An Inspiration

The founders of Indego take inspiration from a very special woman whose story I would like to share with you. As a child she lived in a rural area and her family did not have electricity or running water or an indoor toilet. One of her jobs was to carry water to the house for her family’s needs. She learned to sew on a manual foot-powered sewing machine. Her father worked long hours and tried to add to their meager income by farming late at night a rocky hilly little plot of land. She attended a rudimentary one-room grammar school with children of all ages in one small classroom with only one overworked teacher. Despite being smart at math and language and skipping a grade, her family could not afford for her to attend secondary school so she was forced to drop out at 14 and move to the city to clean and cook for others and tend their children. She worked hard, and eventually found a way to start her own small micro-business cooking for others. She taught her children about hard work – always having chores at home and working at a variety of jobs at an early age. But she constantly insisted that they study and work hard at school. She somehow knew that education was the key for them to improve their lives. Her hard work, sacrifices and determination paid off for them - her children and grandchildren were able to obtain university degrees and go on to very successful lives.

At this stage you might have guessed that this story is about one of the remarkable women at the Indego coops in Rwanda. Her story and perseverance IS very similar to theirs; but she doesn’t belong to one of our coops, and has never been to Africa. The only real difference between her life and the women at the Indego coops is that she lived in the U.S. where a hard-working talented person has the opportunity to overcome obstacles. Unless they receive a Hand-Up from Indego the women in Rwanda will not likely find opportunities to change their lives merely through hard work and talent.

The woman in the story who has provided so much inspiration to the founders of Indego? I just visited with her last week in the hospital. She is now 90 years old and in poor health and weakening every day, but still fighting hard to regain her strength. Despite her poor health and very limited income she still takes time to ask about the women in Rwanda and make donations to Indego. This remarkable inspiring woman is my mother, Olga Mitro.

-Tom