My maiden visit to the state house

When I say state house I don’t refer to Entebbe where the Ugandan (My) president sits but the house where one of the ex-presidents of Rwanda lived, the late Jevenal Habyarimana.  Yeah, I know how that sounds, the state house I got to visit is one of a president long dead, but I will settle with this for now.

He was the president of Rwanda whose plane was shot down in April 1994, the event that sparked the Genocide. The place is located in Kanombe a few kilometers from the airport.

You can see the signpost hung up so high as you approach the premises marked“ presidential palace museum”, that got me wondering why the heavy title but I was yet to learn all about that once I entered into that vast compound and learnt of the history that came with it.

In tow with my friend Sandra (Bless you) who was also doubling as a tour guide, we jumped out of the cab hurriedly through the main gate, took a few more steps that led to another smaller gate and onto a pavement. Like a couple of lost puppies we looked around, there were many trees big and small, some structures of different designs scattered around the premises that didn’t seem of much importance.

Coming through the gate with us were people mostly old, donning party outfits, this seemed weird. I wondered if that was the supposed dress code for visiting that museum, it being presidential and all.

We were in casual attires, clad in jeans and the like; I said a silent prayer asking God that they shouldn’t chase us. But we later learnt from our tour guide that the dressed up lot were going for a wedding.

With everyone going about their business, we didn’t know whom to inquire from except back tracking our footsteps to see if the askari at the gate would give us some pointers.  Then we saw what we had missed, a reception. We went there and the people were very warm and welcoming except what they had to tell us wasn’t warm. We were told that we had come a little late and the museum was about to close hence we wouldn’t be given a tour unless we came earlier the next day.

My heart sunk when I heard that, not after all the rush we had been in to visit the palace.  Sandra who knew a bit of the history of the place so my anticipation had been building up. I couldn’t bear being turned away having come so far. I am from Uganda for crying out that loud…tourist hellooo..lol. We pleaded with all the begging faces we could master and eventually they agreed to give us a tour around the place.

Our tour guide a handsome young fellow, with a rare name (said it was Italian) it didn’t stick in my head. We were bursting with questions as we strolled through the gate onto the pavement that had ushered us in earlier into the vast compound, plastered with foliage, you would think all the rain in Kigali fell into that compound.  

                                   

The presidential palace museum (pic from online)

Genocide memorial center

To take you a little back, on why we came running late to the Museum, we had earlier been to the Rwanda Genocide memorial Centre in Gisozi located in the outskirts of Kigali town. They say you can’t claim to have visited Rwanda if you have not visited that place.  So here we were, on top of a hill as most structures in Rwanda are. I had never seen so many hills in one place, well except Kabale until I crossed over Katuna into Rwanda. Sandra had warned me not to laugh, not that I was planning to, I mean it’s a place that tells the tale of horrible deaths. But  her knowing me so well, I can be overly jolly sometimes and incase that crept out in this place where even a hint of  laughter could be taken as an offence I needed to stifle it.  As we sloped down the stairs, you could already feel the somber mood around the place. There are garden benches where a few people are seated, we find our way to the entrance.

Here we were met by a gentle man, who very enthusiastically told us a brief history of the center, what it was all about, what to expect and which doors to use.  He also handed us some device that looked like a calculator, except it wasn’t. We were told for each number you pressed, you would be given a narrative of what transpired at a certain stage of the genocide as displayed by the images in the center.

We then took to some stairs, going down as if to a dimly lit basement, this led us to corridor with well carpeted floors with fluffy rugs. On the walls hung the pictures starting right from how the genocide was hatched. With the images on the wall are also writings describing each scene as illustrated in the photographs in Kinyarwanda, French and then English. The images are clear as day, very high resolution, creating fresh images in the head as if you were there in person. Now I understood the reason for the dim lighting.

The first images show how the genocide was birthed, starting with the colonialists who used the divide and rule method by pitying tribes against each other. Rwanda being a small nation had only three tribes, mainly the Tsusi’s Hutu’s and the Batwa. This made it easy for them to create the divide.

The subsequent images show how the situation quickly escalated, hate messages and propaganda spread using the media and the entire nation thrown into frenzy. They go on to illustrate how the genocide was orchestrated, with friends turning into foes and killing each other, neighbours turning on each other and families disintegrated. At the end of each stage there is also a TV with a touch screen which you would play and it would show the motion images coupled with tales of survivors narrating their ordeals.

At some point my throat ran dry from watching and seeing the harrowing images, and to think that while we were having a happy childhood our neighbours across never had a sense of normality.

At the end of the long winding corridor are other rooms, on one side there are a bazillion pictures of the genocide victims hanging on the walls. On the other side below is a glass box, in it we could see skulls both big and small alongside weapons that were used to hack people to death.

Mainly machetes, clubs, hammers, sticks, knives among other items. At this moment Sandra tells me that the Rwandese don’t use machetes in their homes as a house hold tool, like we do here in Uganda because it was the deadliest weapon in the genocide.

Apparently at the time of the genocide, Rwanda had roughly a population of 7 million and by the time the genocide ended, there were only 5 million people left. Those who could fled to the neighbouring countries like the DRC, Uganda and Tanzania not Burundi since it wasn’t any better stability wise. They were going through the same turmoil.

There is also another room where some of the tattered blood stained clothes and belongings of the genocide victims are strung on hooks and erect so you can see them through the glass mirrors. It’s in this room that the largest TV set is, there is also a cushioned bench where you can sit and watch properly. We found a lady in the room watching the video and joined her. Showing on the TV were survivors who had the misfortune of watching their loved ones battered and killed in front of them. It was so gut-wrenching, watching grown men and women with tears streaming down their eyes while trying to make themselves strong at the same time. Some remorseful about why they survived while their loved ones didn’t make it, having to forgive the perpetrators some of whom still live among them, and having to start life a fresh and forge ahead amidst all the adversity they experienced. 

Two-three hours later were eventually done with the tour of the memorial center after checking out the mass graves just below the building. By this time I was beat but also with a new perspective to life and much sense of respect to the Rwandese people. As I said a silent prayer for the souls of the unfortunate genocide victims, I was also very grateful for my life and the peace we have had in Uganda for so many years now.

I was also famished by this time, Sandra had showed me the Rwandese National Library while on our way to the Genocide memorial telling me that it had an amazing eating spot and great food.

We quickly jumped onto some bikes (also called Motors in Rwanda), the boda guy (So Ugandan of me) handed me a helmet and in my head I was like this is a new one. We don’t wear helmets on bodas in Uganda but as we rode back to town, I noticed that every bike passenger was wearing one. I was in awe.

We stopped at the gate of a very magnificent building, very ultra-modern, we went around the back to some stairs that would lead us to the café on top. By the time we reached the top I was panting and trying to catch my breath…reminded me how unfit I am.  Luckily there was a very cool breeze and the atmosphere was fresh.  From there we could see atop of the other hills, I could bet I saw half of Rwanda from that spot, the fine structures from a distance and the greenery all around. It was beautiful scenery.

The customer care was on point with the waiters and waitresses coming every few minutes to ask if the food was okey and if we were enjoying it. Duhhh, it was more than okey, the chicken sandwiches were sumptuous, I could swear I died and went to food heaven..lol. 

The delicious meal

Here we spent an hour or two eating and lazing around and enjoying the ambiance, you know the feeling you get after having a heavy meal, I could have sat at that place for forever.

And then snap, we remembered we had somewhere else to be, the cab driver came quick luckily and we were on our way,……. and that my friend is how we ended up on our knees begging to tour the presidential palace museum with a few minutes to its closure.

The properly manicured compound(pic from online) 

Fast forward now to the pavement with our handsome tour guide; on one our left stood a mansion so big, it befit being called a palace. Our tour guide tells us it would be the last place we would see since there was plenty to see while in there.  Leaving the mansion behind, we took a left turn, a few steps ahead, we came to face with a much smaller house, what we would call a “boys-quarter” painted in white and maroon.

This is we were told was the first house president Habyarimana lived in as he waited for his main house to be finished. Apparently as the head of the military way back before he became president of Rwanda, Habyarimana lived in that smaller house but even after he became president refused to go live at the state house in Kigali and waited for his own house to get finished out of fear that he would be jinxed. Just below the house is a big tree without grown out roots and just beside it lies a small dried out pool. This we are told was where he kept his snake to ward off evil spirits, apparently Habyarimana believed in witchcraft.  Further ahead on, there is a fence but we also knew that a plane crash that killed him happened in his compound.

My friend asked about that and we were showed some small metallic stairs that went over the wall, on top of the stairs we saw the remains of the wreckage of the plane. It was so surreal, like watching a live movie, also in the compound were crested cranes grazing around like chicken.

Here in Uganda, the crested crane is not only a much respected bird being on our national coat of arms, it’s also a wild bird. When we asked about it, we were told some people keep them in their homes as caged birds but also to chase away snakes. The tour guide told us that in some cases, the crested cranes are rescued and brought to that place, where they are treated and rehabilitated to live in that compound.

We went back to the main house; this was the most looked forward to tour place of that evening. We were told to leave our shoes by the door and keep our phones in silence. No pictures while inside the house. On entering the house, the feet sink into the furriest carpet like it was put yesterday, there is a set of metallic chairs attached together, we are told are where visitors waited for him.

Then we are ushered into a ginormous living room, with clean cream painted walls, on one side hangs the portrait of Habyarimana and the president who preceded him, the only piece of furniture in the room a big wooden table in the middle of the room. Adjacent to it is the kids sitting room area and opposite the living room is a vast dining table with the finest furniture, well arranged like a family dinner is about to commence.

After the kids sitting area, is an exit door that leads to the boys-quarters, storage rooms and some of Habyarimana’s kids bedrooms. After peeping out there, we come back and enter the kitchen whose door faced the children’s sitting room, in here looks vacant except for the kitchen cabinets, sinks and the biggest fridge I had ever seen except in showrooms. Quickly through the kitchen we come to face with the dining room and then stairs leading to the next floor where the main bedrooms were.

So the tour guide tells us something peculiar about those stairs. Each one of those stairs about 8 or more had a unique switch and every time Habyarimana would go up to his bedroom and ensure that all his kids are in their rooms, he would remotely put the switches on. Apparently, he was a very paranoid man that he wanted to control everything around him because he couldn’t trust anybody. So if anybody attempted to go up the stairs afterwards, he would be alerted because with every step came a different sound. That was very astonishing, I was very intrigued by what else we were about to see up the stairs.

So we made it to his bedroom floor without triggering any alarms, they have long been disabled we were told.  In the spacious bedroom, lies a big empty bed, no mattress but it still looked presidential in my eyes. Just beside it was a coffee table laminated with elephant skin with a glass covering and it stood on two huge elephant feet. I was like now this is more like it; we are in the president’s bedroom…Dang. Only in there would we have found such. There was a door that opened out to a big balcony that apparently went around the entire house. We didn’t have time to move around it.

The secret escape route

Coming back inside we went to his master bathroom which also housed his wardrobe. But just before you get to the wardrobes, there are open safety deposit cabinets all open. I thought that was odd.  Like any other normal bathroom there is a bathtub the size to fit more than two people and then a toilet right across it.  A shiny sink a few steps the toilet. Right from in front from the open safe cabinets you can see another door leading to an even smaller bathroom. So my head tells me this is how presidents live, have bathrooms that are two in one. So the story with the open safe cabinets is that they were always filled with money, so that incase thieves or anyone broke into the house and into the bathroom, they would be distracted by all the money while he (Habyarimana) escaped through the tiny bathroom. Gosh by this time my head was about to explode with all the information that was piling in my head, I felt like I had time travelled into some history book as each and every story unfolded. It was surprise after another, that man was one of a kind.

We retraced our footsteps back to the presidential bedroom through the door we entered, here we checked out the other bedrooms where his kids slept, very well furnished and then a TV room where the children watched movies while he hosted visitors downstairs.

The secret staircase

From the doorway all we could see was the big wooden cabinet where the TV previously sat but wasn’t anymore. Our tour guide flipped one of the cabinet doors and it opened up to a stair way going up. On turning to us to invite us in, I had my hand on my mouth wondering what other mysteries existed in the house. Just when I thought I knew better, there was more to come. We then found our way up the stairs trailing behind the tour guide. At this point in time I didn’t want to lead the way in case of anything I wasn’t prepared for. As we approached the top of the staircase we came to face with ahead of a wild animal that looked like an antelope but had weird horns a present given to Habyarimana by the Belgians. After that we came face to face with several presents of the same sort and some fine art pieces. This was where the president kept his stash or call it his most prized presents.

By this time, I was losing track of all I had seen, it was a lot but there was more to see. As we entered further into the room, we saw another door which led to another room of a different design. It had a triangular shape inside. By now we were firing away with questions at the tour guide. He told us that was Habyarimana’s shrine where he met occasionally with his witchdoctor. Then I knew, it was different for a reason. We left that place quickly, I was also developing some sort of paranoia. There was another huge room we were told was also another meeting area, this must have been for highly classified meetings considering the location. There was another closed door which for a minute I thought we wouldn’t be allowed to enter. The tour guide moved to it and flung it open and we entered. This room had a different air to it and we learnt a few seconds why. It was Habyarimana’s chapel. Here the priest would come and lead him in prayers. The irony of that whole floor was that while there was a shrine on one end, there was a chapel on the other. This guy was truly an interesting fellow, having it both ways. When we left the chapel, we also saw some tiny room smaller than the rest of the rooms. It had two small chairs and a table in between them. Just like in the movies, you can guess what this was…..an interrogation room. From this room, there was a door that led to the outside, didn’t ask where it led but we later learnt its purpose. I can’t say I have the entire map of the house imprinted on my head right to do the description justice, because it was one big house and I lost count of the rooms I moved through. But one thing I admired most was design and the beautiful features of house, I am no architect but that was some master piece we saw.  It was the first state house I have been to, I couldn’t help but wonder what others are like. I thought to myself, you could do this always Brenda…tour state houses…lol. It was all too fascinating.

The outside features

We came back right outside, honestly I thought we had seen it all, like what more could we see.  By this time the sun had since gone down, it was getting late.  The tour guide took us around the back of the house, we went down to a ditch like place. It was cemented though, right on the corner of the house was a door, we peeked through, this we were told was the president’s steam bath and sauna room. The next door, was a store and the next what was called the entertainment room.  It was like a mini dancing club, seats on either side of the wall, a bar on one end, and washrooms on the other and free space in the middle. This is where birthday Parties were thrown, New Year’s celebrations done among other celebrations. To one end of the bar area were stairs, these we learnt led to up to the interrogation room. So that secret door led somewhere after all. 

The whole tour experience of the famous presidential palace blew my mind away....wa

This is one place I would recommend to everyone who loves a bit of history and mystery to check out once they visit Rwanda.

And now the less serious stuff

After the day I had had, I needed to let off some steam, let my hair loose and do something that didn’t involve having to use the brain to process any more information. We grabbed bikes just few meters after the Museum, our next destination was UTC. It was a bit of a distance away, we went up and down the hills taking in the fresh oxygen as breathed out by the trees as we moved. Gosh I have never seen so much vegetation in the city like I saw in Kigali town.  Did I tell you how comfortable their bikes are, it was one joy ride and if you forget the speeding (that I learnt is synonymous with boda’s everywhere) breathe in and out slowly you might forget your destination.

I took in all the sights as we moved until we reached UTC. This building houses MTN offices Kigali, a supermarket, boutiques and shops, saloons and some cool hangout places. After grabbing a few drinks we headed on down and back to the Motors. We were in a rush to go catch a 7 o’clock movie.  The cinema is in Kigali Tower, this structure also the tallest building in town is at the heart of the city. By this time it was dark, the city was swarmed with people as some people went about their businesses. There wasn’t much I could see then but after the day I had had, it was more than enough sightseeing for a day. 

We watched Zoolander2 which lasted like an hour and some minutes. We went window shopping for a few minutes afterwards. Honestly, by this time my feet hurt like crazy from wearing shoes that were clearly not meant for all the walking and standing I did that day. Lesson learnt the hard way, I will know to wear better walking shoes next time.

From the top pic, i(in a striped sweater) and Sandra at Kigali Tower.

When we entered the cab that was taking us home, I was just so glad to put my butt down, couldn’t wait to get some rest. By the time we got home I was like cabbage, spent and wasted. I needed a bed.  One word to describe my trip and rendezvous…amazing.  As you share my memories, you can have yours to, but only if you have a superstar of a tour guide like I had, who knows all the coolest and bestest places to check out..Sandra you are a star. Till next time…..xoxo