10,210 Awesome Followers!
4 Reviews
92%Overall
Rating
Program Description
Developing World Connections - Volunteering in Rwanda
Description
Volunteers in Rwanda will make an important gesture of international solidarity. Volunteers will work alongside locals to build and improve the local infrastructure. By visiting the people and witnessing the legacy of violence, volunteers honor the country's effort to rebuild for a sustainable and peaceful future.
Participants may choose to spend time afterwards exploring some of the most beautiful scenery, exotic sites and rich cultural heritage of Rwanda.
Ratings and Reviews
7 of 15 people found this review helpful
Rwanda: Inspiring Recovery from Genocide
90%Overall
Rating
9 of 19 people found this review helpful
life changing experience in Rwanda with DWC
100%Overall
Rating
I had an amazing time with Jenn and Dan as our DWC leaders for 5 weeks in Rwanda during the summer of 2010. We spent our time in a small village called Gashora where we were building a community center for a women's group called COVAGA. The COVAGA women are a co-operative of basket weavers who harvest an agressive plant called the water hyacinth, then they weave baskets out of it and sell it to help their family and the co-op. Not only do they make money, they have a sustainable business that saves their crops from the water hyacinth and the profits help support the families of the co-op. The women and children worked with us on the site EVERY DAY working so hard (much harder, and effectively than any of the volunteers could work). Even though the language barrier was difficult at times, we always could communicate with a smile, a hug or laughter.
Every day was a challenge in its own way but volunteering with DWC was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. On the weekends, we visited the capital city of Kigali, learned about the genocide in Rwanda and visited the gorillas in the north.
Volunteering with DWC is something I will always cherish and remember for the rest of my life. I would not hesitate to do it again in a second!
6 of 17 people found this review helpful
A Rwandan Adventure
100%Overall
Rating
I had been in Rwanda for almost two weeks when i had what i refer to as "a true Rwandan adventure." It was one of those moments you will forever be drawn back to as a world traveller. A moment where you loose all inhibition and give into the true raw nature of being completely and totally consumed by your surroundings.
By this time I had settled quite comfortably into the lifestyle of Gashora, a small village one hour from Kigali where we spent our volunteer time while in Rwanda. I woke up every morning by 7am, washed my face, plastered myself with SPF 50 sunscreen, dressed in yesterday's red-dust covered work clothes and started the walk down to breakfast. After a cup of sweet and creamy African tea, a few hard-boiled eggs and a well appreciated slice of pineapple myself and the rest of my group started our fifteen minute walk up the road to our work site.
By the time we reached the project site the entire village was there to great us. We shook every person's hand, a Rwandan ritual that creates a sense of community and an appreciation for everyone around you. We would then work the rest of the day side-by-side with anyone willing to pick up a shovel, or join in a playful game of simon says. (Which usually turned into a follow the leader routine or chase the Canadian volunteer around the grounds.)
After a long day on the worksite our group would usually enjoy a refreshing coca-cola at the local bar. However today was a most important day as we were asked to join in a football game with the local school teachers. Hundreds of kids showed up to watch the Canadian volunteers loose horribly to their Rwandan teachers. Surrounded by cheering fans the game went on into the night.
By the time we tried to find our bike-taxis it was so dark you were not able to see your hand waving in front of your face. ( A bike taxi is simply a seat on the back of a bicycle over the back wheel- it provides fabulous transportation with unlimited adventure but comes at the cost of a very sore bottom!) After finding a suitable driver we drove at a million miles an hour home.
On this warm Rwandan evening, with bugs flying at my face, I finally felt myself completely overtaken by Rwanda. I could not see one inch in front of my face and I knew my driver could not either. As we speeded down the dirt, and very bumpy, road i loosed my grip from the metal bottom of my seat, focused my eyes on the moving tree tops as we flew by and tried to forget the fast approaching sand patch in the middle of the path. No matter how much traveller anxiety i had i was at the complete mercy of my driver. So i gave into this moment, decided to take this chance to practice my Kinyarwandan language and was completely overtaken by Rwanda. And yes we did indeed make it, and after a long and well deserved night's sleep I awoke to spend another day with the beautiful people of Rwanda.
9 of 24 people found this review helpful
Not your TV Africa
80%Overall
Rating
Upon arriving in Kigali, our group navigated by foot the congested downtown core to find the public van that would take us one hour away to Gashora, the town in which we would live for the next 4 weeks. Working with a Rwandan development organization –Building Bridges with Rwanda– we helped to design and begin construction on an innovative building that would soon be home to a women's vocational training center, to Covaga's talented basket weavers, to a showroom for the women's beautiful handmade baskets, a quaint restaurant, and a community center.
After breakfast every morning we would make our way by foot to the worksite and be briefed on what the plan was for that particular day. Alongside the women of Covaga, the locally hired helpers and many folks from the laid-back community, we surveyed the land, cleared and flattened it, dug irrigation channels, fetched water from the local well, make thousands of mud bricks one by one and do all of the stonework – the local way!
The weeks we spent in Gashora were amazing. Everybody loved the camaraderie of having locals work with us, learning our language and in return teaching us theirs. The community embraced us so warmly and sent us off extravagantly on our last day. We were also invited to compete in large soccer (or football, as it is locally known) that were attended by no less than 600 cheering spectators.
The most difficult part of the experience was the logistical part of trying to get 50+ (often different people day to day) people to work together and pull in the same direction with the construction of the building. With few skilled tradesmen and minimal formal written plans, a lot of time was spent fixing unforeseen problems that we created, most notably a swimming pool sized hole that was dug over 3 weeks to help guide water away from the building which was later decided against, thus needing to be filled in. The language barrier coupled with the fact that we had tons of eager helpers keen to work but only 2 guiding voices to orchestrate the immense project caused quite a bit of confusion and frustration.
All in all, the project was an absolute blast to be part of. Despite sometimes feeling as though we were taking two steps forward and then one step back, we saw a great deal of progress. We saw a huge plot of land go from hilly and overgrown with weeds to level and cleared. We erected many precisely made columns around which the building would be framed. We connected the building to the town's main water source and completed many other important tasks to get this wonderful community a brand new community center. During all of the hard work, we also made connections that will last forever. Of the 30 participants that came to Gashora in our group, some have already returned and several have plans to go back in 2011 and 2012.
I would recommend that anyone go see Rwanda at some point in their lives. 1994 was a dark year in Rwanda's history but the country is now a miraculous story of recovery, forgiveness and healing. It is not a place to miss and Gashora is a great place to start.
I had wanted to go to Africa when I was in university, but I got a summer job each year and regrettably let the opportunity pass me by. Now I'm near retirement and when a friend described to me his great experience of "voluntourism" in Rwanda, I said "It's now or never" when he asked if I was interested. I was a bit worried about safety in Rwanda given the terrible genocide in 1994, but I'm so glad I made the trip.
Rwanda has recovered very quickly from the bloodiest gernocide in recent history. There are new schools, hospitals and clinics, good main roads, and the lowest HIV/Aids rate in sub-Saharan Africa. Kigali has construction cranes building hotels and banks, middle class neighbourhoods, and town square parks, and it's not congested like other capital cities. One key reason is an end to tribal violence - the schools and media promote the message "We are all Rwandans", and tribal-based political parties are banned. Village Truth and Reconcilation courts dealt with genocide victims and murderers with merciful justice, and no death penalty. There is little evidence of bribery and corruption, and people seem to have a hopeful vision of the future.
Our small group from Developing World Connections worked in the southern village of Gashora doing finishing touches to the first of four Covaga Women's Co-operative trade centre buildings. Fifty women harvest an invasive weed clogging the local lake, then dry and weave the reeds into colourful baskets and handbags. Five African young men got summer jobs between college terms working with us. The work wasn't heavy - painting, puttying windows, pointing bricks and stonework with mortar - and the weather in July was ideal: dry, blue sky days of 30 degrees. The water bottle breaks tasted great, and the beer and companionship at day's end was wonderful. The hotel La Palisse was a 15-minute walk or 5 min. bicycle ride away, and had excellent buffet meals, though the hot water was a trickle if you didn't get first shower (we had budget rooms at about $15 USD a night, 3 meals included).
The most fun we had was a pick-up ball hockey game in the local basketball court with red and black sticks left behind from a previous DWC group. The college guys were better than us Canadians and the little kids were fearless goalies. The cheering was wild and the goats on the sidelines were bleating madly. Next time we'll have to do it daily!
What good can a few middle-aged Canadians do on a five-day construction blitz? To be honest our main contribution was an extra suitcase each of donated materials. The Mississauga Soccer Club donated 25 pairs of recycled soccer shoes (Gashoran kids mostly play barefoot) and enough uniform sets to fill a 50 lb. suitcase. We also contacted Notjusttourists.com and received a full suitacse of surplus hospital supplies and parmaceutical drugs worth over $5,000 geared to African needs. We also brought school supplies. We visited the local school and hospital clinic, and were warmly received; we were swarmed by excited children.
The most sombre and most gratifying day was the last. We visited the local Genocide museum, witnessing rows and rows of skulls and skeltons (over 500), wrote a message in the guest book, said a silent prayer and gave a donation for upkeep. An hour later, we were greeted by 50 Covaga women, both Hutu and Tutsi, giving us our pre-ordered baskets. They thanked us profusely, we sang Canadian songs on our guitar, and they followed with African singing and dancing in a great celebration. We toured Kigali the next day and went on a one-day safari before going to Uganda, but the poeple of Gashora stay in my memories.
It's expensive to travel to Africa (over $2,000 in airfare, but the flights are charitable tax deductions), and the medical shots were almost $500 (most drugs were covered by my medical plan), but it was the most memorable trip of my much-traveled life. The accommodation and meal expenses are minimal, so the longer you stay, it's more affordable than a Carribean or European holiday.
Would I go again? You bet, and I'd like to invite you to join us at Developing World Connections for a trip in July or August 2012.