Ange Muhorakeye and Esperance Mukampayana

I was born in a refugee camp in Burundi  where I started to learn the art of baskets weaving from both grandmother and mother. Seven years ago  I decided to move to the United States. At the airport in Rwanda (my origin home country) my Mother passed me a package of sweet grass and sisal fibers with needles  and sent me off with the parting words  Do not forget our culture.  When I arrived in the United States  I started to weave baskets for gifts  and then turned it into a business to give back to the community in rural areas in Rwanda.