Traditions in Kigali

Hello from Kigali, Rwanda! We have been living in Rwanda for four weeks, and it has been amazing. We are living with a Rwandan family this month who already feels like family. We call our host Uncle Mo, and he has five kids that we have fallen in love with. We will miss them so much at the end of our time here, although we are happy to have been gifted with extra time in this country. While living in Rwanda, my team and I have been working at an elementary school and helping out at our host’s church. This has been a great experience to teach English to the little kids and practice my speaking and teaching skills at the church! (I will write more about our work here in another blog!)

During our month here, we have been able to experience so many different traditions and really immerse ourselves into the Rwandan culture. One example of this is Umuganda workdays. The word Umuganda means “to come together in a common purpose”. During the last Saturday of every month, the entire country of Rwanda gets together in their local communities and does community service work. As some of you may know, Rwanda experienced an extremely tragic genocide 28 years ago. Nearly 1.5 million people were killed in 100 days and the country was extremely divided only a few years ago. We were able to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial during one of the first weeks that we were here, and we learned a lot more about the genocide, and how the country has chosen to bounce back from this tragedy. One of the ways that they have decided to shape their community is through these Umuganda community days. The country has beautifully decided to see the harm that has been done, and instead of holding bitterness and division, they have made so many steps forward to create unity within their country. The way that Rwanda has so beautifully decided to choose love over hate is a beautiful example that the world needs more of! We helped at the community work day by helping shovel dirt to repair a road!

Another amazing thing that my team was able to experience was the opportunity to attend a two-day traditional Rwandan wedding! On the first day, we drove three and a half hours away to a village outside of Kigali to attend the traditional ceremonies. Some of these ceremonies include naming a price of cows that the husband’s family pays for the bride, gifts given to each member of each side of the family, and other gifts, walks, and practices. While attending weddings in Rwanda, women are asked to wear dresses that consist of a tight tank top, a wrapped skirt, and a sash. The second day of the ceremony was more similar to an American wedding. It has a traditional church ceremony with bridal parties, rings, and vows. Then, everybody attends the reception with cake, dancing, and celebration!

My team will continue to live in Kigali for another three weeks with this host before moving on. Thank you to everyone for keeping up with my team and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love, Claire

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