GORETH
In the Center’s chattering white-walled production studio or in her muted green-walled room in a compound down the street, Goreth sews. Her rhythm is defined by this work.
Her years of work began where she grew up, in the Kamunye District, Southern Province.
Her years of work began where she grew up, in the Kamunye District, Southern Province.
“In ’94, when we were running, my father went one way and my mother and my siblings and I went another. We never saw him again. I didn’t go back to school after that—I was in primary 5 at that time—because I was helping my mom take care of my siblings. I stayed with my mom for a long time. She would send me to the big markets to buy produce so that we could sell it for money. Or we would sell the food we farmed.” When a friend who was employed as a housemaid in Kigali came to visit her at her mother’s house, she told Goreth that she could find a job for her in the city. Goreth went with her, and for years she worked as a housemaid in Biryogo near the Center, occasionally going back South to help her mom. |
“Then I saw the Center’s advertisements for a sewing course in 2014 and I enrolled. After the course I had some small [amount] of money. I went home and opened a restaurant. But the business was not good.” As her restaurant business was failing, a member of the Women’s Center called her, seeking former sewing students to join Umutima Cooperative. Once again, Goreth came back to the city to work. And that’s where she sits today. “Life was difficult at home [in Kamunye]...Here, I am working and I am in town. If I want something, I can get it.” She returns home occasionally now to visit her mother and her 7-year-old son, who her mother is raising. One day soon, she says, she hopes to get married. |
Written and photographed by Meade Inglis.
Interviews translated from Kinyarwanda to English by Mary Nyangoma.
Written and photographed by Meade Inglis.
Interviews translated from Kinyarwanda to English by Mary Nyangoma.