IN THE FIELD: Bury the Past group begins production

Thursday 1st April 2010, we went to Kigali to film a Bpeace members meeting. BPeace is an organization which supports women entrepreneurs in Rwanda. The meeting was supposed to take place at 3pm, but it was raining so much in Kigali, that it was cancelled. We spent the night in Kigali after arranging to meet the following day with Languida, the BPeace member who owns a funeral home.

Friday at around 7 am, we went at Languida’s home. Languida is a business woman who founded and runs a funeral business in Kigali. She lives in a neighborhood called Gikondo in front of Mironko Plastic industry. She welcomed us in and prepare some tea for us and we began to talk about her funeral business.

She is a 1994 genocide survivor and lost her husband during the genocide. Before the genocide she used to sew and she began stitching coffin decorations to earn a living after her husband died. She got the idea when a friend of hers asked her to sew coffin decoration for her relatives funeral. Later as her business grew, she participated in a workshop that gathered together women in business to designed lasting business projects to be financed. This led to her growing her business.

Today she lives with her three children and is doing well. Even if Languida is a widow she has every thing that she needs and more: a wide TV screen, refrigerator, good kitchen, bathroom, all because of her business.

With our camera, we went with Languida to her work place around 11:00 am. It was raining cats and dogs we were obliged to take an expensive taxi so that we wouldn’t disturb her schedule of the day. Once there, she showed us all of things she does. She began filming the hearses she owns – four luxurious car two of them are marked with the Mercedes Benz logo. She has all those things one will need in funeral ceremony. She even owns digital camera, digital video camera for one who will want to record the ceremony, and the photo album. One of interesting things is that Languida is full of generosity. One can come without money and receive all service she/he need and pay after finding money.

Langwida didn’t take business or management classes and she feels like that her deficit. But given the success of her business, you would never know.

We finished around 12:30 pm and return to Butare on the 1 pm Volcano bus.

We will return to video tape interviews with Languida and her fellow group members, and to film the production at the coffin factory.

THE PITCH: Burying the Past – A widow achieves financial independence through her funeral business

After losing her husband and home during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Languida was living a life of poverty.  She had been dependent on her husband’s income and her only marketable  skill was sewing. She began stitching draping cloths for funeral homes to earn a moderate income. Over time, she managed to save her money and began to invest in and grow a funeral business. Sixteen years later her business is thriving. She owns a workshop where coffins are built and has four funeral cars that are well known in Kigali. She makes enough money to pay her child’s school fees, and feed and support them.  But despite her financial independence, she must confront death on a daily basis.  This story will explore the successes and struggles of a woman working in the funeral industry.

The Team:

Moise TUYISHIMIRE

Laetitia UMULISA

Pamela MUDAKIKWA

The Budget: 48560 Rwandan Francs =  $85