Where there’s music there’s dancing - August 21

Life in Meheba is not dull. There are of course dull moments, and when I first got here, I thought I’d go crazy with the silence and lack of “entertainment”, but I’m actually beginning to relish lazy Saturdays where I can sit down with my book and not move an inch for hours. While there isn’t a whole lot to do here in the evenings, we don’t have much power and we aren’t allowed out of the compound after dark (and really there would be no reason to go out anyway), truth be told, the job of Project Manager provides its own level of...things to do. In such a way that when you finally get a little peace and quiet where there is nothing to do, its actually much appreciated.

The week began with picking up two new volunteers from the States who are here for a month to work with FORGE projects. Its been nice having new faces around, and of course new music collections, as well as feeling, for the first time, that I might actually know enough about this place after two months to show someone else around. Its sort of a nice realization that hey, maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this.

This week we were also invited to Block G, a predominately Rwandese community about an hour or so bike ride from our house. The Rwandese community is nothing short of amazing. Going to Block G is like entering an alternate universe where things just work and time actually runs on time. The houses are even different in Block G as the Rwandese have mastered the art of creating red tile roofs and real red fired bricks. This morning several people in the community had gathered to make mud bricks for new latrines for the FORGE pre-school. When we got there an efficient assembly line was already in place and our pre-school head teacher was marveling that men and women were both working on this together. Previously, building used to be men only, but now in this new progressive society everyone is pitching in to make sure their children have the necessary accommodations for school. It was really great and even better to see the men in the community so happy about it!

We tried to pitch in and help, but honestly I felt like I was contributing to less work getting done, so I bowed out gracefully and joined some other community members at the local shop for cold beverages and impromptu dancing. This is the thing I love about Meheba: where there is music, there is dancing. As the music blared people started swaying their hips and clapping their hands, and before I knew it, more people were congregating and a circle was forming. Of course being a muzungu (the swahili word for white person) and well, just being me, I found myself in the middle of this circle. Dancing has always been the one thing that makes me crazy happy, and this was no exception. A few of the community members started teaching me how to do traditional Rwandese dancing. Also, rumba is really popular here (its a type of Congolese music and dancing that is really similar to the latin dance) and we danced that as well. Then, shock of all shock, one of the community members started teaching Jeremy Capoeira For those of you not familiar with Capoeira, it is a Brazilian marshal art that mimics dancing. It’s really incredible and also happens to be a ton of fun. I took a semester when I was at McGill and have never had such an amazing work out in my life. I was shocked to see this here!! It’s a much smaller world than one imagines.

After all the dancing we were taken to a meeting with the parents and teachers of the FORGE pre-school. They had prepared an event for us to welcome us and to show us more of their culture. We drank the banana beer that they produce in their community, listened to them talk about what the pre-school means to the community, and watched as they and several children’s groups showed us traditional dancing and singing. Rwandese dance is hard to describe. There are lots of violent hand motions, quick hip turns and hard stomps on the floor. Everything is highly synchronized and everyone participates either by clapping, dancing or singing.

At the end of the day, I was completely exhausted but also unbelievably happy. It was one of the best days I’ve had in Meheba and was such a joy to feel so welcomed and to see what an impact FORGE projects are having on the community. We also have a health center and a library in G. It was also special because just a few short years ago this community was very skeptical of any outsiders. When FORGE first started working in ‘G’ many people refused to take advantage of our services out of skepticism of a white/western organization and they certainly wouldn’t allow photos taken of them. This time, they were borrowing our cameras and taking photos of each other, posing and asking for photos, telling us how much they appreciated our services, and all around welcoming us in full force.