This blog post features an inspiring story of positive change and how communities can come together over coffee.

Coffee has been an essential crop in Rwanda for centuries, but men predominantly governed this business. Traditionally, women managed the household and took care of the children while the men worked the coffee farms and handled business affairs. After the genocide in 1994, one of the darkest periods in their history, Rwanda is rebuilding its economy and its civil society by fostering community through Co-Ops of Women in the coffee industry.

After the genocide, women across the country found themselves in similar positions. Many of the country's men had been killed or imprisoned or had fled, leaving the fields untended, and coffee farms languished. The women left behind took on new duties and responsibilities, learning to grow and sell coffee to support their families.

When the women came together, they realized they could sell their coffee at higher rates collectively rather than individually. The women involved in these co-ops increase their earnings four-fold, and some have set up emergency funds accessible to co-op members in need.

These Co-Ops have helped empower women to take up a new place in society. These newly minted businesswomen are coming together, healing, and finding support after facing so much loss. One co-op named Hingakawa, which translates to "Let's Grow Coffee," consists of both Hutu and Tutsi, who have made "poverty their mutual enemy rather than each other" and aim to heal through leadership.

Chances are that if you've had a cup of coffee today, no matter where in the world it comes from, it was planted, picked, delivered, and/or harvested by a woman. Rwanda’s new women coffee farmers and business people have embraced equality and community in a time of need to rebuild their society and unite them when they needed it most. May they be an inspiration to all of us!