Rwanda - Huye

The town of Huye was previousy known as Butare and is home to the National Museum and the National University. It is a 2 hour bus ride from Kigali and we decide it can be done in a day. Nat, Amanda and I arrive in the small bustling town in Southern Rwanda at 10 am in the morning. The streets are lined with trees and it is fairly tidy. There are a lot of young, smart adults around - owing to the nearby university. It is special to be able to visit the campus, as we know that in Rwanda it is a huge challenge to attend university and only a lucky few do. It is sad to learn that even a large proprotion of those with degrees will still struggle to get jobs. The campus is small compared to other universities around the world, but its lovely and tidy. Its interesting to see the classrooms are half full of people studying on their weekend, goes to show how seriously they take it. We stop and chat to a few people, with this level of education their English is fairly good. People are here from all over Rwanda. Popular classes are finance, business and IT, but many more are on offer here.

The national museum is on the edge of town, it is a large, beautifully designed building set in gorgeous gardens. There are 6 different rooms with displays of geography, people, food, craft, weapons, housing, clothing, politics and royalty. Its lovely to walk around and see a lot of the history of the country, but we're not allowed to take pictures and I have to confess my interest in, and therefore my memory of, such things is limited.



We try to find the Genocide Memorial, we have heard about one which has several classrooms housing lime preserved bodies from the genocide. There are thousands upon thousands of bodies on display. We can't find the memorial - although it was probably a good thing, because it may well have scarred us! There are many such memorials throughout Rwanda, one in Kiboye where it is estimated 90% of the population was wiped out. There are 2 churches just out of Kigali which have lots of bones, clothes and relics on display, with a backdrop of blood splattered walls where people were thrown against and killed. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Giving up on this idea we decided to try to find the coffee plantation which got a mention in the lonely planet guide. This is one of Rwanda's biggest exports and income generators. It turned out being a 15 minute moto ride out of town. Again we got their numbers just in case - they dropped us in the middle of nowhere! There was a large building with a tiny coffee plantation - I guess their crops were elsewhere. We walked in and asked if we could look around. A dozen ladies were busy sorting out beans and gave us very odd glances as we walked in. The language barrier made things interesting but they seemed quite happy for us to wander around. Not that there was much else to see. Just the ladies sorting beans. We figure there must be more so we refer back to the trusty old lonely planet guide. Apparently 1.5km down the road there is a lane and 1km down there we will find the coffee washing factory. So off we set in the heat of the day in the back end of nowhere. What seemed like ages later we find the lane to turn down. We walk along the muddy, bumpy road past the goats and get to a couple of sheds that look like they could have been a washing factory - 100 years ago. At first glance there appears to be nobody around, until many small children start to appear and flock around us. Its all very exciting for them it seems! Nothing much else eventuates so we make our way back to the road. The pied piper comes out again and the children follow us all the way back to the road. And then keep following us. We walk about another km up the road and they're still on our heels. We realise they're not going anywhere and its a long, hot walk up the hill so we decide to sit down and phone our moto drivers. It takes about 40 minutes for them to arrive and by this stage we have not only a dozen kids sitting around us, but also about 4 or 5 adults on their way home from somewhere who decide to just stop and stare at the crazy muzungu's sitting on the side of the road. We cant communicate with them so its all very awkward - although they dont appear to feel so! We mention that we feel a bit like fascinating animals in a zoo. When those 3 moto's came flying around the corner they were like our knights in shining armour! We managed to make it back to town 20 minutes before the last bus - time enough for a nice cold beer!