June 24, 2007

So this weekend was my first Rwandan Hash! The Hash is a run or walk (you choose) that is organized every week in or around Kigali city. Hash members include both expats and locals. Ages, sex, and backgrounds vary. Erica (another PSF summer student,) and I tagged along with Taylor this weekend. The route began at a small bar in downtown Kigali, circled though through town, up to the top of Mt. Kigali, and back down to the bar where we started. I was convinced to join the runners group. Luckily, I had a Rwandan running partner who was having just as much trouble making it up the mountain as I was. We walked at times and took several breaks. Despite the difficulty of the run, which was about 4 km up hill, it was the most incredible one I’ve ever been on. To get to the top of Mt. Kigali, you pass by many houses packed tightly in the hills. Children come to the side of their clay homes to see the “Muzungus” (white people) struggle up the mountain they climb every day…barefoot. They laughed and smiled at us, and sometimes joined in for the run/walk. The weather was beautiful. It was sunny, around 80 degrees, and the flowers were in bloom. Erica had said to me that it seemed as if we were in a movie. Neither one of us could believe we were living this moment. We passed through school yards, soccer games, and small shops. Near the top of the moment, we climbed through a small gorge (which was a little scary). The mountain is covered in small pebbles, so it makes it very difficult to keep balance. We moved very slowly, particularly on the way down. We certainly amused the locals. They laughed and smiled at our pathetically overt yet admittedly humorous clumsiness. We finally made it back to bar, where drinks and goat brochettes were waiting for us.

Finally, all of the hash members made it back to bar. It was after several drinks that Erica and I learned that we would be officially initiated into the Rwandan hash. I’ve never been initiated into anything like this before. All of the members formed a circle, and they began to sing the international hash song (the hash is run all over the world by the way). After the song had finished, Erica and I were called into the middle of the circle. We were handed a half of glass of beer. Following some questioning by the hash leaders, a song was sung. At the end of the song we chugged our glasses becoming official members of the Rwandan hash.

Following initiation, the hash members went to a restaurant in Nyamirambo (sp?) for fish. Before dinner was served our servers came with a water pitcher and basin for hand washing. Then the food arrived. We were served two full tilapia fish (head and all!) and some potatoes on a platter! We at the fish with our hands while sharing some beer, stories, and laughs. Following, dinner we washed our hands in the basin again. It was an excellent meal and unlike anything I’ve ever had before!