Fishing Cooperative

In 2021, VRUK helped fund a new initiative to process and dry small fish, isambaza, caught in Lake Kivu. Isambaza are small fish that taste quite like whitebait and a popular food for people who live on the lake shore.  In villages where electricity is scarce and unreliable, drying fish is a practical way to preserve them. 

VRUK provided an initial grant to buy a catch of fish and some drying stations.  A local group are now sending dried fish to the capital Kigali, where they are sold in the market.  They are also considering buying a grinding machine so as to be able to process the fish into fish meal and sell it at a higher price.  One women in the cooperative said, “It has been wonderful for us to have our own money, separate from our husbands, that we can use as we choose.”