Rwanda is economically in a much better state, especially according to statistics, than many other African countries and women enjoy a good situation, much better than in many other African or developing countries, from general freedom to representation in parliament, with one of the highest rates in the continent.
Yet, just as at ground level poverty is still a big issue for millions (more on this some other time), women are not completely out of danger as they should, so starting on this special day we want to dedicate a few posts to all those who are still suffering because of the other gender, at times incredibly selfish and inhuman, and we'll do that by sharing some sad or tragic stories of women Mattia's met during his work with street children.
One of his first descent from tragedies in literature or in written accounts to real-life, "live" tragedies, occurred on the very first family visit (not a bad start!), when together with Eraste he walked minutes and minutes away from the tarmac road, from dirt road to dirt road, deep into that other world that can be easily forgotten not only by living or spending time in "town" but also simply keeping to the main streets. They visited Mugisha's home and met his mum, who welcomed them into their house: a small dark room with a bed screened by a curtain falling to pieces, a table with a few chairs and a rough cut opening on the wall allowing access to the second room, which serves as a kitchen... all rented for the equivalent of 10GBP, which is an astronomical amount for the earning opportunities of that lady. For the benefits of the two visitors, who were bringing the good news that her son's school fees were going to be paid the next Monday, she told her story: her husband died in an accident when she was 4 months pregnant, sometimes she finds some work at a coffee factory, at 80p per day, but like workers in Europe's old past they just get chosen from a large number of people in the morning, so she gets it only quite occasionally. She is also into crafts, creating plant-fibre baskets and plates (the typical Rwanda artisan products), necklaces, bracelets and other low cost jewellery, but it's not easy to find a market for these things, as they're quite common, the poor area where they live is definitely not full of craft buyers and going to town, where rich locals and western people live, is risky for street-vendor, as they're illegal and could be threatened, chased or even beaten up and/or jailed by the police (it's not just a legend, we've actually seen young uniformed guys enjoying a jump from the back of their police pick-up to chase a basket-headed woman with their baton and a disgusting smile on their face). Question? How can she pay that rent? First of all, she's not doing it regularly, so it's not a secure position they're in, and when she does, the money comes from selling the only other commodity she's got: herself! Though ashamed of it, she didn't shy away from telling it and when Eraste translated it, Mattia understood with shock why Deo, the street-child at his side, a friend of her son sitting there with us, laughed while she told the last bit: different culture, they're just kids...? Mattia didn't care and Deo got his rebuking anyway.
Sad enough? No, because prostitution comes not only with guilt and shame, but with AIDS, too. Luckily, in Rwanda ARVs are free, so she's OK... or not, because she's been diagnosed only recently and she hasn't managed to overcome the shame effect yet, so she hasn't started treatment, which we tried to discuss with her, encouraging her quite strongly. She then thanked us heartily and walked us away, as the custom goes in Rwanda, where people always come along with you for a little.
At the moment we're only supporting her son in school, but we hope to be able to find some ways of helping her to sustain herself and Mugisha, possibly finding a cleaning job (as if there weren't other women trying to get one...) or a way of marketing her crafts, maybe outside the church on Sunday mornings (as if the community were eagerly waiting to have something like that...).
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