Our very special story

Ride 4 a Woman was set up in 2009 by Evelyne Habasa and her husband Denis Rubalema. Everything began with Evelyne’s mum. Every day she wore the same red dress because all she wanted was for her children to have an education so she worked hard for it and didn’t have too much to spend on new clothes. Evelyne’s mum wanted her to study tourism in Kampala and return back home to Bwindi whenever she had finished her studies. She wanted Evelyne to help in any way women of the Bwindi community.

Evelyne took the decision to start by renting bikes to tourists to support local women struggling at home with issues associated with HIV, domestic violence and poverty. 300 women gave 2000 ugx to the organization at the beginning to be members. This is why we are named RIDE 4 A WOMAN, riding to support or support by riding bicycles. 

In 2011 Evelyne met Patricia, a woman from Australia, who came for Gorilla tracking. Patricia wanted to buy fabrics in Uganda to take back home to do quilting, so Evelyne went with her to the shop as a translator. Meanwhile, Patricia explained to Evelyne why she wanted the fabrics. Evelyne got really interested and when Patricia went back home, in Australia, she sent some pictures of quilting products to Evelyne. Evelyne thought that women could learn to sew, make hand-made products that could be sold and earn money to help more women. They did so in 2012. Patricia and 2 more friends came to Ride 4 a Woman and trained the women to sew. To compliment the sewing area, it was decided to also train the women to weaving baskets. In fact, these are the two main focuses of women in Ride 4 a Woman: sewing and weaving.

Nowadays, more than 300 women from 11 villages use or work at the Ride 4 a Woman community center, where they can be trained in new skills, make a living, be empowered and independent, and be part of the R4W family.

The organization leads many projects to empower women in different ways: microfinancing their entrepreneurial business ideas, sponsoring the education of many children, providing safe water for all the community, installing solar panels in homes without electricity, among others. You can read more about our projects.

This retreat in the local community offers local women a place to stay, food to eat and a wage while they learn new skills. Every day we welcome visitors to stay with us, learn from us while doing the activities we offer, shop or simply drop by to see what is going on.