KIBEHO FUNDRAISER -31 MARCH 2019
- Kibeho Embroideries
- Apr 10, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 11, 2019
On Sunday 31 March 2019, a fundraiser for the Kibeho Project took place at the residence of the Rwandan High Commission, in Pretoria. Around one hundred guests attended the event, the Ambassador of South Korea and spouse; the Ambassador of Chile and Spouse, the Ambassador of Jamaica and spouse, the Ambassador of Benin and spouse and Mrs. Jessica Hamadziripi, spouse of the Zimbabwean Ambassador and the two ladies from Mapula Trust who helped trained the Kibeho women were all present. Guests arrived on time and the event was well attended. Bookings were made by telephone but up to the last day, people were calling to see whether they could secure an available space just in case someone was not going to show up. It is good to know that so many people want to learn about and support Kibeho Embroidery Project.
The event started with an exhibition of the beautiful embroideries made by the Kibeho women , the Rwandan coffee that is hugely popular in South Africa and internationally, the Rwandan tea as well as some Rwandan baskets. Guests were all curious to see what the embroideries looked like and bought many of them. One of the visitors bought ten bags and cushion covers at once. The Rwandan coffee was hugely successful as guests were offered Rwandan coffee and tea to taste while waiting for the event to start. Coffee was a real success to the point that our visitors wanted more even after the meal, something we had not planned in the programme but were happy to offer as it shows they really enjoyed the coffee.
The event started at 16.30 with Sally Currin, Former President of Soroptimist International, SA explaining in detail the reason why we were gathering and then introduced Netty Butera, Project Initiator, to the audience.
Netty Butera gave a short background to Kibeho itself and how she developed the inspiration to start the Kibeho Project.
Helen Potgieter and Nienke Ferguson took the floor to launch the Kibeho Embroideries website. You can now browse for more information on the project and to order embroidery products as you like !
Netty took this opportunity to express her gratitude to her SA partners in the Project, Soroptimist International of SA and the Mapula Project.
The formal event ended with the drawing of a raffle and Sally thanked all the sponsors of the event. These are: -The Duty Free Diplomatic Shop in Pretoria for the wine; Hpa Architects and Heritage Architects for the website; -Mr. Emmanuel Nzungize, owner of the Kivu Bourbon, Rwanda for donation of coffee; OCIR The, Rwanda for donation of tea, Kaross for the book for the raffle and A Delicate Nature for flowers offered for the raffle.
A delicious Rwandan dinner accompanied with South African wine rounded up a wonderful afternoon in a relaxed atmosphere .
A BIG THANK YOU ON BEHALF OF THE EMBROIDERY LADIES OF KIBEHO TO EVERYONE THAT MADE THIS FIRST FUNDRAISER A HUGE SUCCESS.
Comments