In Kigali’s oldest neighborhood, author Shiva Nath meets a group of streetwise Rwandan women. From teaching travelers how to make a traditional Isombe stew, to leading motorbike tours, we chat with these women about the power of community-led tourism.
On a balmy spring morning in Kigali, I welcome an electric motorbike. Seated behind the male driver, we navigate leafy streets lined with avocado and mango trees and battle bustling rush-hour traffic before climbing the winding roads that lead to Nyamirambo, the Rwandan capital’s oldest neighborhood.
My destination looked like an average storefront – through the wide open entrance, I could see entire shelves piled with handmade clothes and accessories, from gitambaros (traditional head wraps) and baskets to children’s wear and long dresses, all in vibrant colors. But what I’m about to learn is that it’s at the forefront of a women-powered revolution that’s quietly brewing here in Rwanda: the Nymirambo Women’s Center (NWC).
A young woman with braided hair introduces herself as Alain Tuishime, my guide for the day’s cultural tour of Nyamirambo. As we wait for the rest of our group to arrive, I watch as other female guides lead small groups of travelers away from the center, some to climb Mount Kigali, others to a Rwandan cooking class at a local home. A few are even taking city tours in moto taxis with women guides in the driving seat. In a country where motorbike taxis are ubiquitous—and always driven by men—Alain proudly tells me that women are finally claiming their place in the city.
We follow Alain through streets lined with colorful street art and graffiti. A wall, displaying the word ‘Ubumontu’ caught my eye, and Alain explained that it was a Kinyarwanda (the national language of Rwanda) word that referred to the idea of being human despite our differences. In a country like Rwanda, which witnessed a devastating genocide just 30 years ago, the word carries the weight of remembrance.
Kinatrap music, a heady mix of Kinyarwanda lyrics and hip-hop beats, emanates from a colorful room. We stop at a crowded community shop to see native cassava leaves being ground into a paste used to make isombe, a popular plant-based Rwandan stew. We visit the ‘Milky Bar’ – a literal milk bar where cows’ milk is delivered from the countryside every morning and locals come for a glass of milk or a pot of yogurt.
Further along, we trade the sound of motorized traffic for the hum of people. In the buzzing pedestrian-only area, the smell of freshly rolled flaky chapati (different from its Indian counterpart in that it’s made from refined flour and coated with oil) fills the air.
A few days later, I met Mary Nyangoma, one of the original founders of NWC. Mary tells me that women from all over Rwanda travel to Kigali in search of income. These women often find work as housekeepers and usually live in Nyamirambo as it is one of the most affordable neighborhoods in the city.
With no formal work contract, and reluctance to return to their villages, women who find themselves unemployed may turn to sex work and become pregnant. Despite reporting significant progress in women’s empowerment over the past three decades, Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20 Note that 46 percent of Rwandan women who have ever been married have experienced gender-based violence, while 37 percent of all women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence. According to the country, Rwandan women also have high unemployment rates, with about 15 percent lower labor force participation than men. Labor Force Survey.
That’s how 18 women – mostly single mothers, whose education varied from no formal school to secondary school – came together 15 years ago with the idea of creating a women’s center. They had already met at each other’s homes, offering support and solidarity. Why not formalize this hub and offer it to other women in need?
As fate would have it, they were crossed by two Slovenian researchers, Dr. Vlasta Jalusic and Dr. Maja Ladic, both from the Peace Institute in Ljubljana. They traveled to Rwanda, among other African countries, to study socio-economic issues facing local women. After hearing how Nymirambo women were supporting each other, the researchers helped the local women secure a grant from the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set up a formal meeting place. NWC women, ready to take the reins and eager to turn the fund into a consistent source of income, conceived of a community tourism model – training marginalized women as tour guides.
Part of the tourism revenue was used to help women learn vocational skills such as how to read and write, sew and braid hair, and start their own small businesses, from running hair salons to selling handmade goods. Part of the rental property was converted into a shop selling handicrafts made by the women at the center (under the brand name Umutima, meaning ‘heart’ in Kinyarwanda), and a small space was reserved as a library for young children to have a safe, supervised place to leave them while their mothers worked. This all became NWC: part-storefront, part-workshop, part-children’s library, and part-meeting point for their tours.
Over the course of a month, I slowly explored more of Kigali. I quickly adjust to its rhythm, checking out local music gigs and art exhibitions, working from airy rooftop cafes, doing yoga led by Rwandan instructors, shopping at zero-waste and social-impact stores, and walking downtown in urban forests and wetlands. On car-free Sundays, I join thousands of locals walking, jogging, or biking the streets, convinced that this is one of the best cities I’ve ever visited—not just in Africa, but in the world.
I find myself back in NWC on another windy morning, this time picking up fresh-grown greens and vegetables from a shop in Nyamirambo on my way to a cooking class at Aminatha Mutekatet’s house. I learned that Aminatha is not only a founding member of NWC, but also known as Nymirambo’s best chef—I’m excited to help prepare and share food with her.
In a spacious courtyard with exposed brick walls, we gather around a long table to wash, peel and chop. The earthy smell of cassava leaves, mixed with the pungent aroma of onion and garlic, makes my stomach rumble as I watch our isombe – a traditional cassava leaf stew – come together. Back in the day, Rwandan food was made with handground spices and herbs, including cardamom, cloves and turmeric, but I was surprised to learn that the ubiquitous Maggi seasoning cubes have replaced them not only in restaurants across the country, but also in home kitchens.
By midday, our hearty and naturally vegetarian Rwandan feast is ready, consisting of isombe, ibishiambo (kidney bean stew), dodo (amaranth leaves) and matuke (green plantain), sweet potatoes and cassava. Aminatha’s cooking turned out to be the best I’ve had while in Rwanda. When I compliment her, she tells me she makes beautiful aloo paranthas (spicy potato-filled flatbreads)—a staple in my country, India. It appears that before helping to establish the NWC, Aminatha worked as a cook in the home of an Indian family settled in Kigali. Now she can share her love of cooking, and the recipes passed down from her mother and grandmother, with people around the world, while supporting women in her community.
When I ask Mary how this journey with NWC has affected her own life, she pauses. “When you look at my picture there,” he says, pointing to a sepia-toned photo from the collective’s early days, “you don’t see ‘me'”.
Mary was once a single mother in the capital, doing her best to support her two daughters. Now she is one of the leaders of a women’s cooperative and both her daughters have started university. “If it wasn’t for the women’s center, I don’t know where I would be right now, or where my children would be.”
NWC’s work reflects strength Conscious, community-led travel. A walking tour with Alain or a cooking class with Aminatha, is not only immersive and rewarding for the traveler but has a real, positive impact on the local community. And it always seems like that should be the goal of travel; A journey that allows us to reflect on our interconnectedness with the world and find our place and purpose within it. Or as they say in Kinyarwanda: Ubumuntu.