Umuganda

The last Saturday of every month is called “Umuganda” here in Rwanda. Umuganda is when everyone in the community is assigned some type of community service to accomplish during the day. So, as our first Umuganda, we walked for about 2 hours to a huge open field that is going to be cultivated for Cassava that the whole village would share. Once we got to the field I was shocked to see how many people showed up and how hard everyone was working, all for free too! This field was on a hill (everything is so hilly here) and was covered with men and women of all ages hoeing the hard ground to prepare for planting. I would estimate over 600 people there working away. Our group of thirty Umuzungus made quite the scene. Of course none of us had our own hoes, so we felt a little helpless, but workers would give us their hoes just for entertainment, I believe. They would first let us try to do it ourselves and laugh, then take the hoe back and show us how it’s really done, and give it back. When we were catching on, they were very excited for us! I’m telling you though, if you worked out on the farm all day, you would most definitely be RIPPED, because I “hoed” for about 10 minutes straight and was SO tired! It’s tough work, but now I know how to hoe! (for all you sick people, get your head out of the gutter…)
It was really fun to see how many people came to work so hard on their Saturday. The energy was very high; if you were not hoing, then you were singing, clapping or dancing. Umuganda went from 7am-noon. At noon we were all dead tired and all I could think about was taking a bucket bath. Everyone got together and the head of the Umuganda announced every village that had come to participate. They had also marked off how much land was hoed (I am so not a farmer, is there a correct way to say land after it had been hoed? Doesn’t sound right, someone throw me a bone here…) and even after 5 vigorous hours of working in the sun, everyone was cheering and clapping and very excited to see how much we had accomplished. When I first heard about Umuganda, I was thinking of myself walking around, and if I saw a weed growing, I would pick it. This was definitely not the case because it was serious work! I am assuming next month we will begin to plant the Casava at the field, but I am not sure. I have a picture of myself amongst sweaty, hard working Rwandans hoeing, it’s pretty comical, I hope I can upload it soon! So that was my first experience at Umuganda!