Alumni preserve Congolese cultural heritage through volunteerism

Exchange alumni in Kinshasa focused their community service day on preserving DRC’s cultural heritage. Alumni, with the help of more than one hundred volunteers, organized a tour for 50 kids aged 7 to 16 at the National Museum in Kinshasa. Alumni guided kids through the museum while they listened to tour guides describe cultural variance within the vast country, colonization, social structures of traditional Congolese villages, and the meaning of certain symbols in traditional communities. After the tour, the SANGOA ballet, a traditional dance troupe, preformed. Between each song, the troupe explained to the children the dance’s significance and when and why it was traditionally performed in villages. To close the ceremony, children tasted traditional dishes, which varied in regional origin, brought by alumni and other volunteers.