Umuganda, village style

The primary school in my village (years 1-6) is expanding to include the first 3 years of secondary school, meaning it will provide all of the free “basic 9” years of education. The secondary school is targeted to open with the new school year in January, so umuganda in my village has become a weekly activity that occurs mostly on Thursdays, as far as I can tell. A month ago and today I participated by carrying giant pieces of stone to the latrine hole, down a steep 100-meter slope covered in underbrush and stumps of eucalyptus trees (the air given a healthy perfume for the workout as the tree trunks are burned nearby to produce charcoal). Each time I’ve hauled my fair share of stones down the hill, a great cardio and arm workout. The first time I was feeling great about my contribution until a young woman in flipflops with a baby on her back passed me carrying a humungous stone weighing at least 40 pounds on her head.

Three Thursdays ago there was a different activity: helping to lay the brick walls of the 4 new classrooms. That day I attended umuganda without a translator and there were many more participants to gawk at me. Through hand motions and Kinyarwanda littered with building vocabulary I do not possess I came to understand that I should take a trowel and scrape the 6 faces of the homemade bricks before handing them off to men who’d lay them in cement. At first I thought this activity was rather pointless, then I thought it might be good to dislodge loose irregularities from the bricks so they’d better stick in the cement, and then I went back to thinking I was useless when I saw that some brick layers skipped this step and my bricks were usually done again.

I wasn’t entirely useless, though - not only is it good community relations for me to participate in umuganda, but I provided much needed entertainment for various workers and allowed a soldier who was helping out (at least he was helping, others lingered idly on the hillside) to practice his pickup skills - and believe me, they needed practice. In the end I went and held an umbrella for my friend as she used a homemade notched metal grabber-thingy (see, I even lack the English vocabulary!) to bend pieces of metal around nails into squares that would be used to shape cement pillars. I made a quick escape around noon as I saw my soldier-suitor approaching.

Outfits of Umuganda

Umuganda presented an opportunity to photograph some of the clothing that makes its way from the West to second-hand shoppers in Rwanda. Here are some gems:

Above left, this guy laughed at me for not hoeing well, but he had figure skates on his sweatshirt.

Above right, Harry Potter would have had the hoe going on its own with a few simple incantations. But I’d put a lot of money on this guy never having read or seen Harry Potter.

I’m jealous of this sweet Ferrari shirt, below left as he cuts up cassava branches...

Above right, I wonder if the ladies in Norfolk appreciate the fantastic workout that comes from hoeing – great for your upper back and arms!

Umuganda

Today was the last Saturday in April, so many of us trainees headed back to the field we helped hoe last month. This time I brought my camera.

Today’s activity was turning the soil again to break it up, and then planting cassava. Sticks from cassava plants were delivered by truck from Kigali, broken up into 6-8 inch pieces with sprouts, or “eyes,” and partially buried in the dirt with the eyes pointing up towards the sun.

When the cassava is grown, it will either be distributed to the poor or sold to raise money for a project in the local area.

I was very impressed that both the Mayor of Nyanza district and the Governor of the entire Southern Province turned out to help. The governor was hard at work but was kind enough to let me take his picture. He is below, with a hoe overhead. (He’s very sporting in an outfit of a Nike hat, Fila shirt, and Adidas pants; Reebock should endorse him as well.)

The Mayor is above, roughly center in the white polo shirt, pioneering an interesting hoeing technique. He’s a helpful and friendly man who has made us very welcome in Nyanza.

After a few hours of work, the crowd gathered to hear the Mayor and Governor speak about the organization of the August elections. 

Those who participate in Umuganda get pink record cards with space for their village and cell officials to endorse their attendance. As you can see, this card begins in April (the 4^th month) and has space for a year. I am told that if a person is involved in a local dispute they may present their Umuganda participation card to demonstrate their credibility as a good citizen. In some parts of Rwanda, failure to contribute to Umuganda may incur a fine.

Umuganda

Bill Clinton recently cited umuganda as one of the reasons he admires President Kagame. On the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans do volunteer projects in their communities. This morning we joined a group of several hundred people in preparing a field to plant cassava. We started around 9:30 and by 11am most of the field had been hoed. The group celebrated by singing and dancing, and then several people made speeches and recognized participants including the Peace Corps, contingents from various umudugudus (villages) and a group of secondary school students.