Culture, Kimaronko and Chillaxing

We have had a pretty busy but very exciting weekend, hence why we haven’t got round to writing a blog!

Saturday started with us visiting Nyamirambo Women’s Centre’ – a place which had been recommended to us before coming to Kigali. There a number of things that you can do there including cooking classes, basket weaving and a tour of the local area to learn about the women’s centre. We chose to do the latter and enjoy a lunch prepared by the women and the cooking class!

The tour was led by a local woman called Sylvie. She taught us about milk delivery and milk bars. We went to the hair salon and each had a hair braid done in traditional African style. After this we saw beautiful views over Kigali and were taken to the local greengrocers to have a look at the Rwandan special veg. We had the chance to grind the Kasava leaves in a traditional way and see how they go from plant to plate. Sylvie also taught us, almost successfully, to carry things on or heads! Apparently it isn’t a skill which is taught, it is something children pick up from a young age from watching others.

On return to the centre we ate a fantastic lunch with so many different options to try. It was delicious and many of the ingredients we had seen in the local shops!

Following this Hannah, Holly, Kat and Alice went to Kikironko market again to finish buying goods whilst Francesca and Sophie went back to the apartment to chill. We continue out haggling and even got some clothes made by a lovely lady Jane and her niece Ruth. They managed to make two skirts and two trousers in just 3 hours. We were so pleased with the results!

Sunday saw a very early start to go to Lake Muhazi with Lolance, known as Cadre. She is a member if the AGR and has done lots of things with WAGGGS including going to multiple world conferences to represent Rwanda. We understood that it was a tradition for her to take the GOLD teams to her lake house for a relaxing day. She was the best and so welcoming. Dodo came with us and it truly was the most beautiful day.

Silence only broken by bird noises and ripples of water. Fresh pineapple bought to us and all topped off with a boat trip at the end of the day.

We went to the opposite side of the lake on the boat (reassured that there would not be any crocodiles or hippos waiting for us). There was a small pontoon and a diving board – perfect for dangling our legs, chatting and getting a team photo. Hannah made her adult leader promise on the top of the diving board and Dodo picked flowers for us in our favourite colours. It was a special day that none of us will ever forget.