Joséphine Ugirumurera

Joséphine Ugirumurera, 68, is a member of the Kopakama coffee cooperative in Rwanda. She testifies to the positive impact that belonging to the cooperative has had on her life: “I used to process my coffee at home. Sometimes my crop was stolen, but that can’t happen any more, because now it goes quickly to the Kopakama washing station”.she explains. Thanks to the cooperative, she benefits from better processing of her coffee, which is now high quality and exported, generating an annual profit of 300,000 francs. This has very positive practical repercussions: “Before I lived in a wooden house, now my house is cemented. I can also pay school fees, my 3 younger children have been able to complete secondary school. Whereas my husband and I and our other children only went to primary school.” Joséphine also benefited from a loan of 20,000 francs from the cooperative’s women’s group savings bank, which she repaid in six months. She now plans to buy a cow to produce milk and organic fertilizer for her coffee trees. Joséphine is proud of the quality of her coffee, her financial independence and her ability to provide for her family.