Pascasia Mukamunigo, a 59 year-old master basket weaver, approaches me with slow, deliberate steps. A tall, slender woman the color of ebony, she keeps her cane beside her at all times. To me, Pascasia is the face of Rwanda - her quiet smile and deep brown eyes contain unspeakable grief. After her husband and five daughters were killed during the 1994 genocide in this country, in which the entire Hutu and Tutsi tribes attacked each other, killing nearly a million people, Pascasia spent three months hiding in a church. She lived on food given to her by nuns and survived three Hutu raids by lying flat in nearby ditches and drainage tunnels. Today, she walks with a limp - all those months of crouching caused permanent damage to her knees and ankles.

I have come to Rwanda to help the thousands of genocide widows like Pascasia - and their makeshift families of orphaned children - gain financial independence.