Ernestine Kankindi Natete, a resident of Isangano village, Mu Gatare cell, Mugesera Sector, Ngoma District in the Eastern part of Rwanda, lost her vision when she was a 4 year-old girl.
When you talk to her, she tells you that she used to be a wanderer as she didn’t have any skill, since she lost both parents at a young age in 1994, having no one to take care of her.
She believes her refractive errors could have been corrected should she have been taken to the hospital, but no one was around to save her.
Last year she had a chance to be part of a technical training on weaving clothes organized by Rwanda Union of the Blind (RUB), that was held in Nyanza District.
After getting the hands-on-skills, she sought a machine to start her journey out of poverty.
After completing the aforementioned RUB training, she started renting a weaving machine but later managed to buy her own.
In March 2019, she learned that Business Development Fund (BDF) could help her secure a loan at Umurenge Sacco Cooperative.
She grabbed the opportunity and started the loan application process through BDF, an institution that is charged with helping women and young people raise capital for bankable projects.
BDF didn’t disappoint.
She was blessed with a loan worth Frw5000 in May 2020. She bought a Rwf300 thousand shutterless machine and other necessary weaving equipment.
The 30-year-old mother says she is now able to make 2 coats that are in most cases bought by pupils who need uniforms, and adult women, the minimum price for one unit being Rwf4,000.
Having no husband, Kankindi is a mother. She says that she decided to get a baby without having to wait for marriage as a blind person who needs a guide to walk with.
She is now an outstanding example of a visually impaired person who is making good money from weaving, a profession that is known to be for people who have no vision problems.
She says that even her, before learning to weave she did not know that a blind person could weave, adding that she is now happy with the financial development it has made her achieve.
Kankindi encourages others with disabilities most of whom are yet to graduate from poverty, to stop begging and look for something to improve their lives, since “disability is not inability.”
Click here to watch the video about Kankindi’s story (It’s in Kinyarwanda)
Author: Janvier Popote
