Serving success in Rwanda

Our recent story on both Rwanda and its mountain gorillas has brought a great deal of response.

Kevin Cash wrote with his own echoes: "How beautifully you describe your visit to the mountains in Rwanda to see the gorillas, it brought back wonderful memories of my visit to the same area nearly 30 years ago. Back then the jungle was so thick that our guides had to machete a passage into it, it was hot and very humid, it was dark and I was constantly tripping over, falling into the stinging nettle bushes. Although we were consumed with laughter at my falls, the legacy was red and painful hands for quite some time.

"I don't know how the guides managed to find the gorillas but the end result was a fascinating and entertaining 60 minutes and some very good photos.

"Thank you for your excellent article, I look forward to reading more of your future travels."

MORE FROM RWANDA A story of old and new in Rwanda

We had many phone calls and much correspondence, and also an email from a person from Senegal in West Africa who is now based in New York City. They read the story online and then told us about the owners of NYC ice-cream shops who had expanded into Rwanda and were doing the same in Haiti, with the aim of supporting the local community.

Alexis Meisen and Jennie Dundas had opened their Blue Marble Ice Cream shops in Brooklyn in 2007 (renewable energy and premium local organic produce). Alexis and Jennie explain that they built a business that cares for its customers and communities near and far. "As we've grown, this simple mission has remained at the heart of all we do. Two years into our ice-cream adventure we founded Blue Marble Dreams, a non-profit initiative to support the joy and prosperity of communities in need through the unlikely medium of ice-cream."

That followed Jennie meeting Rwandan drummer and playwright Odile Gakire Katese (known affectionately as Kiki) at a theatre workshop. It was natural that they should touch upon the subject of Rwanda's 1994 genocide and the sadness left behind.

Odile Gakire Katese, aka Kiki.

Odile thought an ice-cream parlour like theirs would bring Rwandans nourishment, in every sense, as well as jobs.

Odile explained her reasoning, as the folks at Blue Marble Dreams recall. Number one: Just as Rwandans needed nutritious food, clean water, good schools and proper medical care, they also needed fun, joy, leisure and laughter "as these are the ingredients of a life fully lived".

"And what better way to meet this need than through the simple, happy magic of ice-cream?

"Certainly, ice-cream alone does not save a life or change the world but it does provide people with a brief respite from hardship and an opportunity to dream of sweet possibilities."

Further, an ice-cream shop could serve as a space for the community to indulge and savour life together - a valuable offering for a country still healing from its divisive past.

Number two: The women Kiki had in mind to lead the shop were the members of Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda's first and only all-women drumming group. The folk at Blue Marble Dreams explain: "Kiki created this group in an effort to bring women across ethnic lines and into a special circle that promoted friendship, creative expression and fun. Kiki also saw this group as an embodiment of the new Rwanda - united, spirited, hopeful - and chose its name, which translates roughly as "New Reign", to reflect this."

Number three: "By sourcing all of our ingredients locally - milk, sugar, fruit, coffee, etc - we would provide a steady source of income for area farmers and producers.

"Additionally, beyond the shop's staff, we would employ plumbers, electricians, seamstresses, carpenters, cleaners, security guards and other tradespeople, thereby buoying the local economy.

"We might also serve as a model for others looking to convert local resources into small businesses, fuelling the country's economic momentum."

And so Alexis was soon on the way to the town of Butare in Rwanda, where the women of Ingoma Nshya were shown how to make ice-cream and the parlour Inzozi Nziza ("Sweet Dreams") was set up.

Alexis and Jennie say: "Opening a business in a country and culture so far from our own was a daunting proposition but we believed in the concept and its potential impact, so we went for it. After several trips to Rwanda and two years of careful research, planning and fundraising, we did it."

Inzozi Nziza opened in June 2010 and offers ice-cream made on-site, coffee roasted in-house and brewed to order and baked goods prepared daily. Ice-cream flavours include sweet cream, passionfruit, strawberry, pineapple, Rwandan black tea and coffee.

Inzozi Nziza directly employs about 11 people, and feeds, clothes and educates more than 70 in their families, as well as providing business for dairy farmers, beekeepers and coffee bean growers.

bluemarbledreams.org.