Everything I learned about Rwanda 

1. Once a month the community has a “Community Day” most of these days are spent cleaning up the community, fixing roads or meeting to discuss how to better improve their communities!

2. The Rwandan genocide began on April 7th, 1994 after a lot of build up and strife between native communities and political uprisings.

3. The genocide lasted 100 days and resulted in more than 1 million deaths and is memorialized yearly from April 7th to April 14th. During this time, community members gather to recount the cost of hatred and strife, remember loved ones, share testimonies, and communicate how they can continue to move forward. 

4. The country has been hard at work to rebuild and reconstruct their nation and government for a better future. 

5. The nation is known for having one of Africa’s most clean and most safe cities, it’s capitol, Kigali. (I can attest to both of these being true from my experience in Africa!)

6. It's known as “The Land of a Thousand Hills”

7. It is home to the endangered mountain gorillas.

8. The country has five volcanoes! & this is where many of the gorillas live!

9. The currency is the Rwandan Franc and though it fluctuates in comparison to our U.S. dollar, approximately 1500francs = $1.50usd

10. Akagera, the largest National park, is well known for being home to the “Big Five” animals. The Big Five animals are the lion, elephant, rhino, African buffalo and the leopard. 

11. Many women who experienced the genocide work in restorative programs on coffee farms, in sewing or in basket weaving as a way to regenerate income. 

12. African coffee is a unique coffee order that includes coffee, milk and a lot of sugar. 

13. Many people in Rwanda speak two or more languages. The most common are Kinyarwanda, French and English. 

14. In Rwanda they like to eat french fries but they call them chips. We ate french fries nearly everyday.

15. The word “Umuzungu” means white person in Kinyarwanda.  

16. Many people like milk, cold, warm, in coffee, in tea, you name it, they drink it!

17. “Motto” or motorbike is one of the main forms of transportation.