Our Adventures Begin...

With our second full day in Rwanda half way done, everyone from Tufts is already feeling right at home in this beautiful country. Yesterday, Wednesday, was a long and eventful day for all of us. After an early wakeup, we went to our first Rwandan breakfast, consisting of porridge, bread and tea. Some of the ASYV staff gave us a quick tour of the village amidst the thick fog, which kept the green rolling hills around the village hidden from us. The village director, Nir, joined us for a discussion on the evolution of the village, and we had the opportunity to meet many of the staff members with whom we would be working. Orin, our construction staff leader from California led half of the group, while the other half worked with another volunteer doing extreme art. The construction work was much harder than any of us were expecting. We worked side-by-side local Rwandan men in an effort to create stadium seats for the newly finished basketball court. Our job was to help mix cement, a job that none of us were really prepared for. We were told that the locals working on the job make $5 each day if they are skilled workers, and only $2 each day if they are unskilled workers. These men, while small in stature and wearing worn out sandals, were some of the hardest workers and strongest men we have ever seen. The other half of the group, the extreme artists, helped paint the mural that adorns the cafeteria wall. After working on the mural, the group designed and started a mosaic that we will hopefully finish before we leave the village. After our tiring morning we had lunch with the youth from the village before returning back to our houses for rest/shower hour. Once our free time ended we had a two hour text-study where we talked about what our responsibility is as Jews and what role we are meant to play in the world. Then, we went off in small groups to check out what free-time is like in the village. A small group of us explored the art center where we sang songs and exchanged dances with a group of the village youth. We learned local chants and taught them a few Hebrew and American songs/dances (the Macarena was a hit!) After our song and dance session we had dinner up at the cafeteria. Once dinner was over we came back to the house and met with the leader of informal education, Jean-Pierre. After hearing his story and learning about how the youth from the village are selected we had one more hour of activities--- family time. We were paired up with houses and headed off to our respective houses. At the village, the houses are set up with 16 students and one house mother to create a sense of family. At the houses we played name games and bonded with the families. When family time ended, we were all exhausted and ready to call it a day.

That’s all for now!

Becca Hornthal