Muraho! Hello! Bonjour! Hujambo! My name is Tameshia and I'm an International Relations/African & African American Studies major, minoring in Latin American Studies/Spanish.This spring, January-May, I'm studying abroad with the School of International Training/Hendrix: Rwanda Presidential Scholars Consortium Program.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For our 'Rwanda: History, Culture, and Arts' we visited the Last King's Palace in Nyanza (south of Kigali) which was the capital of the Kingdom of Rwanda from 1958 to 1962.
The ancient palace of the king (mwami in kinyarwanda) was reconstructed on the grounds of the 'modern' palace built for Mwami Rudahigwa Mutara III by the Belgians in 1932. The ancient palace,
serves as a representation of the way of life before colonial invasion. It was being remodeled when we visited so we also visited. So we weren't able to go inside. We were able to visit the milk and beer huts. The huts were constructed from grass and animal skin. The interior consisted of wooden columns, a sitting room with small stools and a firepit, and an adjacent bedroom with a 'king sized' bed. (It was spacious enough for the king and his many wives.) Overall, the place was pretty cozy and would make an awesome tent for a camp-out.
random facts about the Kingdom of Rwanda:
1. the king, queen, and visitors to the palace each had separate entrances. also, no man was allowed to use the same entrance as the king or turn his back to the king.
2. the king's mother chose which wife would sleep in the king's hut each night.
3. the Kingdom of Rwanda encompassed Burundi and parts of Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire).
The 'modern' palace was constructed for the last king (Mwami Mutara III) prior to Rwanda's independence in 1962. The palace was built by Belgians in a western style. It consists of a super spacious sitting room, dining area, several bedrooms, a kitchen with an underground storage room to keep things cool, and an amazing front yard/patio area. In my opinion, this palace wasn't as inviting as the ancient palace. (We weren't permitted to take pictures inside)
