By Beth Larsen | Project Leader
Meet Dr. Karl Weyrauch, one of Health Development Initiative's (HDI) oldest and dearest friends. Karl has been supporting HDI since 2007 to provide aid to the community of potters, a historically marginalized population that faces poverty and severe food shortages in Rwanda. Karl founded a coffee selling business called Coffee Rwanda (www.coffeerwanda.com) that fundraises to support the community of potters in Cyaruzinge village, where HDI plans to build a workshop for a women's basket-weaving cooperative--the project to which you so generously contributed.
Karl’s work is an inspiration to us all, so we asked him some questions so we could share his story with you.
How did you first get involved with HDI?
In about 2005 my daughter came to Rwanda to study reconciliation. She stayed with the founders of HDI, who were still medical students at that time. My wife and I came to visit our daughter and became supporters of the doctors’ work with HDI. In 2007, we returned to the country to evaluate how we could be engaged in helping with the county's recovery process. During a meeting with one of the leaders of COPORWA, an organization representing the community of potters, HDI learned that the community of potters were quickly dying out and asked us if we could help. We conducted a series of site visits to assess the situation and found the people of the community of potters to be living in absolute poverty without food, water, shelter, or clothing. When we got to the village, one of the women touched my elbow and pointed to her feet. It appeared that she was saying that the community needed shoes. Later we learned that without shoes the people could not go to the market and the children could not go to school. Also, the community was discriminated against because of cultural and historical precedent.
What inspired you to work with this community?
The village was close enough to Kigali that we could get there easily and the people in the village were incredible. They told us that they had three resources that they could bring to help solve the problems they faced: life, health, and happiness. We decided that these were people we could work with and so we began the community of potters health and development (COPHAD) project. At that point, we decided the first intervention should be to bring shoes to the community and develop a relationship with them.
What do you find most challenging in working with the community of potters in Rwanda?
The community of potters is a historically marginalized population. By tradition they hunted and gathered in the forests. The government relocated them from the forests for preservation purposes, but they were not prepared to live in the broader society. For example, they had no shoes, they could not read, and they had no land. Others perceived them as being dirty and uneducated. Overcoming this history of marginalization continues to be the biggest challenge faced by the community.
What is the biggest accomplishment you have seen HDI achieve through your partnership?
HDI has grown to be a vigorous contributor to the NGO community and greater civil society of Rwanda. Doctors Kagaba and Nkurunziza have built the organization to the successful level at which it operates today. This is a direct testament to their courage, perseverance, and hard work. We are happy to have played a small part in helping them achieve this great success. Perhaps one of their biggest accomplishments has been to focus the resources of many contributors from around the world to help push for a healthier society in Rwanda. The collaboration of many people and organizations has led to success far beyond what could have originally been imagined and opened the door to a host of future opportunities to help bring about a healthier society for all.
What do you wish other people knew about the community of potters?
The members of the community of potters are human beings and children of God just like you and me. They are born with the same capacity for growth development and the ability to contribute to the world as all people are. Given the basic necessities of life--including food, water, shelter, clothing, and education--they can bring previously untapped resources, creativity, and joy to the larger society and thus help improve conditions for all of us.
We would not be where we are today without the help of our amazing donors, and we would love to learn more about you! Why do YOU support the community of potters in Rwanda?
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