Zita Gloria INEZA TETA, Grade 12
UWCEA Moshi Campus
Traveling is good. It makes us discover new places,and new traditions. It is always exciting to see people who do things differently; who have different cultures and values than your own because it gives you a new perspective. But what if you could travel in time? See things you would have liked to see but that you couldn’t because you were not yet born? Isn’t that wonderful!
If only I had a time machine. I know that this wish is shared by many people. Some would like to change what they did wrong in the past, undo what is done. For me, I just want to appreciate things I did not get a chance to see.
Traveling allows us a sense of freedom. Freedom to imagine outside the ordinary imagination. It allows us to envision what’s real outside the reality spectrum. Traveling is what lets me imagine expanding the principle of relativity a little bit more. Imagining that not only time expands and contracts but that it is also possible for a second to move one second slower than a second and embark on a voyage to the past.
As the clock ticks backward, I get to see history by myself and not from the books. I see the whole 20th century and beyond!
1959: Rudahigwa gets killed. The heroic king who fought for independence. The last King is anointed, crowned to reign in the land of a thousand hills. It’s Kigeli IV Ndahindurwa, the modern king of Rwanda. He doesn’t reign for long though. He gets exiled . I don’t seem to understand what’s happening!
1946:The kingdom reigns, no vehicles (except for the colonizers). Kings and queens travel in “ikitabashwa” , a traditional transportation tool.
The King saves and kills: He is God. People venerate him in a place known as “Ijabiro”. They bring him gifts and ask him to instruct the rain to fall. Isn’t that amazing? I see families giving one another cows, as a symbol of friendship. Some even drink each other’s blood in a tradition known as “Kunywana” to mark their brotherhood.
1944: King Musinga Gets exiled and killed in Congo. All because he refuses the colonizers to rule him in his own kingdom. It’s chaotic in Rwanda just like sheep without a shepherd.King Rudahigwa replaces his dad in the reign.
1919: Rwanda becomes a Belgian protectorate. Divide and rule is implemented.Nose lengths are taken, social classes imposed as ethnic groups. King Musinga fights against it until he is exiled.
1800’s: Rwanda is independent and expanding from a small village “Gasabo”. People seem to be happy. No hatred, no cultural dilution. Girls wear “inshabure” boys learn hunting and eat potatoes and cassava from “Nyirankono” they go to school known as “itorero”. I seem to like it there. The tradition, the love, the family relationship. People take in strangers, provide shelter and food for them. Families are united!
As My journey comes to an end, I would like to stay a little bit longer to appreciate the love, the lifestyle and traditions of back then when Rwanda was a Kingdom, free of forced coffee and tea plantation, free of hatred and identification that made siblings hate each other. I would like to stay a little bit longer in an era of free spirit, values and clans. Where I proudly say I am “Umusinga” or “Umushakamba”. A country led with the spirit of expansion and Greatness!
Works Cited
Dan, Richard. “Isengesho ry'Umwami Mutara III Rudahigwa atura u Rwanda Kristu Umwami.” IGIHE, 26 July 2013, https://www.igihe.com/umuco/amateka/article/isengesho-ry-umwami-mutara-iii. Accessed 5 August 2022.
de Dieu, Jean. “Inzira y'inzitane n'ubuzima bugoranye umwami Yuhi Musinga yanyuzemo.” IGIHE, 17 January 2020, https://igihe.com/umuco/article/inzira-y-inzitane-n-ubuzima-bugoranye-umwami-yuhi-musinga-yanyuzemo. Accessed 5 August 2022.
“Isenyuka ry'ubumwe bw'abanyarwanda ubwo umukoloni yakandagiraga mu Rwanda.” IGIHE, 26 November 2020, https://igihe.com/umuco/article/isenyuka-ry-ubumwe-bw-abanyarwanda-ubwo-umukoloni-yakandagiraga-mu-rwanda. Accessed 5 August 2022.
Image Courtesy: https://igihe.com/umuco/article/isenyuka-ry-ubumwe-bw-abanyarwanda-ubwo-umukoloni-yakandagiraga-mu-rwanda
If only I had a time machine. I know that this wish is shared by many people. Some would like to change what they did wrong in the past, undo what is done. For me, I just want to appreciate things I did not get a chance to see.
Traveling allows us a sense of freedom. Freedom to imagine outside the ordinary imagination. It allows us to envision what’s real outside the reality spectrum. Traveling is what lets me imagine expanding the principle of relativity a little bit more. Imagining that not only time expands and contracts but that it is also possible for a second to move one second slower than a second and embark on a voyage to the past.
As the clock ticks backward, I get to see history by myself and not from the books. I see the whole 20th century and beyond!
1959: Rudahigwa gets killed. The heroic king who fought for independence. The last King is anointed, crowned to reign in the land of a thousand hills. It’s Kigeli IV Ndahindurwa, the modern king of Rwanda. He doesn’t reign for long though. He gets exiled . I don’t seem to understand what’s happening!
1946:The kingdom reigns, no vehicles (except for the colonizers). Kings and queens travel in “ikitabashwa” , a traditional transportation tool.
The King saves and kills: He is God. People venerate him in a place known as “Ijabiro”. They bring him gifts and ask him to instruct the rain to fall. Isn’t that amazing? I see families giving one another cows, as a symbol of friendship. Some even drink each other’s blood in a tradition known as “Kunywana” to mark their brotherhood.
1944: King Musinga Gets exiled and killed in Congo. All because he refuses the colonizers to rule him in his own kingdom. It’s chaotic in Rwanda just like sheep without a shepherd.King Rudahigwa replaces his dad in the reign.
1919: Rwanda becomes a Belgian protectorate. Divide and rule is implemented.Nose lengths are taken, social classes imposed as ethnic groups. King Musinga fights against it until he is exiled.
1800’s: Rwanda is independent and expanding from a small village “Gasabo”. People seem to be happy. No hatred, no cultural dilution. Girls wear “inshabure” boys learn hunting and eat potatoes and cassava from “Nyirankono” they go to school known as “itorero”. I seem to like it there. The tradition, the love, the family relationship. People take in strangers, provide shelter and food for them. Families are united!
As My journey comes to an end, I would like to stay a little bit longer to appreciate the love, the lifestyle and traditions of back then when Rwanda was a Kingdom, free of forced coffee and tea plantation, free of hatred and identification that made siblings hate each other. I would like to stay a little bit longer in an era of free spirit, values and clans. Where I proudly say I am “Umusinga” or “Umushakamba”. A country led with the spirit of expansion and Greatness!
Works Cited
Dan, Richard. “Isengesho ry'Umwami Mutara III Rudahigwa atura u Rwanda Kristu Umwami.” IGIHE, 26 July 2013, https://www.igihe.com/umuco/amateka/article/isengesho-ry-umwami-mutara-iii. Accessed 5 August 2022.
de Dieu, Jean. “Inzira y'inzitane n'ubuzima bugoranye umwami Yuhi Musinga yanyuzemo.” IGIHE, 17 January 2020, https://igihe.com/umuco/article/inzira-y-inzitane-n-ubuzima-bugoranye-umwami-yuhi-musinga-yanyuzemo. Accessed 5 August 2022.
“Isenyuka ry'ubumwe bw'abanyarwanda ubwo umukoloni yakandagiraga mu Rwanda.” IGIHE, 26 November 2020, https://igihe.com/umuco/article/isenyuka-ry-ubumwe-bw-abanyarwanda-ubwo-umukoloni-yakandagiraga-mu-rwanda. Accessed 5 August 2022.
Image Courtesy: https://igihe.com/umuco/article/isenyuka-ry-ubumwe-bw-abanyarwanda-ubwo-umukoloni-yakandagiraga-mu-rwanda
www.unitedworldwide.co