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Tag: cpg vegan trips

How Rwanda Unites

Rwanda is considered the cleanest and greenest country in East Africa. It’s not because Rwanda employs more street sweepers, gardeners, and road crews than other countries, and it’s not (only) because of the decade-long ban on plastic bags.

It’s also because of a monthly communal ritual called Umuganda, a Kinyarwanda word that translates to “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome.” Military service isn’t compulsory in Rwanda but Umuganda is — for able-bodied people ages 18 to 65 — and it takes place on the last Saturday of each month.

Because expatriates and visitors are welcome to participate and because — on our Joyful Vegan Trips to Rwanda — we scheduled our to be there on the day of that month’s Umuganda, we arranged to visit a local village to join them build a road.

Umuganda in its current form was reintroduced in 1998 as part of the effort to rebuild the country and to nurture a shared national identity after the 1994 genocide.

As a U.S. citizen in a deeply divided country, it’s not a huge leap to draw parallels between the past divisiveness in Rwanda and the present divisiveness in my own country. If that sounds dramatic, then consider this:

A recent survey (referenced in this op-ed) asked both Republicans and Democrats, “Do you ever think we’d be better off as a country if large numbers of the opposing party in the public today just died’?” Some 20 percent of Democrats (12.6 million voters) and 16 percent of Republicans (7.9 million voters) said yes.

When asked, “What if the opposing party wins the 2020 presidential election. How much do you feel violence would be justified then?” 18.3 percent of Democrats and 13.8 percent of Republicans said violence would be justified on a scale ranging from “a little” to “a lot.”

Over a 3-month period in 1994 in Rwanda, this very sentiment manifested itself into a methodical massacre in which approximately 800,000 citizens were brutally killed by their fellow citizens—neighbors, co-workers, colleagues, and friends.

If Rwandans can heal, unite, and forgive after such a massive atrocity, anyone can. We have much cleaning up to do in our own country—both literally and figuratively, and we must take it seriously.

Garbage clean-up anyone?

Photo Credit: Jennifer Hadley 

Halong Bay (Vegan in Vietnam)

After another hearty breakfast, we checked out of our hotel to make our 3.5-hour drive to Halong Bay, where we stayed overnight on our own chartered boat.

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The unique beauty of Halong Bay with it’s towering limestone pillars has made it a World Heritage site in 1994. It’s emerald waters and forest topped islets draws tourists from around the world to this Gulf of Tonkin in Northern Vietnam.

After we settled in and enjoyed some welcome drinks, we headed our on kayaks to a stunning spot reachable only by a little cave. The highlight was a family of 20 macaque monkeys….

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It’s been so amazing getting to know everyone in our group. I am so grateful for having the opportunity to travel and make discoveries with my fellow vegans that share my values of peace and compassion and my love for exploring the world.

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The food has been beautiful, aromatic and delicious. After traveling to Thailand where the food was heavy with oils and curry, I’m delightfully surprised at how much more I love Vietnamese food that I thought I would.

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We’re loving it so much that already planning our next trip to Vietnam, which would include Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat and Laos!