Handspun Hope Center Expansion Plan
Musanze, Rwanda
Designed by Journeyman International and now fully complete and operating, the expanded Handspun Hope campus supports more than 200 Rwandan women with spaces for skilled work, counseling, healthcare, education, childcare, and community.
A place to earn
Project 23-173 · Musanze, Rwanda
Production, counseling, and care on one campus
Women at Handspun Hope in northern Rwanda transform locally raised Merino wool into yarn, felted goods, and knitwear. They wash, card, spin, dye, knit, and finish each piece by hand.
The work is skilled and salaried. It is also surrounded by counseling, healthcare, social support, and care for children. That combination gives women space to provide for their families, work through loss, and build futures on their own terms.
In her words
“To work alongside others, away from isolation, makes me happy.”
Why the center grew
Ten women became more than 200.
Handspun Hope began in 2007 with ten women. As the community and its programs grew, the center needed more space for production and the services women and their families use.
The design question
Planning the production process
Raw wool arrives to be sorted, washed, carded, spun, dyed, dried, knitted or felted, inspected, packed, and shipped. In the old center, that sequence had spilled into counseling rooms, temporary shelters, and outdoor work areas exposed to dirt, sun, and rain.
The expansion reorganized that entire journey. Washing and dyeing stations, dry storage, sheltered workrooms, drying pavilions, quality-control areas, gardens for natural dyes, and rainwater systems were planned as one connected operation, with safer working areas and clearer routes for visitors.
Room to make
Expanded production areas give spinning, dyeing, knitting, and felting teams safer, more purposeful places to practice their craft and work together.
Children close by
A two-story early education center gives young children a nurturing place to learn and be cared for, so their mothers do not have to choose between work and their children’s well-being.
Care under one roof
Counseling, medical, social-care, gathering, and visitor spaces bring care into the working campus.
Designed by Journeyman
Completed and in daily use
Journeyman International completed the design work for Handspun Hope’s expansion. The campus is now fully built and operating. Its creative and worship hall, early education center, counseling wing, medical spaces, and production rooms are in daily use, accommodating programs that had outgrown the original center.
Meet Handspun Hope