Umuganda

It was Umuganda today for the shop. 

Umaganda:  In Rwanda, there is a mandatory community service day from 8:00am to 11:00am, on the last Saturday of each month called Umuganda meaning community service.  The day is called umunsi w’umuganda, meaning “contribution made by the community, which is designed to be a day of contribution and building the country by citizens themselves. By law all able bodied persons above the age of 18 and below 65 are expected to participate in volunteer community work. The start of this practice goes back to colonial times and is still practiced today.

Yes, it is Friday, but the ice cream shop is too busy on Saturdays.  The ladies did a thorough cleaning, while trying to wait on customers.  Wouldn’t you know that this would be a busy day!  We had a lot of ex-Pats in the shop, which is always nice.

I tried helping as best I could with the cleaning.  Mostly I stayed out of their way.  It was Pizza Friday so I had to make my pizza sauce.  Juleinne and I had to go to the market to get the cheese and some other ingredients.  I thought I was a fast walker… I had to practically run to keep up with her and she is smaller than me.  She was laughing at me because I kept giving the drivers a dirty look and waiving my arms.  They think it is funny to scare you. 

We only had one order of Pizza, but a lot of ice cream.  We are happy to have the ice cream machine working again.  It was warm in the morning, but started raining late afternoon.  I am so tired from not sleeping last night that I am anxious to go home and watch a movie in bed. I really need a good nights sleep.

Good Evening, Paula