You say Huye, I say Butare

On Saturday we took a trip south (I drove!) to Butare the city that is home to the National University of Rwanda(NUR) and the National Museum.  The government has renamed some of the larger cities in Rwanda so Butare is supposed to be called Huye (and Ruhingere is supposed to be called Musanze) but I have yet find anyone other than tourists who call the renamed cities by their new names.  The new names are supposed to help with differentiating province names from city names so I guess government officials probably are among the only Rwandan users of the name Huye.  Butare is about 2.5 hours south of Kigali, once it was the capital and center of culture in Rwanda.  Now, it is a city with a very busy but short main street and lots of residential areas. Our goal was to visit the area, see the museums and visit with Kate and her husband Okan.  Kate is also here on a Fulbright, she is a professor of environmental biology at Columbia University and she studies mammals (Kate's CU website) while here she is teaching at NUR and supposedly setting up a research station in Nyungwe Forest.  In typical fashion her research is being held up by an incredibly difficult and tiresome beuracracy that will not issue her a permit (with each inquiry into the permit process she gets a slightly different story from the Rwandan Development Board/RDB). 

Our first stop on the road was at Gatagara Pottery cooperative.  The Twa are a pygmy people who live in Rwanda.  One of the crafts at which they excel is pottery and in Gatagara there is a cooperative at which a number of people work and sell their crafts.  Unfortunately, Saturday was not a work day but the manager came and showed us around the work area and we bought some pottery while we were there.  I really wanted to bring home this very ingenious hand washing pot they had that had a spigot operated by foot but we could never get it on the plane back home.

After Gatagara we drove on to Nyanza to visit the old royal palace museum.  The first part of the visit is to the "modern" palace which was built in the 1930's by the Beligans.  The building itself was unimpressive and the exhibits had posters that were way too wordy and difficult to read.  However, the photos of the king (mwami) and the old newsreel was pretty fascinating and fun to watch.  We learned about  the kings who ruled from 1853 - 1961:  Kigeli IV (Rwabugiri), Mibambwe IV, Yuhi IV, Mutara III and Kigeli V.  Kigeli is now living in the U.S. and has a website which really details the history of the monarchy (HM King Kigeli V).
Near the modern palace and has part of the museum is a reconstructed King's hut which we got to go into and learn about courtesy of an excellent guide from the museum.  I didn't pay the extra fees to take photos but here is a smaller reconstruction from the museum we went to in Butare.



King's Hut reproduction at the National Museum

 The King's hut is marked by three large poles sticking out of the roof and its immense size (not as obvious in this photo).  Since there are no doors on the huts there is an entry way or foyer area marked off by some concrete or stones.  The entry way was guarded but if a prisoner sentenced to die managed to touch this pole he could have his sentence cancelled and be set free.  As you see below, Nava got there.

Behind the King's hut were two smaller huts, one for milk making and the other for beer making.  Behind that were the King's cows, a true sign of wealth.  The king sat on a special chair while everyone else sat on the floor.  Here King Saadya demonstrates

I found it hard to imagine how these 6 foot and taller kings managed this teeny but obviously very special stool.  The King and Queen slept together in the King's bed surrounded by the baskets that contained their jewels and wardrobe.

The basketry you see here is one of the amazing handcrafts that is still done in Rwanda today.  Baskets range in size from very small to bigger than Nava

On the way to Butare we passed and stopped off at some of the basket weaver's stands and made a couple of purchases.

In Butare we lunched with Kate and Okan at what they claim is one of the only places to eat.  We wandered down the street to Inzozi Nziza for ice cream.  Inzozi Nziza was founded by the owners of Blue Marble Dreams Ice Cream in Brooklyn.  The ice cream was OK (Nava and Saadya both say Bourbon in Kigali is better) and the shop was notably empty.  Kate says she doesn't think many Rwandese actually eat there.  After ice cream we walked back to our cars and drove down to the National Museum.  The museum was excellent, a well curated set of exhibits that depicted the history and culture of the country.  We got to see displays of the money used here over the years, the clothing worn, basketry, dance garb and drums among other things.  It was hard to leave the museum for all of us but ultimately we had to return to Kigali and I ended up managing my first foray into night driving in Rwanda (OK so my traps are still not recovered from my death grip on the steering wheel).

Sunday was Purim and we had promised Saadya and Nava that we would not be on the road.  In an effort to get us all in the mood I got all dressed up, made some bad Hamentaschen and we made some noise whenever anyone mentioned Haman.  Yeah, you say Haman and I say Huye!

Purim in Kigali...all dressed up with nowhere to go