Ice cream is new to Rwanda. Selling and eating ice cream is not part of the Rwandan culture. The Butare shop employs nine women. They spend their free time practicing with Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda’s first and only female drumming group. The musicians are Hutu and Tutsi women. Some are survivors of the 1994 genocide, when almost a million Tutsis and Hutus were killed. Some members of Ingoma Nshya are widows, some orphans. Ingabire’s father, two siblings and many cousins were killed in the genocide. “When I’m drumming, it gives me power because we’re still alive and survivors,” she says.
What does drumming do for Ingabire?
It empowers her as a survivor It is something she can enjoy with her family It makes her feel part of the Rwandan culture It provides a source of stress relief