Social Cohesion

Friday night our young Rwandan hosts were kind enough to take us out for a taste of the Kigali nightlife.  We started off at a small street pub with cheap beer then to the club.  Once inside we found out it was a karaoke club.  A few brave souls in the group took on the challenge and belted out the words to You Can’t Start the Fire…let just say they are lucky no one had tomatoes to throw.

The late night made it a bit more difficult to get up on Saturday morning and catch the bus to Butare, a city two and a half hours southwest of Kigali.   The drive gave me time to nap and take in the sights of rural Rwanda, a strict contrast to the city.  In Butare we checked into the rooms where we would be staying overnight.  The rooms were in a Catholic Church compound and had comfortable beds. 

However, in order to take a shower you filled a bucket and poured it over you, there were no toilet seats, and my sink when used leaked all over my shoes.  We were only staying overnight so it worked out.  After we “checked-in” we departed for the rural village where we were able to watch the presentation of 12 cows to 12 women in the community.  The cows were through Bea’s fundraising and for the women of EMBASA, an organization that Bea facilitates Step-Up through.

Our arrival was greeted with singing, dancing, and smiles.  Again the kids came out to greet us as we took our seats.  In the one room building we were surrounded by women who were raped during the genocide and now have joined the organization for support, counseling, and business.  The neat part of this organization is that it offers microloans enabling women to support themselves and be vested in their future.  Through their cows they are able to have milk, breed them, and meat.  Also they have started African beehives that produce honey to see at the market.  

Part of the celebration included refreshments; they cordially gave us water and corn on the cob.  The corn was interesting, it was not sweet corn like we are used to in the US and it is much harder.  You have to really gnaw on it to get the kernels off the cob.  I enjoyed it despite the differences. 

At one point during the program, this adorable African girl, probably about one year old, in a pretty lacy, silky green dress came up to me and sat on my lap.  She was not sure what to think of me and stared at me.    The program then concluded with dancing and singing outside where the cows were mooing and the roosters where crowing.  We shared in the joy of the dancing, signing, and celebration.  What struck me was that the backdrop to the celebration was the graves of the women’s husbands who were killed during the genocide.