The sun beats down on the field as thousands of farmers, some who have walked overnight to be there, take their seats.
They have travelled to Mulundi tea factory, in Rwanda’s northern province, to celebrate their part in the transformation of Rwanda’s industry, a project led by the Wood Foundation.
The charity, led by retired North Sea billionaire and philanthropist, Sir Ian Wood, invested £8.6million to buy about 60% shares in the factory and a similar site in Shagasha in the south.
Thousands of tea farmers in Rwanda have had their lives transformed by Sir Ian Wood’s charity
In the long term, complete control will be transferred to the smallholder farmers, whose crops feed into the tea-making process.
Thousands have enjoyed a huge surge in their income, a three-fold increase on average.
And they have also been given the opportunity to access education, where before it would not have been possible, through the foundation’s farmer field schools.
There people have the chance to learn about the best practice on their land, business skills and other subjects.
About 7,000 farmers have graduated from the schools since they were first launched, many of whom picked up their cerificates at the celebration event.
Government officials, including the minister for agriculture, foundation employees and Sir Ian and his sons Garreth and Nick were all in attendance.
There were several impressive dancing displays from local youngsters, dressed in colourful tribal garb, along with call and response singing and chanting which paid tribute to the charity.
All of the dignitaries, including the local governor, are invited to join in with the traditional routines.
At one stage, the group even recreated the green leaf weighing process with a prop stand and scale.
The site lies not far from the former command base of the current president Paul Kagame, the then commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RFP) which helped bring an end to the genocide in 1994.
The National Liberation Park Museum features the president’s former bunker as well as other buildings used during the fighting which now house exhibits.
Many of the farmers took the opportunity to regale the crowd with their own experiences since the foundation’s work had began.
A mother said she now had the money to send her three children to school as she could pay the fees.
And a man who addressed the crowd said his farm had been so successful that he was now able to hire his own employees to help him on his land.
Another woman praised the foundation for introducing bonuses and for giving her the chance to attend the farmer field school.
Sir Ian was then presented with a gift-wrapped painting, which of himself set in a plantation with farmers surrounding him.
He was then invited to address the event, starting off Kinyarwanda before reverting back to English which was translated for the crowds.
He said: “Today I’d like to recognise and congratulate all of you who have accepted the challenge and made the huge effort to change your approach to tea farming. You are now running your farms more as businesses.
“As you know our interests are purely charitable, we are not here to make money rather we want to help you make a lot more money and what we’re celebrating today is the initial success of that with the improved income you are now receiving for yourself and your families.
“Frankly we see a lot more opportunity for you to continue to improve and enjoy more prosperity and we look forward to continuing with you on this journey.”
As well as the factories at Mulundi and Shagasha, the foundation is also helping to setup two new sites in Rwanda and one in Tanzania.
The total investment for all three projects will come to about £86million, with about £54million for the investment in the three new factories, and £32million to finance the tea planting and to set up the service companies to assist the farmers as well as pay for fertiliser and other tools.
The 100 day genocide left a lasting impact on Rwandans
The concrete figure is still unknown but somewhere in the region of 800,000 people were murdered during the 100 day genocide.
The events, which lasted from April to June 1994, have had a lasting impact on the country.
The Genocide Museum in Kigali is a lasting memorial to those who died during the bloody conflict, where Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered after decades of ethnic and political tensions exploded into a civil war.
About 250,000 people are buried in mass graves and there is also a wall of names where the known victims are listed alphabetically by their surnames – the continually updated shrine gives a harrowing insight into how many families were almost or completely wiped out.
Many Rwandans are understandably reticent to discuss the events, which are in such recent memory.
And while they continue to mourn those who they lost among their families and loved ones the country as a whole is keen to not be defined by the grim episode in its history.
But it is an issue that even the Wood Foundation has had to consider when it has been attempting to bring the tea industry into other parts of the country.
Regular visitors talk of a “lost generation” of men aged between 30-50 who perished ijn the genocide.
David Knopp, the foundation’s Africa director, said: One of the greenfield sites here is quite challenging because Nyaruguru was one of the hardest hit areas by the genocide.
“And so one of the challenges there is in some areas person owning the land could be one elderly woman and she doesn’t have the financial resources to prepare the land and she doesn’t have the human resources to work the land and so you have to look at ways of overcoming these challenges which are quite unique, especially to Rwanda.”