Shortly after arriving at the village Friday afternoon, it was brought to our attention that we had an opportunity to take part in a village tradition the next morning called Muchaka Muchaka. Every Saturday morning at 6am, all of the students run around the campus in large groups while clapping their hands and singing songs. Mike, Paige and I decided to wake up at 5:45 and give it a go.
Seeing the sun come up over that incredibly beautiful hillside and cutting through the morning mist was in itself worth getting up that early for. The run itself was not very fast, but when you factored in the steady climb up the twisty dirt path, as well as the high altitude (over 1500 meters), it made for a pretty challenging run. Once at the top of the campus, the kids stopped in front of the school, did stretching exercises, and sang more songs. One of the students told us that the term Muchaka Muchaka was Swahili for "running". Later, a director added that the tradition came from a Rwandan military training exercise. All we know is that it was an incredible experience that none of us will soon forget.
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