“Give Me Umuganda”

“Breaking one stick is easy, but when you bind several sticks together, they are not easily broken,” Bishop Manasseh of our sister diocese in Gahini said as he addressed Redeemer’s congregation in the sanctuary in October 2019. He was speaking of the concept of “umuganda,” a word which has become familiar to us over the past few years.

“Giving umuganda to someone is to lend a hand, or to add strength to them. I may say, ‘Give me umuganda.’ That’s like me saying, ‘Help me, encourage me, give me more strength,’” Bp. Manasseh explained. When we seek to accomplish things on our own—when we stand as the proverbial solitary stick—we are easily broken, tossed aside, and discouraged. But when we bind ourselves together as we live and seek to accomplish goals, like a pile of branches bound together, we are not easily swayed.

Bp. Manasseh explained that umuganda was a concept which was introduced prior to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It was initially introduced in 1962 before becoming an official government program in 1974—at this point it was frequently referred to as umubyizi, which meant ‘a day set aside by friends and family to help each other,’ and it took place once a week. “We would plant trees and do different community acts, but it was characterized by force. ‘If you don’t do it, you are punished.’ There was a negative understanding.” But after the genocide, this largely changed.

With the inauguration of a government which represented more of the people, as well as with the space and time which was made for people to talk about their feelings in the aftermath of the genocide, Bp. Manasseh explained that there was reconciliation between the people groups which had once been so divided. Umuganda days were reintroduced in 1998 and then formally established as a governmental program in the late 2000s “as part of efforts to reconstruct Rwanda and to nurture a shared national identity” among the people. Bp. Manasseh described the current atmosphere of these days being one of fellowship, friendship, and productivity—a sort of healing of former tensions and violent divisions.

Our rector Rev. Alan Hawkins described the spirit of these days similarly. “Rwanda is a relatively churched nation, so there’s a real connection between the Christian community and the community at large. So during Umuganda days people sing, dance, and celebrate. It’s pretty joyous.” He and other members of the Redeemer community first experienced an Umuganda day during Redeemer’s first trip to Rwanda in the early 2010s. From then on, they typically experienced an Umuganda day during each trip—the trips were typically scheduled for the last 2 weeks of May since, beginning in 2013, they were oriented as the last part of the Fellows program which finishes up at the end of May. “We started to specifically build it into our plans so the Fellows could see it as well.”

From the Redeemer trip to Rwanda in 2017

In Rwanda, Umuganda days take place on the last Saturday of each month from 8:00 to 11:00. Rev. Alan explained that each year on this last Saturday of May, the people of our sister parish would take Redeemer folks to the site of whatever project they’d been designated to work on. On their way, they’d pass by people weeding, raking, building hospitals, and doing any number of community service projects. One year the Redeemer group helped dig an irrigation ditch in front of a house, another year they constructed a roof, another they painted a building, and the list goes joyously on. 

When we closed on our New Garden Park property in November 2016, we began having work days in order to get the property ready for worship and to steward well what the Lord had blessed us with. One of the first projects involved pulling up the brick pathways which used to be in place behind the Grove. We continued having these work days to accomplish similar projects around the park, but decided to revitalize them in October 2019 by renaming them. We began calling them Umuganda Days in order to introduce this spirit of coming together in fellowship and care of our land, and Bp. Manasseh came from Rwanda to further explain the concept to the congregation as we inaugurated our very own Umuganda days.

Umuganda Day at New Garden Park!

You may have noticed a further revitalization of these days in 2021. During our first one of the year (in February), we had 82 people registered to join us for fellowship and work. That number increased to 107 for our second Umuganda Day of the year (April). Rev. Alan chalks this up to several factors: “I really think it’s all of the new ingredients: with the new Fellows class we’ve had more administrative support and church communications. We now have team leaders for each project and videos which explain the projects ahead of time. In addition to eating breakfast together, we also now share lunch after working too!” We’re so thankful for all of the work which has been accomplished at our Umuganda Days so far this year--we have dug ditches, moved fences, planted fruit trees, built a wheelchair ramp, and so much more around New Garden Park! We’re also grateful that despite the safety regulations we’ve had to hold to in the midst of a pandemic, working and sharing meals outdoors has provided an opportunity to fellowship with old friends and new friends alike!

We’ll be taking a break from our Umuganda Days in the summer, but will begin again in August. We pray that the Lord blesses all the work of your hands until then and will be excited to come together again for work and fellowship.