Living Well Together
Primary 2 · Social and Religious Studies
Living Well Together
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Let's begin
It is the last Saturday of the month. Keza looks out at the road and something is strange.
There are no motos. The shops are shut. But everybody is outside — and they are carrying hoes, brooms and buckets.
Where is the whole village going? Come and see.
On the last Saturday of every month, in the morning, grown-ups all over Rwanda stop their other work. They come out and work together for their community.
This is umuganda. The word means people coming together to do a job that helps everybody.
What do they do? They cut the long grass beside the road. They fill the holes in the path. They dig ditches so the rain water runs away instead of washing the soil down the hill. They plant trees. They mend a school. They build a house for a family that has none.
Nobody gets paid for umuganda. The pay is the road, the school, the house — and the neighbours.
When the work is finished, everyone sits down together. They talk about what their umudugudu needs next, and they decide who will do it.
Byiringiro's grandmother lives alone. Her roof leaks and rain drips onto her bed. Working by herself, she could not mend it in many weeks.
At umuganda, twelve neighbours come to her house. Each one carries 10 bricks. That is 120 bricks — in one trip.
By eleven o'clock the roof is finished. Grandmother makes tea for everybody.
One person alone could not do it. Twelve people together did it before lunch. That is the whole idea of umuganda.
You are too young for the heavy work. But you have your own umuganda, and it starts today:
Your environment is everything around you: the air, the water, the soil, the trees, the animals — and the road you walk on.
Keza is walking home. She sees an empty plastic bottle lying by the path. She did not drop it. Somebody else did.
She picks it up anyway and puts it in the bin.
Why? Because "it is not mine" is not a good enough reason to walk past. Rwanda is her home too, and a clean home is everybody's job.
Rwanda is one of the cleanest countries in Africa. That did not happen by luck. It happened because millions of people each did one small thing — again and again.
You are one of those people now.
Tip
Remember this and you will never get it wrong:
Leave every place a little better than you found it.
One child picking up one piece of rubbish looks like nothing. But a school has hundreds of children. Do the sum — the whole compound is clean before the bell rings.
Say your answer, then tap Show answer to check.
When does umuganda happen?
Answer: On the last Saturday of every month, in the morning.
Name three jobs people do at umuganda.
Answer: Any three of these — cut the grass by the road, fill holes in the path, dig ditches for the rain, plant trees, mend a school, build a house for a family in need.
You see a piece of paper on the school ground. You did not drop it. What do you do?
Answer: Pick it up and put it in the bin. "It is not mine" is not a good reason to walk past.
Why do we plant trees on our hills?
Answer: Their roots hold the soil, so the rain does not wash it down the hill. Trees also give us shade, fruit and clean air.
Your neighbour Mutesi is old and is carrying a heavy jerrycan of water up the hill. You are on your way to play. What is the good thing to do?
Answer: Stop and help her carry it. Helping a neighbour in need is your own umuganda, and it only costs you a few minutes.
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