equip their farmer members (including Rambagirakawa) for success. In the hands of Dukunde Kawa’s Managing Director, Ernest Nshimyimana, the plans for the childcare centre have evolved into a fully conceived Early Childhood Development Centre, complete with a schoolroom that will house 50-60 students, an outdoor playground, a kitchen and canteen where the kids will receive a daily meal, washrooms, an infirmary and offices for teachers and administrators — making it a one-of-a-kind institution in Rwanda’s Northern Province and contributing to the improved social livelihood of the entire region.
Since we sent the first round of donations in April the project has gathered momentum and during our visit we toured an active building site, with construction expected to wrap up around August and the centre in operation in September. We were extremely honoured (and a little emotional) to lay the foundation stone alongside Odette and Dukunde Kawa’s President Celestin Mubera. We can’t wait to see the completed centre and will share further updates and stories as the project develops.
In the meantime, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to you – the contributors – who made this possible! Your support has made, and will continue to make, an enormous difference to the women and children of Rambagirakawa and the wider Dukunde Kawa community.
Murakoze cyane!
Team MCM x
