The hardworking men and women of Rwanda inspired Salha Kaitesi to start her business, Beauty of Rwanda. She came across basket weavers in Rwanda and after talking with them, and she knew they were the ones she wanted to help out the most.

Basket weaving is a skill that many Rwandese women have, passed from one generation to the next. The women are survivors of the Rwandan genocide; and Hutu and Tutsi women have put their differences aside and are weaving baskets to improve their lives and those of their children.

Beauty of Rwanda empowers Rwandese women by selling their handmade crafts. It is not charity, but does promote fair trade. The weavers in rural Rwanda are facing poverty and Beauty of Rwanda is helping them to overcome that.

The women are the bread winners of their families because either their husbands were killed during the genocide or are in prison for the crimes they committed during the genocide. Some are living with HIV and need the income in order to buy essential medicine. Beauty of Rwanda’s aim is to promote socio-economic well-being of vulnerable groups in Rwanda.

By selling these products, Beauty of Rwanda is looking to economically uplift poverty-stricken men, women and their families through the making of handcrafts that include basket-making and bead work. This enables the products access to international markets, other than those at home. These handcrafts are not only decorative and ornamental, but utility-based and functional when applied in a modern context.

Beauty of Rwanda is runs a campaign called “Only One Basket” where Salha is asking each and every individual to buy at least one piece of the crafts available in order to end poverty in rural Rwanda. This campaign is for Rwandese and Rwanda as a whole. The weavers would be the beneficiaries.

Starting the business was hard, Salha states. “There are lots of things to learn, lots of things to do, things to put in place i.e. importing, shipping, etc… It’s still hard but I am told it will get better with time.” Salha hopes to be able to make a huge difference to the lives of the women she is trying to help. She hopes the world will respond to “our campaign of trying to get at least one piece of our crafts in every household. In the long run, this would make a huge difference to the people of Rwanda.”

Last year, Salha was voted among the top 20 Inspirational Women of African Diaspora in Europe 2011. And she also won the first-ever Africa Diaspora at Work Awards.

Find Salha and Beauty of Rwanda on Twitter at @SalhaKaitesi and @BeautyofRwanda.

President Kagame at a youth rally

Earlier this week, the Senate passed the United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). This is the first BIT concluded between the United States and a sub-Saharan African country since 1998. This BIT was initiated by former President George W. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in 2008 and has been waiting for Senate action since then.

A BIT is a treaty of law between the US and another nation. This treaty will promote trade between the two countries by providing legal protections for both countries — including transparency in governance and neutral arbitration.

ONE has been eagerly waiting for the treaty to be ratified. We thought it might make it through consideration last December, but time ran out on the calendar, and the Senate adjourned before it could be passed.

We hope this treaty will pave the way for more treaties with sub-Saharan African nations and the US.

Read our press release on the BIT here.

Just in the first quarter of this year, the country hosted more than 200,000 visitors, 60 percent of whom were non-Africans. And in 2010, tourists brought an estimated $200 million to the country, pulling the economy upward and creating jobs for Rwandans.

In order to keep these tourists coming (and keep the tourists happy), the government is reforming water and sanitation programs to ease visitors’ fears of contracting waterborne illnesses. In turn, Rwandan citizens will benefit, improving their quality of life and reducing the risk of preventable disease.

But what is most impressive is Rwanda’s sanitation efforts, which have improved by 58 percent — 8 percent higher than their original goal. This accomplishment was noted by Yolanda Coombes, World Bank’s Senior Sanitation and Hygiene specialist, who said that improved sanitation can increase tourist revenue receipts, as many potential visitors rightfully fear diarrhea. Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who recently visited Rwanda, noted the country’s successes in overall development efforts.

Between Rwanda’s sanitation reforms and irresistible tourist attractions, it is clear the landlocked nation is on its way to becoming a landmark destination for African travels. If you’re planning on traveling any time soon, consider going to Rwanda. Not only will you have an incredible experience, you’ll help move the country into a brighter, more successful future.

Fighting poverty, supporting development and witnessing gorillas first hand — what more can one ask for from their next big vacation?

So, Mr. Gatembeyi, what brings you all the way to Washington?

I’m hoping I can familiarize Americans and decision makers about our soil irrigation system in Rwanda. The project built a dam that you can use in combination with irrigation techniques to help water the fields and plants during the dry season when it’s impossible to keep cultivation going without it. I’m a representative of this project and I am seeking further assistance for this program to succeed. This project has had so much success that if funding gets cut off, it would be difficult to get the project back to pre-project levels of production. We’ve seen production levels increase by sixfold.

Weren’t you upset that you only found out about this irrigation program until recently? It looks like you’ve been farming for a long time!

I didn’t feel angry that it hadn’t been done before. I felt happy and thankful because Rwanda is a huge country and is nothing but mountains. People felt like it would be impossible to improve our agriculture outputs, and we finally felt like our time had come. It made us proud to see that our government prioritized us and let us do something that was so impossible. There’s a big sense of optimism and trust in the government that didn’t exist before.

How are you liking the States?

I just got here, but it’s been really good. This country is at a further advanced stage than Rwanda, but it’s inspiring to see that if you work hard and have the right access, you can have a very successful life. In Rwanda, that isn’t so — you can work very hard, but you will still be the same.

What is the most helpful thing that governments can do to help Rwandan farmers?

I really believe that the Rwandan government has wonderful initiatives to change agriculture in the country and improve inputs and techniques. Governments can help directly support Rwanda’s plans by renewing their commitments to global agriculture.

If you didn’t have to be a farmer, what would you be?

To tell you the honest truth, I love farming. That’s how my family did it and that’s how I do it. I love working with the earth, and I couldn’t imagine doing another profession. I’m a small holder farmer — it’s in my blood.

Mr. Gatembeyi also spoke at a ONE event on Capitol Hill this week. Read more about that here.

In 2002, the Rwandan government set up a strategy to tackle priority diseases that were the major killers of both adults (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) and children (gastroenteritis, pneumonia, malaria, meningitis and HIV).

For the past few years, anti-retroviral coverage for HIV patients in need of treatment has increased from 10 percent in 2003 to 82 percent in 2010. The rate of coverage for prevention of maternal-to-child transmission services has reached 78 percent of pregnant women. Malaria incidence has declined by 70 percent between 2001 and 2010. In 2010, the cure rate for tuberculosis treatment was 87 percent. For multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, the cure rate was 91 percent.

During the same year, 98 percent of TB patients were tested for HIV. Other indicators of progress include 94 percent of children vaccinated against pneumococcal disease, and community health workers treating gastroenteritis without delay at village level.

Having met most of the targets set in regards to infectious diseases, as well as achieving improvements in the heath system more generally, Rwanda has noted an increase in life expectancy. As the population has begun to live longer, chronic, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, rheumatic heart diseases, diabetes and hypertension are becoming more visible. And as a result, the Ministry of Health has initiated a new strategy of tackling priority chronic and non-communicable diseases, so as to continue to provide a better and longer life to the Rwandan population. Cervical cancer is one of such diseases.

According to research conducted in Rwanda, cervical cancer accounts for 27 percent of all the women’s cancer in the two university hospitals. The World Health Organization has reported that the incidence of cervical cancer in Rwanda is 49 per 100,000 in the population.

Knowing the magnitude of cervical cancer, and the fact that cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be fully prevented through vaccination and screening, and treated in its early stages, the Government of Rwanda decided to start their fight with a comprehensive program against cervical cancer.

In light of this, the MoH, in collaboration with its partners, has developed a national plan for prevention, screening and treatment of cervical cancer in Rwanda. This comprehensive plan includes HPV vaccination of girls aged 11 to 15, early detection of women aged between 35 to 45 years, as well as building in country the capacity to treat any stages of cervical cancer according to different levels of the health system. Through the work of the first lady, the MoH has negotiated with partners to support this first ever national comprehensive plan for cervical cancer. As a start, MERCK has donated two million HPV vaccine doses while QIAGEN has donated 250,000 HPV DNA-tests for screening.

It is in this light that on April, 26, the Government of Rwanda officially launched a Rwandan comprehensive cervical cancer program. The program started with vaccination of school girls in Primary 6, beginning with the Kanyinya sector in Nyarugenge District, followed by two days of vaccination in all primary schools in Rwanda, as well as a national summit on women’s cancers.

In collaboration with the MINEDUC, the MoH has made the HPV vaccine available to all health centers; and because 95 percent of girls are enrolled in school during the ages targeted, all primary schools have been identified as vaccination sites.

Using the national network of three community health workers per village and the commitment of the local leaders, girls who did not attend schools during the two days of vaccination have been identified at home and vaccinated in the community. As a result, 94 percent of girls have received their first dose of HPV vaccine while the rest will receive it during the catch-up phase in collaboration with CHWs.

This comprehensive cervical cancer program will avail prevention, screening and treatment for the entire population at risk. All of this will be done for a period of three years, while Rwanda works on its sustainability plan after this period.
The parents and community members interviewed during the vaccination days were very happy to have an opportunity to prevent cancer among their daughters, and there was an excellent adherence to this program on a voluntary basis.

Rwanda is the first country in the world to offer a comprehensive plan to eliminate cervical cancer despite social and economic challenges. The Rwandan plan is for the country to be free from cervical cancer within 40 years (by 2050) as a result of consistent vaccination, regular screening and timely treatment.

However, political leaders in Africa are also using the Internet to communicate directly with their people and interested observers. One such leader is President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who is one of very few Heads of State to operate their own Twitter account. Seeing him online last week I decided to contact him. And amid persistent speculation that he would seek to amend the Rwandan constitution to stand for a third term in office in 2017, I asked what plans he had for a successor?

To my surprise he responded immediately over three tweets:

@josephpowell. It s alwz going to be a complicated questn…while I can stand for what I say n do- it s hard to do that for smbody else..

@josephpowell but I want n i kno others want to see things continue in good direction..in Rw. So it s in my interest n duty to work with..

@josephpowell ..with others to manage well that succession process…and we will!

So a clear commitment from one of Africa’s most prominent leaders that he will step down in 2017 and hand over to a successor – a move that would surely cement his legacy in re-building Rwanda from the point of destruction to arguably one of the continent’s better functioning states. And all of this over Twitter. A sign, perhaps, that the increasingly diverse range of communications tools will not just be used for coordinating protest in Africa.

Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) out of committee. This is the first BIT concluded between the United States and a sub-Saharan African country since 1998. This BIT was initiated by former President George W. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in 2008 and has been waiting for Senate action since then.

A BIT is a treaty of law between the US and another nation. This treaty will promote trade between the two countries by providing legal protections for both countries — including transparency in governance and neutral arbitration.

US investors are protected because both countries agree to conduct business using certain legal and investment principles. We at ONE are excited that this treaty will help to promote growth and foreign investment in Rwanda by showing that the US government has given Rwanda a “seal of approval.”

This treaty must now be approved by the full Senate. We are hoping that the Senate will ratify the treaty before adjourning for the holiday break.

Photo courtesy of Away2Africa.com

Here’s some really cool news — we just caught wind that Rwanda is donating $1 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

According to a press release, Rwanda is the fourth African country to contribute to this year’s replenishment, which has received $11.7 billion in commitments from both the private and public sector for the next three years.

“Even a modest additional investment can save millions of lives, improve overall health of the population, strengthen health systems and provide economic gains through increased productivity of the workforce,” said Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda.

Rwanda has been very active in engaging with the Global Fund and is set to reach its UN Millennium Development Goals targets by 2015. Read more about their Global Fund donation on the Africa News website.

Cholera outbreak kills 200 in Cameroon: Cholera has killed 200 people in Cameroon and aid agencies feared the outbreak could spread to neighboring regions and nations. The disease is caused by contaminated water and about 70 percent of people living in the country’s far north region, bordering Nigeria and Chad, do not have access to potable water. Sanitation is also limited in the area and recent flooding has aggravated the situation. (CNN)

Reform in Rwanda: The Financial Times argues there are two reasons Paul Kagame was re-elected to Rwandan president with 93 percent of the vote. First, Kagame has turned Rwanda into one of the least corrupt, most secure countries in Africa. Second, he eliminated any opposition. (Financial Times)

Party Says Nigeria President Can Run in Vote: Nigeria’s ruling party is allowing President Goodluck Jonathan to run in next year’s election, despite an informal agreement calling for a Muslim candidate. The unwritten agreement calls for the presidency to alternate between Christians and Muslims. (Wall Street Journal)

Sierra Leone: New Agriculture Plan Sprouts: Sierra Leone’s finance minister has announced the government will increase the agriculture budget from 7.7 percent to 9.9 percent. The budget will go to facilitating and strengthening small and medium scale farmers as well as promoting large scale farming and the development of agri-business. The budget is also intended to facilitate access to markets for selected commodities like rice, oil palm, cocoa and fisheries. (Mohamed Fofanah, AllAfrica.com)

Uganda: Donors Should Review Aid Cut : Development partners plan a 10% cut of their $360M contribution to Uganda’s budget this year because of government corruption. The New Vision argues however that donors should know that the aid cut will impact the poor more negatively than the state officials, as social services will most likely be cut because of budget constraints. (New Vision)

Kenya not out of woods despite constitution vote: Kenya’s long-awaited new constitution is facing a lengthy implementation process that could take years. The law that aims to check presidential powers and curb the corruption, political patronage, land-grabbing and tribalism faces challenges of competing politicians sharing positions on the implementation committee. The concern is whether politicians who opposed the law will try to block it if chosen to be on the committee. (James Macharia, Reuters)

Rwandan Leader appears to win new term – Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, who has been in control of the country since 1994, appeared to have been re-elected on Monday by a staggering margin. Voters were mixed, with some saying the leader has delivered tangible benefits while others complained of corruption. (Jeffrey Gettelman, The New York Times)

AIDS drugs flow to the third world – Once blasted for their practices, a number of pharmaceutical companies are slashing prices and licensing AIDS drugs for free to nonprofits or local manufacturers in developing countries. However, there are benefits for drugmakers, who receive favorable press and avoid high distribution costs by adopting this model. (Simeon Bennett, Businessweek)

HIV/AIDS medicine is only one piece of the puzzle – (RED) CEO Susan Smith Ellis argues that with the upcoming UN Summit and Global Fund replenishment, we are at a turning point in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She calls on governments, foundations, NGOs and the private sector to “amplifying the urgency of the effort and the moral power of its success.” (Huffington Post)

HIV is a 20th-century disease that needs 21st-century research – Global health advocates, Alan Bernstein and Peter Piot argue that with new research bolstering the fight against HIV/AIDS, we need smarter approaches to clinical trials that are more efficient and economical, while preserving safety, community engagement and ethical guidelines. (The Globe and Mail)

Every woman is a leader, says advocate – CEDPA President, Carol Peasley, argues that weeks after the International AIDS Conference, one lesson still stands out: women are at the center of all communities and hold the key to mobilizing their communities, particularly in leading integrated health service programs on the continent. (Huffington Post)