How Kisoro’s Ingabire is Keeping Mum’s Legacy of Compassion Alive
When Harriet Ingabire’s mother passed on early this year at the age of 67 after a two-year battle with oesophagus cancer, the first thing that sprang to her mind was how she was going to keep her mother’s legacy alive.
Ingabire – who describes the late Teddy Nteziryayo as a famous counsellor, mentor, politician and community worker in Kisoro district, southwestern Uganda – says the deceased was known for being so compassionate that even on her deathbed she was always telling her daughter to start a project that would continue her legacy of compassion.
“Our home was home to the homeless, jobless, abused women, widows, orphans and single mothers. Basically, my mother opened her home for all vulnerable people,” says a solemn Ingabire, looking past me, as if staring at something that is not even there.
The 32-year-old goes on: “Being at my mother’s bedside made me see life in another perspective. I didn’t believe that the cruel hand of death would snatch her away from us. But also, there are lessons she taught me when she was drifting away and I’m here to fulfil her legacy. She bequeathed the house to us and we’re going to ensure her legacy lives on in Kisoro.”
Ingabire says she has agreed with her eight siblings to convert the family home, which is located near the famed Virunga Mountain range – home to the iconic mountain gorillas – into a community centre where local women will benefit from the thriving tourism activities around Kisoro. The project, dubbed Ryayo Community Centre, seeks to help local women to display their art and craft products and expose them to potential buyers, especially tourists to this area.
“We are going to market their products and generally connect them with tourism. My key objective is to see how these women can gain from the vibrant tourism industry in Kisoro,” says Ingabire.
Kisoro attractions
Mountain scenery, lakes, Albertine Rift endemic birds, sprawling coffee plantations, ancient caves and colourful markets are some of the most enchanting sights that await visitors to Kisoro, a town that is also an access point for those traveling to Rwanda or the DR Congo for gorilla tracking in the Rwanda’s Volcanoes Park or Virunga National Park, respectively.
Ingabire is also the founder of Acts of Hope, a nonprofit that seeks to benefit Rwandan women through tourism-based activities in Nyakinama village, Musanze district. She says she hopes to draw from her experience at the helm of Acts of Hope to carry on her mother’s legacy.
“Acts of Hope gave me enough experience that when my mother, lying on her deathbed, told me that I needed to continue with her legacy, the family home quickly jumped into my mind,” says Ingabire.
Acts of Hope was started in 2013 with a unique design of supporting the community through cultural heritage.
“My objective is to ensure that the women of Kisoro gain from tourism. We are going to start projects from the house my mother lived in so that we continue her legacy of always extending a helping hand. That was her death wish and I cannot escape from the responsibility she bestowed on me,” says Ingabire.
The project will involve local women selling their products to tourists, a replication of Acts of Hope in Nyakinama, and Ingabire says she is going to use her international network to ensure that their products are sold internationally.
She says that Kisoro is a prime location where her mother’s dreams can be achieved because of the tourist attractions in the region that are always drawing in a slew of tourists. This, she says, is going to make her live her mother’s dreams and fulfil what she wanted to achieve in her life.
“My mother was most passionate about health, education and helping local vulnerable people – people we cannot just watch with indifference as they suffer just because mum is gone. We have to continue with her struggles to empower the local people, and now the thriving tourism industry around Kisoro is offering us that opportunity,” says Ingabire.
Ingabire adds that they are targeting the families her mother was working with, and they are going to use tourism, accommodation and cultural/wildlife tours to enable them to raise the money needed to continue supporting these families.
Tourist attractions near Kisoro
Ryayo Community Centre is located on the way to Mgahinga National park – 15 kilometres from Kisoro town, 10 kilometres to the DR Congo border, 12 kilometres to the Rwandan border, and 25 kilometres to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.