Umuganda!

Hello everyone! Matt Hulse here, writing my first entry for the EWB-CU-Rwanda travel blog. I've been enjoying my time in Rwanda for the last two weeks, and can't wait to share our recent adventure stories.

Friday marked the last day where our whole team and Dean Rob Davis were in town together. We spent time at the ROP making friends and making progress on our school construction project.

This weekend marked Umuganda, a mandatory public service day from 8am to 11am on the last Saturday of each month. During Umuganda, businesses close and public transportation shuts down severely. Roll this one around in your head for a while:

By law all able bodied persons above the age of 18 and below 65 are expected to participate in volunteer community work.

Always on alert to jump at mandatory volunteer opportunities, the team elected to join the community we're working with. BJ gave the best analogy: "It's like skiing on the weekend, you have to wake up early and then you want to bail... but once you're on the mountain you have the best day ever and feel great during and afterwards!" This proved incredibly accurate. After some quick gulps of coffee five of us set out for the site of the new land. We met up with Alex, Regis, and Patrick from ROP* who introduced us to the Umudugudu** leader of the new land.

*The Rwandan Orphans Project which we have been calling "The R-O-P" in the past, is actually referred to by the local community simply as rop [rhymes with mop]. 

**Umudugudu is the lowest structured level of 'local government' here, and is a Kinyarwandan word equivalent to neighborhood. Since 2006 Rwanda has been subdivided into 5 provinces -> 30 districts -> 416 sectors -> many Cells -> many more Umudugudus.

Umuganda in our community was managed by the Umudugudu leader; this is common in most communities. Even in Kabeza (the area where we are staying) which is quite a bit more urban and developed they have big Umuganda projects for everyone who lives there. Friday night on our street the next day's Umuganda place to meet and work was announced by a pickup truck with a massive PA system in the back driving around. It's not unheard of that skilled or professional persons offer their services to their local communities at no cost during Umuganda, such as a doctor providing free medical care and house calls. 


In our community we were directed to a small path crowded with shrubbery, weeds, and small trees that was due for expansion. BJ and Andy learned how to use kupa-kupas, long thin blades with a 30 degree bend about 15% down from the tip of the blade. The tool-in-motion looks similar to reaping crops with a scythe and can wreak havoc on the back if not properly used. I helped fell two trees using larger chopping machetes while Jordan and Kara cleared brush using hoes and wicker brooms. The result was a bunch of upturned gooey clay that will eventually get pounded by enough rain and turn hard into a new road!

Jordan swings a machete clearing brush for a new road as we assisted the community during Umuganda.

When the mandatory work period ends (promptly) at 11am, the community gathers in a nearby public space and holds a town-hall meeting. Our team was invited to sit with the community at a nearby soccer pitch while the local Umudugudu began thanking the community members. The Rwanda Governance Board [RGB] promotes that

"...the benefits of Umuganda are not merely economic. The day is intended to build community involvement and strengthen cohesion between persons of different background and levels. One such a benefit is that people can access authorities to articulate their needs and voice opinions on various issues."

Many individuals spoke up about the Vision 2020 Umerenge Program (V.U.P.) -- specifically about mismanagement concerning recruitment and biased allocation of credit and salaries to certain individuals. The Umudugudu leaders were quick to quell and console those with grievances. After every complaint the rhetoric evolved into pledges and promises for optimistic future changes and considerations.

BJ & I present at the meeting post-Umuganda to the local community.

After the formalities, questions, and thanks, a community cultural officer came up and rehashed the history of Rwanda and the significance of cultural unity. While Umuganda is always the last Saturday of every month, the June Umuganda is unique as July 1st and July 4th are both national holidays.


July 1st is Unity Day and equivalent to National Day/Independence Day. July 4th is Liberation Day which I was informed is a celebration of peace recognizing the end of the genocide. Like Umuganda, most businesses and government services are not open on these holidays while the national stadium hosts a live speech by the president and a lavish military parade.

Helicopters practicing formation for the Unity Day military parade, they always fly in the formation of 2 Hinds followed by 4 Hips followed by 2 Hinds.

We celebrated Unity Day by having an off day and enjoying a meal with Dean Rob Davis and his family before they returned to the United States. Other updates on different efforts from the travel team and those we miss back home:


Video Shoot: With wonderful camera equipment loaned by Jeff Larsen's In The Telling media group, Andrew and BJ have been conducting stellar interviews and documenting both the monitoring and assessment portions of our trip with cool footage of working team members and quality interviews. We're really excited to piece all of this footage together for educational, promotional, and recruitment pitches that can boost our team's efforts in these categories.


CVK (formerly known as L'Esperance): BJ is hard at work writing up the 531 Post-Monitoring trip report, which we're hoping to turn in on July 15th. Myself (Matt) and others will begin materials sourcing for  lightning protection equipment for the existing solar energy systems and are planning to return in the next two weeks. Everyone is excited to go back, visit the orphanage, enjoy the beautiful scenery and wonderful people.


Design: Back home, both Kyle and Jacob have jumped up to start work on the 523 Alternatives Analysis report. Encompassing most of the preliminary design work from last spring, this document will detail options on materials, roofing, foundations, as well as energy and water systems for the new school project. I am already working on the 522 Post-Assessment report and this September we'll focus on the 524 Preliminary Design report and the 525 Implementation plan -- so that we can ideally send over a team and break ground in January!


Fundraising: Much discussion has been had on the future budgeting of our project. An initial wishlist of about 8000 square feet of classrooms and office space for the new school will run upwards of US$320,000 at worst-case estimates (US$40/sqft). Andrew has put a lot of thought into fundraising ideas and opportunities for our team next year while Jordan and Andy have started a channel with the local Rwanda Rotary organization which we want to include as a potential funding partner.


New Website: Andrew and his brother, as well as Liz and Ariana back home are working on generating new content for an awesome looking web portal for the EWB-CU-Rwanda team that we hope to launch before the new school year. We'll have automation to help keep track of our recent blog posts as well as lots of multimedia and sponsorship information. This will be a great tool and information portal for our team as we kick off the new project!

A screenshot of the new EWB-CU-Rwanda Team website made by Andrew's brother!

There's plenty of other major efforts (education reports, future plans, and coordination for next year) that everyone here and back home is hard at work on. My thanks go out to an amazing team of hardworking students and volunteers that are progressing on an amazing and challenging project. That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading and feel free to leave us any comments or questions;


Matt Hulse.

Andy walks away in celebration after completing Umuganda with ROP volunteers.