One week ago I had my first Umuganda. It’s a Rwandan tradition that dates back before the genocide and played a huge role in repairing the culture since then. The morning of the last Saturday of every month the community comes together for community service. The streets are empty and the markets are vacant because everyone stops what they’re doing to be part of this tradition.
One of the few things my host mom points out to me about the Rwandan culture is the importance of knowing who your neighbor is. Everybody knows everybody and they all look out for each other. Umuganda is the perfect place to catch up with family and friends while working together to improve their neighborhood.
Projects vary depending on what the village chief wants to do – they can range from building latrines to painting a school building to a garbage pickup. My group and I were landscaping the sidewalks, cleaning the water drainage system, and topped it off by playing jumprope with some of the kiddos.
Definitely looking forward to more of these Saturday mornings 🙂
Rwandering around with Joanna 