Saturday November 29th, Today the team had the great privilege and opportunity to participate in Umuganda day. Umuganda takes place on the last Saturday of every month across Rwanda. It is a morning of community service where the town decides what projects are to be prioritized for the month. Today the team was tasked with cleaning sediment from the concrete drainage ditches alongside the road, cleaning up overgrown bushes and planting new trees. The community service typically lasts from eight am to eleven am, followed up by an informative community meeting. This community had the honour to be visited by the Minister of Health on this Umuganda, where he addressed the very large group of people (several hundred) on the importance of hygiene. An inspiring message was conveyed on bettering their health, relationships, and community. The session was started and completed with music and dancing by members of the community.
Once Umuganda was complete we had a brief stop along the way at New Life Fellowship Church and the adjoining soccer pitches and sport complex built by the Rwandan government as part of their community improvements and youth initiatives. It was great to see how well used it was with over a hundred kids there playing football (soccer) We were completely outmatched, but had fun trying to keep up.
After lunch we went to the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy Ethnographic Museum where we learned much more about the Geographic, cultural, and societal makeup of Rwanda. We also enjoyed seeing a variety of exhibits displaying the cultural way of life of the early peoples of Rwanda. There was a full sized recreation of the original huts in the local area. It was very informative to have the large topographical map showing where we have traveled and the overall elevation makeup of the various areas of the country. It became very clear why they call it "the land of a thousand hills" and why the roads are never straight or flat here. As an aside Bernie misses Saskatchewan.
Once we made it back to our hotel with all team members (David) we enjoyed some rest and downtime. Our daily debrief and devotions were focused on restoration, 2 Cor 5:17-20. We had a good team discussion. Looking forward to the church service and worship tomorrow morning.
