As we are still in Rehengeri , it was nice not to have to get up really early today, although I was still up at 6am doing washing and re-arranging my big pack and generally just bumming around!
Some of the others had gone to the Diane Fossey memorial, which was up in the forest where she lived studying the great mountain gorillas years back. Without her, I am sure none of the gorillas would have survived poachers and Rwanda would not have the tourism or conservation associated with them now. You may have seen the movie or read the book 'Gorillas in the Mist', detailing her life and times with the magnificent creatures.
I opted not to go and instead went on a guided 3 hour walk to the Rehengeri markets and into a village. The markets are huge with every vege you can imagine , gots, chickens and rabbits await their fate and women everywhere are carrying produce on their heads. So many people, buying and selling, it is a colourful spectacle with hundreds of people milling around. We walk further into a market within the market where all non-produce items are sold. Fabrics, clothes, shoes, you name it and I'm sure it would be there for sale.
From here we walked to a village close by and visited a project, all behind large iron doors, as is the way here, that had been sponsored and set up by an American woman who saw the need to teach women to be self sufficient and give them a skill. So she purchased Singer treadle sewing machines, which are used everywhere in East Africa, and started teaching two single local mothers English and also how to sew. That was in 2007 and now there are 13 women and about 15 machines. They sell everything they make and run a good business with some orders going overseas and the women managing the entire process.
They then danced for us whilst one of their number belted out an extremely good beat on an African drum. What a spirited lot they were, and the dance wasn't that dissimilar to a Hawaiian hula, in parts, with the hip movement taking centre stage. And of course the obligatory tourists getting up and dancing with them. It was all a a lot of fun. We were shown how to make baskets using raffia, sisal and dried grasses. I got the idea and did quite a decent job of it, although I didn't get very far. It takes these expert ladies 3 days to make a woven plate or dish. I would have loved to have bought one but I think it would not be allowed through customs. I already need to declare some wooden items, but I think grasses would be pushing it.
It was a great walk and again, good to move the body and get the legs workin. Mind you, we walk absolutely everywhere so I am keeping my weight down I hope. It is hard to pass up seconds of the great food that Dan cooks up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Victor's catch cry every night is 'Make Dan proud, have more food'. This has now become MDP and as it sounds like a political part (I thought the Western world was bad enough with acronyms, but I reckon East Africa takes the prize), the catch cry is now 'Make Dan Proud! MDP for President'. Photos to come