5X社区

IN A FLASH SPECIAL: Exploring Rwanda

All this week, 鈥淚n A Flash鈥 will feature images from the 5X社区 group鈥檚 trip to Rwanda.

Traditional dancers perform at the Urugo Women's Opportunity Center In Rwanda.

Students in Kent State鈥檚 Kigali Summer Institute in Rwanda enjoyed performances of traditional dances at the Urugo Women鈥檚 Opportunity Center. Students were also invited to perform with the dancers.

Students dancing with traditional dancers in Rwanda.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the was founded by to create a secure environment in which vulnerable women find support, access resources, and develop life-changing skills in Rwanda. Women for Women invests in women survivors of war and conflict around the world, providing them with social and economic skills to transform their own lives.

A woman creates a basket from native plants at the Urugo Women's Opportunity Center in Rwanda.

The center provides a wide range of training to the women in Kayonza District in the sewing industry, and handmade crafting that provides them with life shaping skills for the development of their families and communities. Women can create and offer items for sale at the center.

Women create baskets and other items from native plants at the Urugo Women's Opportunity Center in Rwanda.

The Urugo Women鈥檚 Opportunity Center has become a hub for women's entrepreneurship, a space of learning, a resource for the community, and a source of inspirational stories. The Center also provides tourists the opportunity to learn key components of Rwanda's rich cultural heritage while making a difference in the community.

Golden Flashes visit a shop in Rwanda.

Later, the Kent State group visited , Central Africa鈥檚 largest protected wetland and the last remaining refuge for savannah-adapted species in Rwanda. The park鈥檚 features include woodland areas, swamps, low mountains and savannah. Visitors can see zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles and hundreds of bird species.

Giraffes in Akagera National Park.
POSTED: Thursday, July 20, 2023 11:23 AM
Updated: Thursday, July 20, 2023 04:20 PM
WRITTEN BY:
Phil B. Soencksen