How to go
What: Rwandan Harvest Day — Umuganura 2010
When: 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 7
Where: Wayne High School auditorium, 5400 Chambersburg Road, Huber Heights
Cost: $15 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12. Tickets can be purchased at the door
More info: (937) 256-2088
Dayton’s Rwandan community — one of the largest concentrated Rwandan populations in the country — is planning an event designed to showcase its cultural heritage.
Rwandan Harvest Day — Umuganura 2010 will be held on Saturday, Aug. 7, at Wayne High School in Huber Heights.
“This is the second time we are organizing this event, but the first time we have invited artists from outside of the U.S.,” says Isaie Sibomana, coordinator of the Rwandan Community of Dayton.
“We are very excited, because people from Rwanda who live in many states will come to Dayton,” he explains. “It’s the only time we all get together at one place, speak the same language, eat the same food and explain to the public what our Rwandan culture is.”
There are now about 400 people from Rwanda who have settled in the Miami Valley. They began arriving in 1996 from refugee camps following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and have never stopped.
Appearing on the program will be Jean Baptiste Byumvuhore and Ben Ngabo, Rwandan musicians who now live in Belgium. Also performing is “Impundu,” a dance group from Dayton that specializes in Rwandan traditional dance and Mr. D. (African son), a local musician.
Although the Dayton event will be a happy day of celebration, Sibomana says that Rwandans who live in America are concerned for the upcoming election, which takes place in their native land on Monday.
“If you read the news, you know there are many killings happening in our country to those who oppose the government,” he explains. “Here, because you have a democracy, you can say what’s not going well and you won’t be killed for it. But in Rwanda, it’s totally different. You can be killed.”
Kristine Ward is chair of the House of People, the volunteer-run shelter for Rwandan refugees at 40 Holt St., in lower Dayton View.
“Each Rwandan survivor story is unique, as are each of them,” she says. “All of the stories are circled by suffering of a degree nearly unimaginable to us. The nobility of their courage is striking. They are inspirational in their qualities of industriousness and motivation coupled with their dedicated to education and strong, firm family bonds.”
The local Rwandan community also has begun importing arts, jewelry and crafts made by orphans and widows of the genocide. The products are being sold the last Wednesday of each month from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Night for the Arts on Far Hills Avenue in Oakwood sponsored by Central Perc and Oakwood Florist. Proceeds go directly to Rwanda for the education of their children. The next event is Aug. 25.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or mmoss@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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