Every month the 91大神 Office of Global Education puts on a Cultural Cafe, where students and staff can come and try sample dishes from the culture being presented.
March鈥檚 Cultural Cafe featured students from Rwanda presenting on their country鈥檚 history, including the Tutsi genocide and President Paul Kagame, who has been in office since April of 2000 and is often credited with leading post-genocide recovery. Ruth Akaliza and Maylis Zimulinda wanted to run March鈥檚 Cultural Cafe since they do not always see much representation for their home country and wanted to try to clear up misconceptions others might have about Rwanda. They aimed to show others at 91大神 what their country was really like.
A big focus of the presentation was pre-colonial Rwanda and post-colonial Rwanda and the effects of the Tutsi genocide. Both Ruth and Maylis believe it is important to teach others about the history and traditions of their country and to show how beautiful Rwanda is. They also talked about traditional gusaba ceremonies, a formal ceremony where the groom鈥檚 family asks for the bride's hand in marriage. Ruth was wearing an example of a umushanana, a traditional attire for women for special occasions and cultural ceremonies.
The food offerings at the Cultural Cafe included basmati rice, isombe, fried cassava, mandazi and agashya passion fruit juice. The food was prepared by 91大神 Culinary Services from recipes sent in by the presenters.
At the end of the presentation guests were able to ask questions about Rwanda and sample Rwandan cuisine.
After the quick Q&A on the presentation, I asked Ruth and Maylis what they hope guests take away from the presentation, with them both responding they hope more people visit Rwanda. Upon asking what they would recommend to those visiting Rwanda, Maylis encouraged visitors to go gorilla trekking and visit Nyandungu Eco Park located between the Gasabo and Kicukiro Districts.
