Source: CNN | 22 June 2012
Inside the Gahaya Links workshop on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda's capital, a group of women sit side by side against a brightly-painted wall. Using natural fibers and grasses, they pool their weaving skills to create exquisite hand-made baskets, inspired by the eastern African country's art and tradition.
Seeing these women talking, laughing and working together, it's hard to imagine that many of them were once enemies, belonging to warring tribes during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
"[It's] really amazing to see how a small piece of work, how culture can restore values in people, how healing comes through a small basket," says Janet Nkubana, co-founder of Gahaya Links, the company that has made Rwanda's hand-woven baskets internationally famous.