The culture of Rwanda is varied. Unlike many other countries in Africa, Rwanda has been a unified state since precolonial times, populated by the Banyarwanda people who share a single language and cultural heritage.[1] Eleven regular national holidays are observed throughout the year, with others occasionally inserted by the government.[2]
The week following Genocide Memorial Day on 7 April is designated an official week of mourning.[3] The last Saturday of each month is umuganda, a national day of community service, during which most normal services close down.[4]
Traditional Rwandan Intore dancers.Traditional dance in Rwanda
Music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan ceremonies, festivals, social gatherings, and storytelling.[5] The most famous traditional dance is Intore,[6] a highly choreographed routine consisting of three components - the ballet, performed by women; the dance of heroes, performed by men, and the drums.[7] Traditionally, music is transmitted orally with styles varying between the social groups. Drums are of great importance, the royal drummers having enjoyed high status within the court of the mwami. Drummers usually play together in groups of seven or nine.[5]
Beer is drunk from containers such as this at rituals and ceremonies.
Rwandan cuisine is based on local staple foods produced by the traditional subsistence agriculture. Historically, it has varied among the country's different ethnic groups. Rwandan staples include bananas, plantains (known as ibitoke), pulses, sweet potatoes, beans, and cassava (manioc). Many Rwandans do not eat meat more than a few times a month. For those who live near lakes and have access to fish, tilapia is popular.[10]
The potato, thought to have been introduced to Rwanda by German and Belgian colonialists, is now also very popular.[11]Ugali (or ubugali) is a paste made from cassava or maize and water, to form a porridge-like consistency that is eaten throughout East Africa.[12]Isombe is made from mashed cassava leaves and served with dried fish.[11]
Lunch is usually a buffet known as melange, consisting of the above staples and possibly meat. Brochette is the most popular food when eating out in the evening, usually made from goat, but sometimes tripe, beef, pork or fish.[13] In rural areas, many bars have a brochette seller responsible for tending and slaughtering the goats, skewering and barbecuing the meat, and serving it with grilled bananas.[14]
Milk, particularly in a fermented form called ikivuguto, is a common drink throughout the country.[15] Other drinks include a traditional beer called urwagwa, made from sorghum or bananas, which features in traditional rituals and ceremonies.[11] Commercial beers brewed in Rwanda include Primus, Mützig, and Amstel.[12]
Traditional arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, although most originated as functional items rather than purely for decoration.[16] Woven baskets and bowls are especially common.[17]
The south east of Rwanda is noted for imigongo, a unique cow dung art, whose history dates back to when the region was part of the independent Gisaka kingdom. The dung is mixed with natural soils of various colours and painted into patterned ridges, forming geometric shapes.[18]
Women facial and animal paints on display in Kigali in Rwanda
Other art and crafts include pottery/ceramic, painting and wood carving are made mostly by artist students from Ecole d'Art de Nyundo, the unique school of art Rwanda had from 1959 until today, wherever they are another different institutions who are trying to train visual and audio arts in this days.[16]
Housing
The quantity of housing production is still low and its cost does not match the purchasing power of the majority. Most urban residents still access housing through informal practices, because the formal sector cannot offer housing access schemes which cater to all.
A number of circumstances result in the situation where most housing developments address only a minority of customers, among whom demand has not even been saturated yet.
Currently, while Kigali hosts about half of the urban population in Rwanda, a Housing Market Study for Kigali (2012-22) estimates that total housing needs (2012-22) reach 458,256 units, of which 344,068 are newly to be constructed. Broken down to different purchasing powers, this was translated to:
-43,436 units for social housing (12.6%); - 186,163 units for affordable housing (54.1%); - 112,867 units for mid-range housing (32.8%); and - 1,601 units for premium housing (0.5%), for Kigali alone.
Countrywide, the demand has not been thoroughly researched yet and studies are in preparation; it is estimated double of the total need in Kigali.
The achievements of the recent years relate to improved participation in planning, openness to the use of local materials in construction, and the equal acknowledgement of tenure rights. Risen awareness, small scale research, and project trials in the housing sector have contributed to this. The improvement of neighbourhood planning and of the general urban planning framework is underway, which provides for consistency in planning and development management.
Despite the constraints which still exist in housing finance, lending conditions have improved through the introduction of longer credit terms, slightly reducing interest rates, a larger and more accessible variety in terms of down-payment options, and improvements in the accessibility of the building permitting system in relation to mortgage rules (National Housing Policy).
Housing Development
material
The Government engages in partnerships for housing development for a sustainable, mixed-use housing neighbourhood development based on a PPP model first tested in 2008 when 250 low cost houses were built, which among other innovations made local materials bankable. An estimated 22,000 housing units are currently in different stages of preparation, to be developed by the private sector with government support.
There is a 2-fold strategy to 1) trigger large scale investment into affordable housing and create competition by using the identified and available land, and 2) trigger and facilitate medium- to smallscale investment into affordable housing through collaborative development schemes, which would enable small landholders, participate in development in form of cooperatives or as investment shareholders.
The local production of construction material is gradually being increased, e.g. local production of cement, of improved and environmentally friendlier bricks, and new, innovative and home-made solutions for structural and non-structural walling materials. See attached photo.
material
The Housing Sector and the Construction Industry are continuously growing in Rwanda. The Construction Industry plays an important role in the development strategy of any country that goes beyond its share in national output. Many writers have referred to its effect on employment creation, others to its multiplier effects in the national economy.
It is the great flexibility of construction activity in adjusting to different framework conditions that makes this particular sector of the economy a major contributor to the process of economic growth and development (Lopes et al., 2002). see attached growth curve Aligned with our national program and strategies, Vision 2020, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (EDPRSII), Urban and Rural Settlement Sector Strategic Plan (2012/13-17/18), the role of the Ministry in the sector is to establish policies, strategies and program that will ensure that:
- The safety and the general welfare of its population is prioritized;
- The development of the sector contributes to the national economic growth;
- The land is used efficiently;
- Energy efficiency and environmentally friendly construction is encouraged;
- The local production of construction material is facilitated; and
- The private sector is empowered to drive the sector.
Literature and film
Rwanda does not have a long history of written literature, but there is a strong oral tradition ranging from poetry to folk stories. In particular the pre-colonial royal court developed traditions of ibitekerezo (epic musical poetry), ubucurabwenge (royal genealogies typically recited at coronation ceremonies), and ibisigo (royal poems).[19] Many of the country's moral values and details of history have been passed down through the generations. The most famous Rwandan literary figure was Alexis Kagame (1912–1981), who carried out and published research into the oral tradition as well as writing his own poetry.[5]
The Rwandan Genocide resulted in the emergence a literature of witness accounts, essays and fiction by a new generation of writers such as Benjamin Sehene and Fred Mfuranzima.
A number of films have been produced about the genocide, including the Golden Globe nominated Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs, which was filmed in Rwanda itself, and featured survivors in the cast.[20]
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the sobriquet "land of a thousand hills", with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the fifth-most densely populated country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Kigali.
Kigali is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relatively new city. It has been Rwanda's economic, cultural, and transport hub since it was founded as an administrative outpost in 1907, and became the capital of the country at independence in 1962, shifting focus away from Huye.
Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which ended the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he was Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the vice-presidential post was abolished.
This is a list of public holidays in Rwanda. Rwanda observes fourteen regular public holidays.
The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were systematically killed by Hutu militias. While the Rwandan Constitution states that over 1 million people were killed, most scholarly estimates suggest between 500,000 and 662,000 Tutsi died. The genocide was marked by extreme violence, with victims often murdered by neighbors, and widespread sexual violence, with between 250,000 and 500,000 women raped.
The First Congo War, also known as Africa's First World War, was a civil and international military conflict that lasted from 24 October 1996 to 16 May 1997, primarily taking place in Zaire. The war resulted in the overthrow of Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, who was replaced by rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila. This conflict, which also involved multiple neighboring countries, set the stage for the Second Congo War (1998–2003) due to tensions between Kabila and his former allies.
Théoneste Bagosora was a Rwandan military officer. He was chiefly known for his key role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). In 2011, the sentence was reduced to 35 years' imprisonment on appeal. He was due to be imprisoned until he was 89. According to René Lemarchand, Bagosora was "the chief organizer of the killings". On 25 September 2021, he died in a prison hospital in Mali, where he was being treated for heart issues.
Nyanza, also known as Nyabisindu, is a town located in Nyanza District in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Nyanza is the capital of the Southern Province.
The Rwanda Defence Force is the military of the Republic of Rwanda. The country's armed forces were originally known as the Forces armées rwandaises (FAR),but following the Rwandan Civil War of 1990–1994 and the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the victorious Rwandan Patriotic Front (Inkotanyi) renamed it the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), its army name during the struggle of 1990–1994. Later, it was renamed to its current name.
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.
The Banyarwanda are a Bantu ethnolinguistic supraethnicity. The Banyarwanda are also minorities in neighboring DR Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.
Muhanga is a district (akarere) in Rwanda. It is found in southern province and its administrative centre is located in the city of Muhanga.
Nyanza is a district (akarere) in Southern Province, Republic of Rwanda. Its capital is Nyanza town, which is also the provincial capital. Nyanza is a Bantu word meaning lake, which probably refers to the small body of water created by a dam to the west of Nyanza town and sometimes referred to by the local residents as “Ikiyaga” or lake. which probably refers to a large lake to the west of Nyanza city.
Gasabo is a district (akarere) in Kigali city, the capital of Rwanda. The headquarter of Gasabo is located in Remera Sector. The district also includes large areas of the city itself, including Kacyiru, Kimironko, Remera, Nyarutarama and Kimihurura.
The cuisine of Rwanda is based on local staple foods produced by the traditional subsistence-level agriculture and has historically varied across different areas.
Lake Muhazi is a long thin shallow lake in the east of Rwanda. The bulk of the lake lies in the Eastern Province, with the western end forming the border between the Northern and Kigali Provinces. It is a flooded valley lake, lying predominantly in an east to west direction, but with numerous offshoots in a north to south direction, formerly the location of tributaries. The lake has a concrete dam at the western end, constructed in 1999 to replace an earth dam which had existed since time immemorial. The lake empties into the Nyabugogo River, which flows southwards to Kigali where it meets the Nyabarongo River, part of the upper Nile.
The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction, was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. The revolution saw the country transition from a Tutsi monarchy under Belgian colonial authority to an independent Hutu-dominated republic.
Nyamata is a town and sector in the Bugesera District, southeastern Rwanda. Nyamata literally means 'place of milk' from the two Kinyarwanda words nya- 'of' and amata 'milk'. It is the location of the Nyamata Genocide Memorial, commemorating the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
Development Bank of Rwanda, commonly referred to by its French name Banque Rwandaise de Développement (BRD), is a development bank in Rwanda. It is one of the banks licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda, the national banking regulator.
Umuganda is a national holiday in Rwanda taking place on the last Saturday of every month for mandatory nationwide community service from 08:00 to 11:00. Participation in Umuganda is required by law; failure to participate can result in a fine.
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