Community Service Saturday

On the 3rd Saturday of every month, Rwandans turn out for a community service day called Umuganda. It is designed to keep communities clean and well-tended. Our effort this morning was to paint blackboards at the primary school where we are teaching. The boards are well used, since the students English lessons prior to our arrival consisted of their teacher filling the blackboard with English, science and social studies lessons written in English. Although most of the teachers do not speak English, they dutifully copy the lessons and, likewise, the students copy the board into their notebooks. The headmaster of the school, a young man named Lambert, had hoped that we could paint the 2 boards in each of 3 classrooms. We managed to finish 10 classrooms in under 3 hours!

Some of the students we teach were attending classes on Saturday and many others showed up to help with community service. It was a perfect time to visit and take a few pictures. And little Rwandan kids love to have their picture taken!

On the walk home we met up with two women who were carrying these loads on their heads, a common form of transport. One of the women was carrying extra cargo! I have yet to see a baby cry when it is on its mothers back like this.

Back at the guest house, we were joined by 7 young boys who live at an orphanage called the Peace House. They were entertained by all of our electronics. Several took photos with our cameras and Iphones, while others looked over our shoulders as we were on our computers. They sang for us and were fascinated by Bekah's ukelele (but, so am I!). What a grand way to wind up this day dedicated to community....