Umuganda - Saturday 26th July 2014

Last Saturday our entire team took part in something called UMUGANDA. This is something that happens once a month on a Saturday throughout Rwanda, whereby on a Saturday morning the whole community comes out so work on projects such as building houses and roads.

Our team was helping members of the local community level out a road that was only 2-3 minutes away from where we are living. We did this by gathering up plastic bags and litter, in order to use hoes, pickaxes and spades to raise one side of the road.

Members of the local community working on the road.

To gather a better understanding of what Umuganda is about we asked one of our In Country Volunteers (ICVs) to write us a paragraph summing up the aims and purposes of it.

Our team leader David told us...

The word UMUGANDA can be translated as 'coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome' In traditional Rwandan culture a member of the community would call upon their family, friends and neighbours to help them to complete a difficult task.

As parts of the efforts to reconstruct Rwanda and nurture a shared national identity, the Government of Rwanda drew upon these aspects of traditional Rwandan culture and their practices in order to enrich and adapt it's development programmes to match the countries needs. The result is a set of home grown solutions - culturally owned practices translated and transformed into sustainable development programmes. Umuganda is an example of one such home grown solution.

Modern day Umuganda can be described as community work. On the last Saturday of each month, the members of the community come together to do various public works. This often includes infrastructure development and environmental protection. The tasks can be anything from mending potholes, fixing erosion and even building houses for vulnerable members of the community. Rwandans aged between 18 and 65 are obliged to participate in Umuganda and expatriates living in Rwanda are encouraged to take part.

It typical begins at 8am when the community meet to start the work, after the work has been completed a public meeting follows where they discuss national and local issues.

Getting to know members of the community!

As Umuganda happens once a month, our team is going to be lucky enough to experience it for a second time just before we leave to go back to our homes in the UK and across Rwanda. This was an amazing experience and a fantastic example of community work and how joining together as a team can get jobs done.  If felt like such an achievement to be able to walk past the road in the days following knowing that we contributed to it - even if in just a small way.

We cannot wait to see what project we will be working on next in Umuganda!!

To find out more about Umuganda go to www.rwandapedia.rw.