Day 8: Mucaka Mucaka!

Allie B. 

We began our day with Mucaka Mucaka, the weekly Saturday morning run to the nearby village with the students.  Waking up at 5:30am seemed tough, but the energy of the kids, with their chanting and games, was so energizing.  After Mucaka Mucaka we returned to the village and joined our families in their assigned chores around the village, such as mopping the dining hall or shoveling on the farm.  Despite the busy schedule, no one complained about the work, and afterword the students had free time to play sports or go to club meetings. Some of us went to the Genesis meeting, which is the super-modeling club, and practiced our fierce runway walks with guys and girls of all ages.  Saturday afternoon in the village was like any weekend at Tufts, with kids relaxing and playing and watching television in their houses, and the universality of our age group really struck me in a somehow very comforting way.

Julia Stein 

It’s difficult to explain how incredible Mucaka Mucaka was through a blog post, but I will try my best. It’s important to note that I absolutely hate running and most forms of exercise, and was in fact dreading this particular activity. But, I begrudgingly rolled out of bed at 5:27 AM, just in time to catch the sunrise over the hills, did some stretches, and waddled out to meet our families at the mango tree. I knew the second we all started running that this would be a different experience. The chanting, the clapping, and the encouraging words from our fellow Mucaka-ers made it an awe-inspiring experience, and might even make me reconsider my no-running-before-10 AM-/-never rule.

After Mucaka Mucaka, we joined our families for a hearty breakfast of porridge and ONE (very strict rule) roll, and we taught them the cup song that we had performed at Village Time. Afterwards, we joined our families for farm, and my family in particular got to pull weeds from the road, which is actually one of my favorite activities. I had such great talks with a couple of girls from my family, and we ended up gossiping and chatting like any group of gal pals would! Definitely trying to maximize my time spent with the family in our last couple of days here.