Our Story

 

Thousands of Rwandan women are trapped in survival sex work because of generational poverty. They can’t read or write, and without education, their work opportunities are limited. Women sell their bodies to feed their children because they have no other way to earn money, which makes them feel hopeless.

At DuHope we believe women shouldn’t have to sell their bodies to feed their families. That’s why we’ve developed a pathway for women to leave sex work.

Here’s how we do it:

1. We find Rwandan women trapped in survival sex work and build trust with them to join the DuHope program. 

2. The women receive counseling and support to help them heal from their trauma.

3. As they learn to read, write, and count, the women become artisans and make jewelry to provide for their families.

So shop or give today, so you can end generational poverty for Rwandan women and instead help them leave survival sex work and provide for their families with dignity.

 

DuHope Logo & Meaning

The DuHope logo was designed with purpose and meaning. The circle demonstrates the life transformation journey the Artisans are on once they arrive at DuHope. The lines don’t line up to make a perfect circle. Sometimes the journey goes up and sometimes down. The beginning line starts black and then the influence of the turquoise demonstrates the impact of DuHope. But on each loop around, there is a color transition back to the original color. When a journey is started, it is not without its starts and stops. Life transformation is not a clean line that once it’s started, you are on a straight path; it’s messy.

“DuHope” is a made-up word. The first program Belay Global started in Rwanda was called Duhugurane, which means “Let us learn from each other” in Kinyarwanda.  Shortened to Duhu, the program trained 190 young women in work readiness and micro business development. When DuHope was started, the team knew they were going to need some of the training from Duhu and a whole lot of hope; out of this idea, DuHope was born. 

One of our DuHope goals is to interrupt the cycle, or circle, of trauma. We want to break the circle.