Rwanda : Kigali, métropole modèle entre mémoire et modernité — Documentaire Voyage – AMP

Une capitale renaît sur les hauteurs du Rwanda, portée par l’élan d’un peuple visionnaire. ✋Les plus belles destinations, c’est ici 👉 https://bit.ly/2Vlfz9o 👈 Abonnez vous ! 🙏

00:00 – Kigali, capitale modèle et ville des superlatifs
05:00 – Cyclisme rwandais : un symbole national de résilience
10:00 – Mémoire du génocide : survivants, histoire et transmission
15:00 – Racines coloniales et bouleversements historiques du Rwanda
20:00 – Gacaca : justice, réconciliation et reconstruction collective
25:00 – Renaissance culturelle : édition, jeunesse et expression artistique
30:00 – Dynamiques linguistiques, diversité et quartiers emblématiques
35:00 – Modernisation fulgurante et croissance économique de Kigali
40:00 – Innovation, entrepreneuriat et hubs technologiques rwandais
45:00 – Art, traditions, danse guerrière et identité rwandaise

Kigali est une ville phœnix qui se lit dans le regard de ses habitants prêts à rompre avec un passé tragique, à l’image de Charles Habonimana, rescapé du génocide.

Cette volonté inflexible d’aller de l’avant a fait de la ville le nouvel Eldorado du continent. Un renouveau incarné par une nouvelle génération optimiste, comme Francine, jeune chef d’entreprise.

La ville aux mille collines fait aussi le bonheur des cyclistes et notamment ceux de l’équipe du Rwanda menée par Felix Semp

👉 A voir également sur Voyage du Bout du Monde :
Zanzibar au féminin : quand les femmes prennent la mer pour leur liberté https://youtu.be/z14eE12TRI8
À bord des trains du Maroc : du Rif au Sahara https://youtu.be/j2j3AOPh46A
OUGANDA : Le mystère des sources du Nil révélé https://youtu.be/mBOa80Ig0gY
Rwanda, perle verte de l’Afrique de l’Est https://youtu.be/Rn5v7dddKVU
Plongée au cœur de Dakar, métropole culturelle d’Afrique de l’Ouest https://youtu.be/L5PPbmApaSA

BONS BAISERS D’AFRIQUE – KIGALI
Un film de Alexandre LARGERON
Droits réservés

#Kigali #Rwanda #DocumentaireVoyage #Afrique #Voyage #Exploration #CultureRwandaise #GénocideRwanda #Reconstruction #CyclismeRwanda #entrepreneuriatafricain

Kigali is accumulating the
most positive superlatives. Founded in 1907 by the Germans,
the city has become a shining showcase of sustainable development
and economic dynamism in Rwanda. It was even proclaimed
the cleanest city in Africa by the UN. Clean public spaces, a
perfectly maintained park and a brand new building,
the city is now the envy of the entire continent of Our Africa. A success that the people of Kigali
readily attribute to their president, Paul Kagame, former commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
who ended the genocide in 1994. While he is rightly adored by many,
it proves difficult to criticize the politician who has been at the head of the
country for almost 20 years. Surrounded by three mountains, the city is located at an altitude of 1,545 meters and covers several hills. It covers, or rather extends,
because that is literally the meaning of the term which is gali in kini rwanda,
the official language of the country. An area made up of valleys,
hills, ascents and descents. In short, a cyclist’s paradise. Meet at the Stade à en Aoro, in the
premises of the Cycling Federation. Among them is Félix Sampoma,
the coach of Team Rwanda. Founded in 2007,
it is made up of young cyclists, some of whom are survivors of the genocide. Today they are a symbol
of reconstruction and hope. Backed and financially supported
by the authorities, the cycling team is more popular
than the national football team. Guys, let’s go. Is everything alright? How are you ? Let’s go for a bike ride in the capital of Rouanda. Normally, in Rwanda, we have ideal terrain. We have terrain
where it goes up and down. Our topography gives us an advantage
over other countries. An advantage that allows Rwandans to
position themselves in the elite of African cycling. We won the Tour of Rwanda and then it
motivated a lot of boys, a lot of young people, to come and do the sport of cycling. Even though it’s a somewhat difficult,
somewhat tough sport, they were still motivated. A necessary motivation to face
the geography of the city and the pace imposed by the younger generation. At 46, it’s a bit difficult
to keep up with them because it goes up, it goes down, it goes up, it goes down. As a recreational sport,
it’s a bit difficult. Any notion of leisure stops at the bottom
of the Kigali wall climb, in the Niami Rambo district. A brutal 19% climb is exclusively
cobbled, which is an attraction for cyclists from all over the world. Final challenge to end
the training in style. The Kigali wall represents a very
big thing in Rwanda, because it was the Kigali wall, in 2015,
that allowed us to win the Tour of Rwanda. Are you very well? In good shape?
Here we go. Get on, get on. After training,
Félix takes us to the Kafri zone, located in the Niarugenge district. Boulevard N4,
which was the most congested in the city centre, is now
closed to cars for 800 metres. Yes, in the city we are in,
as you can see, there are no cars.
We walk, we ride bikes. It’s great in Kigali. And also in Kigali, one day
there were no vehicles. In Kigali, one Sunday morning a month,
it’s not just one street, but the entire city center
that is closed to cars. In the streets, you will only find
pedestrians and bicycles. The people of Kigali are spending this morning
playing sports, meeting their neighbors and enjoying their city. When there are no cars,
there is no police, there are no disturbances, there is no noise. That’s
it. That’s the advantage for us. I have visited many cities in Africa,
but I have not found a city like Kigali. Kigali is an example for
the environment in Africa, because if you look at all
the cities in Africa, you see that Kigali is the
cleanest city, because Rwandans have understood that throwing away plastics,
throwing away aluminum foil, throwing away bottles. You can’t throw it on the road. It’s true that when you arrive in Kigali,
this impression of cleanliness is striking. This is the culmination of an
awareness campaign that has been implemented throughout the country. A ban on plastic bags, the
use of biodegradable paper bags and, a rare thing
on the African continent, rubbish bins everywhere in the streets. Do not attempt to walk
on the lawns or throw a cigarette butt on the ground, as you could end up
with a hefty fine. But it is also the result of a sense of the
common good, dear to Rwandans and illustrated
by Lumuganda, which means community work in Kinyarwanda. Also in Rwanda, there is Lumuganda. We do it every last Saturday and Sunday. We get together and then we
do community work. And to better understand what this is all about
, head to Magarere, in the southern suburbs of Kigali. Here, unlike in the city centre,
everything still remains to be done. For this, the authorities can
count on the population. Every last Saturday of the month,
at least one member of each family is required to participate
in these community works. Street cleaning,
road construction, building homes or schools,
everyone is pitching in. This morning, it is Christophe, the
district chief, who is supervising the work. They are working on the road. We use pebbles
to stop the rain zones. The oumuganda comes from the food culture. Our ancestors also
made Oumuganda. Institutionalized in 1974,
the Oumuganda has always existed. And this mainly takes place in villages,
on the occasion of festivals, extraordinary events such as natural disasters, or to help people in difficulty. Today, the Oumuganda is organised
by the authorities and even city dwellers must perform it, even if it means
travelling to the countryside to do so. The Muganda project
contributes to the national budget. So, people work
by sacrificing themselves. And then, it creates social cohesion
because you see women, men, young people working
together for the defender of the nation. Yes, people are happy
to participate in Muganda. They sing together, they dance
together, they work together. It gives rise to a delinquency of reconciliation,
of social cohesion that I can say is truly extraordinary. Once the work is completed, it’s time for the debriefing with the authorities. We communicate the national programs. If there are perhaps
crucial problems, we try at the social level, we try to solve them together. So, this provides a communication
of what the government perhaps wants the public to know. We also evaluate the activity
that has just taken place. Then we go back home. Although the Comme l’Oumouanda could be
likened to forced labor, it is undeniable that it serves the community. Beyond street cleaning,
it allows for the implementation of larger-scale projects. Okay. These are
the four classrooms that were built by the
Oumouanda community. So, the population gathered their forces and the stones, the bricks, all that. So, we are very happy and we encourage the population who continue to work very actively,
very currently, to solve the problem and to develop our nation
thanks to our Rwandan culture
which obliges us to find the solution to build our nation.
THANKS. Lumunganda was one of the levers that made it
possible to rebuild the country and reunite the population after the 1994 genocide. On April 6, 1994, at 8:17 p.m. , two missiles were fired at the plane
of the Rwandan president, Juvenal Abiyar Himana, who was preparing to
land at Kigali airport. The plane crashed in the gardens
of the presidential residence; there were no survivors. Even today,
what remains of the plane is preserved within the grounds of the former
presidential estate, now uninhabited. This place is the memory of the event
that triggered the genocide of the Tutsis. In the
aftermath of the attack, an extraordinary wave of violence
swept across the Tutsi population throughout Rwanda. In three months, 800,000 Tutsis
and moderate Hutus were massacred. My name is Charles Abunimana. I am a survivor of the genocide perpetrated
against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. I was not born here in Kigali. I was born in the south of the country,
but like other parts of the country, the genocide occurred
throughout the entire territory of Rwanda. I lost my loved ones, my two
parents and my six brothers and sisters. It was a lucky break. It was a chance to survive. Today, life has changed. She had changed. I live a normal life like everyone else. There is no differentiation
between me and others. When you see me on the road,
you don’t see someone so vulnerable, or someone with a
lot of problems in their head. Today, I work,
I have a job. I have a family, I am married,
I have three children. I am responsible in society,
in the survivor community. To understand the tragedy he went through,
Charles undertook studies in history. History is part of our lives. It’s part of my life. I lived through a story. So, I wanted to understand
why it happened to me that I was an 11-year-old orphan, 12 years old. Why the genocide? What happened ? Who planned the genocide? What guided the idea of ​​genocide? What are the roots? To find answers to all these
questions, Charles can count on his teacher and friend, Paul Ruta Yaziri. Hello professor. How are you doing ? Alright
. Charles is among my students
at the University of Mwanda in Demasele’s program on the study of genocide. And currently,
I am supervising his thesis on the interim government that was the basis for the execution of the genocide. While the interim government bears
responsibility for the genocide, the genocidal ideology has its
roots in the country’s colonial history. The period of Belgian
and German colonization, as well as the period of the genocide, are closely linked. One cannot understand
the period he is working on without constantly referring
to the historical background. Paul is a specialist
in the colonial history of Rwanda. He contributed to the development
of the exhibition dedicated to this period at the Kant House Museum. Kant, he was German by training
in medicine and then afterwards, who was associated with the exploration of Africa. And it was while searching for sources
of inocularia that he came to Rwanda. Richard Kant, a
German physician and explorer of Africa, is the founder of Kigali. In 1908, he was put in charge
of administering the Rwanda region. He then built the first
colonial house in Kigali. Now transformed into a museum,
the house houses an exhibition dedicated to the German colonial period. This exhibition
reveals pre-colonial lifestyles, but above all, the Rwandans’ transition
into the new colonial era. Germans, then Belgians,
would forever change Rwanda. The Germans are those who left after
the First World War and then after the Belgian period which is much
longer and during which many things happened. Let’s just say that it was the Belgians who had
plenty of time to restructure Rouen society. And it was the Belgian colonists
who deeply divided the people by ethnicizing the different
components of Rwandan society. There is a logic to colonial action
that was based on the philosophy and politics of divide and rule. It means dividing colonized peoples
in order to better subjugate and dominate them. The Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups were then
created from scratch by the Belgians. All the problems have become ethnicized. We saw the Hutu group against the Tutsi ethnic group, schematically. This division would later become
the breeding ground for genocidal ideology. The
Kigali Genocide Memorial, located in Ghi Sousi, is the
essential place to understand the genocidal mechanism
into which the country descended. Charles meets Honoré there. Honoré Katera is
one of the memorial curators who is part of the history we have lived through. He is determined to ensure that this story is not
erased, not forgotten. Besides. Are you alright , Honoré? Hi Charles.
Welcome. THANKS. It is
very important to see the preservation of history,
especially the history of the genocide, for the children who come,
who will come after us, since there will be a history well told,
but which is not distorted. Here we are in the section which is
the starting point of the divisions in Rwanda, where we talk about
what the presence of the Belgians in Rwanda during colonization did. And the divisions that were initiated
in Rwanda between Hutus and Tutsis began on criteria
that did not really have a basis. For example,
counting the cows, the head of a cow that the family had. And so, ten cows or more,
the families became Tutsis and less than that, became Hutus. And in Rwanda, the cow was
a symbol of wealth. But not only that,
because physical traits were also taken into consideration. They said that the Tutsis were
slender, had long noses, and that their hair wasn’t
really hair for Black people. And the Hutus, it was said that they were
short, and that they had really Black hair, and that there were
short noses too. That’s how they were perceived. And even, we would make a mistake when looking at
someone, we would say: He, he is Hutou before the genocide. But in reality, he was not Hutou. They even tried
to make the two brothers, one become Hutu, the other Tutsi,
because he has ten cows, the other has less than ten cows. Throughout the exhibition,
we discover the different stages that led to the genocide. From colonial ethnic divisions,
to the attack on President Abiyar Himana’s plane,
and including the political management of foreign powers. A slow and complex mechanism will eventually
bring the genocidal ideology back to power and plunge the entire
country into apocalypse. Here we have the section that talks
about the genocide itself and therefore the killings 24 hours a day for 100 days. The hills of Rwanda
were filled with bodies. This is the section that summarizes what
Rwandans experienced, the carvers they had to
go through during the genocide and the people who were killed with machetes,
with clubs, sometimes with firearms. And it wasn’t an African barbarity
as people often talk about. There have been inter-ethnic killings. It was a planned genocide. There was a new government,
an interim government that was going to carry out the genocide, the plan,
and therefore set the genocide machine in motion; the people who carried out
the genocide were directed by this government. President Sindikouga voted beyond the limit. And the Prime Minister,
Jean Kambanda, went everywhere in the regions
to ask the civilian population to participate. And even he was part
of the army’s distribution. The genocide is conceived and planned
by the interim government, but it is the population itself
that will carry it out, encouraged by the media and the authorities. The unique aspect of the history of the
genocide is that many people participated. I would say that there were more than a million cases judged during the gatchatcha. The gatchatcha were
collective judgments that took place all over the
territory of Rwanda, in villages. People were judged according to the
categories of crimes they had committed. Traditional justice in Rwanda could
not try the hundreds of thousands of prisoners presumed
guilty of genocide. And so, the Rwandan government drew
on the culture and values of our society, and the gatchatchas were
modernized to be applied to the crimes of genocide. This was the way to do justice by
talking about the truth, but also by asking for forgiveness,
because both could contribute to reconciliation, to the unity
of Rwandans who could live together and continue to rebuild the country
that was living and continued to live with the consequences of the genocide. I participated in the Katchatcha
and I gave my testimony. It was hard to talk about what I saw,
everything I’m going through, everything I’m experiencing. Yes, I met my bros who made me suffer during the genocide. They are here, they are with us, in the
village. They are citizens like everyone else. They work in the fields. They come to visit us,
to visit our families. We live together. We are in an agro-merization. Together. Those who asked for forgiveness,
I have forgiven. It was a justice of reconciliation. While the museum has an educational purpose
regarding the history of the genocide, it also participates in the essential duty
of remembrance for the victims and survivors. This is a room that we created to
preserve, to keep the memory that the families have,
because the photos, as we have seen,
are photos of joyful moments and that is the image they keep of these
victims of the genocide. And we wanted to keep this image
for families, for our visitors. And of course, it would seem to last forever. One photo here represents a million people. Because today,
we don’t have images of our own. But arriving here,
seeing some photos that have been recovered, at least gives us
an idea that they are still alive. Outside the building,
nearly 250,000 victims were buried in mass graves. A place open to all those who wish to
gather and honor their memory. Turn the page, but don’t forget. Today, there are no more Hutus, no more Tutsis,
only Rwandans. Those who had fled
the genocides have returned. A new generation of Rwandans is
investing in reinventing their country. Dominique created Imagine We Publisher,
the first independent publishing house in Kigali. When I finished university, I went to
the United States, I went to India, I came back to Rwanda. It had been between six
and seven years since I’d been there. I had all this energy and I had
this passion to try to change something in my country. And I love reading. I love books, poetry, words. And that was the first thing
that came to mind. When we started,
we realized that children didn’t like books by foreigners. They didn’t understand the language,
they didn’t understand the culture, they didn’t understand the snow. So we thought: Why don’t we
start our own publishing house where we would write stories
that children would like. That’s Mahoro. This is the story of a little girl
who was nine years old during the genocide. It’s completely fiction, but it
really speaks to the things that young people in Rwanda feel. It is very important not to forget what
happened because that is how we protect our future. Imagine, yes,
is also involved in education by running workshops
in schools in Kigali. Today, we’re heading to the girls’ school,
White Doves, for a session dedicated to poetry. We’ve been at White Doves,
a high school, for a year now, and we’re taking public speaking,
writing, poetry, debate, and also communication. How to communicate through
written words or through speech. Ok, guys, we are going to have right now up to 2:15 again to do your blackouts. Do you have any other questions? Do you prefer to do it
alone or with someone? Today, we’re doing blackout poetry. We take old novels and pass them
pages, and they have to recreate a story using
the words they already have. No, no, no, no, no, we’re discussing different topics. Sexuality at times, the problems
of young people, their plans for the future. So, we want them to be able to communicate
this with adults in an eloquent way. And also, it will open their minds
to thinking a little more critically. So if I say that this is black,
they’ll say: No, not really. And they will have more self-confidence. And that, really, we saw that,
we saw that it really works… I tell myself that if we are able to teach children to think critically,
we are protecting the future of our country. In the evening, Dominique takes us to the spoken war. A renowned Islamic evening in Kigali. It’s an event that takes place once
a month in a top-rated location, where young people meet,
write poems live and read them in front of an audience. It’s truly an ideal place
to see the talent of young Rwandans. In recent years,
the use of English has become predominant among participants,
reflecting what is happening in the country. Dominique meets up with her friend Natasha there,
who will be performing tonight. She continues to lament in French. French is my first language
because we were refugees. We absolutely mustn’t be called Rwandans. So our parents
never spoke to us in Kinyarwanda. Tonight, on stage, she will be
accompanied by her friend and musician, Deo. I almost wrote you a poem. He was there, suspended between thought and the keyboard. Gasusuriko inspired it for me. Jean Félico, my messenger. Give him a little smile,
which he will warmly deliver to brighten your day. Thank you. I arrived in Kigali when I was 12 years old. It wasn’t easy because I did
n’t speak the local language, which is Kini Rwanda, at all. However, I spoke
Swahili and French. Kigali, like Rwanda,
has long been a French-speaking city. Since the genocide,
the country has opted for English as the main language taught in schools
after Kini Rwanda. With Swahili brought back by refugees
at the entrance to Congo, the Rwandan population has become
multilingual, like Natasha. The languages ​​I speak
each possess an identity, that’s for sure. If I speak French, I think there’s
an identity that comes with it. If I speak Kinyarwanda, same thing, Swahili,
same thing, English, same thing, Lingala, same thing. A language is also the culture
that brings it and the attitude one has when speaking it. If I spoke Lingala,
I wouldn’t be making so many gestures here. I wouldn’t be sitting
quietly talking. The whole body would be speaking with it. That’s one of the riches
of Rwanda, and of Kigali too. It’s the fact that after the Liberation,
there was a wave of Rwandans who returned to Rwanda. They brought back cultures,
they brought back languages, they brought back different ways of doing things,
different ways of seeing things. And then, they all ended up
here in Rwanda. One neighborhood in Kigali is representative
of this diversity and richness. The Niambi district, Rambo. Niambi-Rambo, the most popular and lively district
of Kigali, is Africa in miniature. Niamirambo has everything. It’s primarily a Muslim neighborhood. So it’s hot, open,
and that’s why most people, for example, from West Africa,
go to Niamirambo. You have tailors, stylists,
hairdressers, Congolese, Malians, lots of different Africans. In Niamirambo, there’s a great atmosphere. There are cheaper restaurants. Cheaper restaurants, cabarets. There is a good life here. This is my favorite neighborhood. Things are happening, yes, things are happening because there is
music, nightclubs, there are cabarets,
there are Congolese people like Makumba, there is everything. Even at midnight, you can get
something to eat for less. And in the evening, in Nian N’Nirimbo,
you can go there to eat some inexpensive kebabs or
have a small cup of green tea. There’s a small restaurant, it’s
just a small kitchen outside and they bring you 10,
20 skewers because it’s so cheap. And with chapatis and tea with lots of ginger and too much sugar, in my opinion. In the heart of the city,
at the Niabungongo intersection, lies Kigali’s oldest bus station. A tangle of buses,
motorcycle taxis, and vendors. A station with a chaotic appearance that
nevertheless hides a certain modernity. Here, on all buses,
you can connect to the internet. The city of Kigali
is a city that is never the same. It’s a rapidly
evolving city that’s constantly changing. It’s really a city
that has become more dynamic. I used to live abroad,
I came back. I came back because, precisely, I saw that things were changing. But also, the city has grown,
it has exploded, it has become decentralized. There are buildings everywhere. So, it’s a city that, for about
fifteen years, I would say, has been exploding. If the city is growing, it’s because
business is good in Kigali. Francine is part of this new
generation of entrepreneurs encouraged by the government. In the 2000s,
Paul Cagame initiated profound changes, notably
liberalizing the economy. He then privatized state-owned enterprises,
reduced taxes and undertook major urban development projects. Its goal: to attract
foreign investment and headquarters of major international companies. A business center that is expanding to the point of
shattering the image we have of African cities. There are some who,
when they come for the first time, it’s really a shock because they feel like they’re
in a Western country because it’s
so well organized. But we’re not in a Western country,
we’re really in Africa here. They had no idea it was so
well organized, so well secured too. Walking around alone at night as a
woman is perfectly acceptable here. No problem, it can be done. And so people are impressed. We were disadvantaged by the fact that we
are in a landlocked country and also by the fact of our
genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, which really brought the country to its knees. And so, above all, it shows elsewhere
that anything is possible when you have gone through the worst, that the best
can await us in the future. Therefore, we must always find
ideas, we must be creative in order to develop the country. And so, that’s why I created
the company in solar energy, in the environment, so that there would be
meaning in what I do. You see, that’s the Kigali City Tower. This is really the first
tower here in Kigali. It’s a symbol,
and that’s what spurred the other major construction projects in Kigali. Because with that,
we thought, anything is possible. Completed in 2011, this 18-story tower,
flooded with light, is teeming with young Rwandan professionals and expatriates. Francine has ventured into the field
of solar energy and in particular in the field of mini-grids. What are
solar mini-grids? Solar mini-grids
are small solar farms that are set up in rural areas
to provide access to electricity for the local population. Today,
she has a meeting with Simon at Energizing Development,
an organization funded by European donors. Their distinguishing feature: granting
subsidies based on results and not solely on projects. Francine submitted a grant application
for Energizing Development, the organization I work for. Subsidies encourage
investment and entrepreneurship. It helps us as a company,
but let’s not forget that it also helps rural populations who can have
access to electricity, and that really makes a big difference
for rural populations. It changes their lives. They can start businesses,
children can study at night, they can run small shops,
they can also have a clean lighting system,
where there is no smoke, healthy. So, it really has
social consequences. That’s what makes our
projects so interesting. In the past, we have had a strong tendency
to fund projects that were not necessarily profitable. And it’s interesting to
work to improve these projects and to ensure
that the investment made by entrepreneurs, banks, etc. It serves some purpose,
whether lasting, profitable, etc. Thank you so much.
Goodbye, Francine. See you soon.
Thank you for your time. Good luck.
With great pleasure. Hi.
Bye. Targeted investments
and a search for profit, so that Rwanda and its economy are
not solely dependent on foreign aid and subsidies. This is also the key to the
country’s sudden development. Today,
Rwanda has a dynamic and modern economy in which it
is easy to do business. Francine takes us to Calab,
a free collaborative space dedicated to young entrepreneurs. Created by Afrodis Mutangana in his thirties,
Calab is a place accessible to all and where the internet is free. Here, we develop applications,
websites, and online businesses. K-lab started in 2012 to help
young people bring their ideas to life. And that is why we opened K-Lab to be able to help the 75% of Rwandans who are under 35 years old. They want to create
solutions to their problems. They want to be solutions themselves to help their family and their country. So, they want to be solutions. Next to Calabria,
Afrodis opened Fablade, a space dedicated to the development
of new technologies. Here, all the fields we
work in end in tech. We focus on agri-tech,
edi-tech, medi-tech. We can also use big data
for artificial intelligence, because we see that this is
the future of Africa. It is important that the Africa of tomorrow
develops here, in Africa, by Africans. Strange geometric shapes
cover some of the city walls. An emblem of
Rwandan culture: the imigongo. Passed down from generation to generation,
this decorative art almost disappeared after the genocide. Made up of colorful
or black and white geometric patterns, imigongo is traditionally made
on wooden panels from calf excrement. Even today, some artisans have
preserved the traditional method, like Paul… Those are the Migongos, a bit modern. It’s a way of shaking up the
traditional Migongo method a bit, and I make it with beads. In the Migongos,
I introduced another form of expression, the expression of masks. There you have
the eyes and the mouth and respecting the usual geometry of Migongo and in
my wave shape, to introduce a little of the idea of ​​Millecoline. Welcome to EPA
at the IN Gansot Art Center. The first art gallery to open in Kigali,
the IN Gansot Art Center, left the hustle and bustle of the city center to
settle in the green surroundings. This place was chosen this way because you first
need a calm environment to create it. In addition, you need
a place that inspires you, a place far from the city, with less noise. Once you’re there, you don’t leave,
you don’t exit, you leave with a creation. A place that inspired Epa’s
reinterpretation of the imigongo, an idea that came to him during
a setback at customs. On a trip to Australia,
they forbade us from bringing in imigongo because it contained
cow dung. To remedy this problem, Epa is releasing
a slightly more upscale version of the imigong. Me, I don’t mess around,
I go straight for the pearls. Using just tape, glue and beads,
Epa offers a modern interpretation of this traditional art. One way to ensure its preservation. It is important to preserve art
and culture because art and culture form
the identity of an entire people. To further this
conservation, Epa began
a collection of African Antiquities more than 30 years ago. My collection of statuettes and masks came about
partly because I had this desire to have a collection as an artist. That’s the ambition that haunts me. For example, this work
is a Songue work which comes from a Songue tribe
in Congo and which represents motherhood. It’s truly a very beautiful work. I also collected masks. I have some masks here,
for example, the Tshoku mask. This is because Tshoku
is a tribe that straddles Angola and southern Congo. I’m not doing all this randomly. For example, this room here. This piece can be found in a. For me, this is already something that
motivates me to work, to search more for pieces so that I can rebuild
a collection similar to the collection that is in the West. Here, for example, is this piece. It’s a piece that’s
in a museum in Germany. I can still find it in my collection. This tells me that when
we say we need to return those who are in the West, it’s a good thing. But what is important is to
encourage the fact that we can also create a collection of such
works here, at home, in Africa. To my knowledge, there is no
museum like Braly, like those found in France and here in Africa. I believe it’s
a delay in recognizing the wealth we possess. But I think it’s better to do it
because it gives me a lot of time to do it. When I was in F, I liked to
go and see where people danced. It was inside me. So it’s my passion. Serge Naïmana is a choreographer
and dance teacher. He runs the Inganzo Gali company. N’ganzo means talent. These are people, artists who are
together to promote Rwandan culture. The drum, the song,
the dance, the theatre. Yes, we do all that,
but in a traditional way. Drums are instruments
used for festivities. Drums were used
to wake the king. An alarm clock that must have been
incredibly effective. One, two, three, In a Kigali looking towards the future, Serge is among the actors
who preserve centuries-old traditions. Here in Rwanda, we have a lot of dancing. Dancing is joy. This is one of the traces
of our ancestors’ culture. When you lose culture, you’re dead. It’s intangible, but we love it. Rwandans love their culture. For us, it’s a value. One of the most
spectacular expressions of Rwandan culture is the Innoree dance. This warrior dance, which dates back to the 16th
century, is known to everyone in Rwanda. And no, it’s not just
the dance, it’s the Rwandan soul. We show how strong we are. There are shouts, there are spears. So this is the battle. War, battle, words that belong to a recent, but bygone past. Rwandans retain the memory
of the tragedy they went through, but have relegated the war to the dances
and rituals of their traditions. Forgiveness has restored trust
among Rwandans. Today, we are together. We know every day that we are
rebuilding this country that has been almost destroyed. Kigali is sometimes called Africa for
Beginners because of the cleanliness and organization
that people in Africa may not be used to. You just need to do it,
have the will to do it, have management and leadership
that are ready to do it, and it gets done. I would advise people to come and see
a different kind of speech, one that is out of the ordinary. The discourse of a country that succeeds after having gone through childhood, to do. A speech that simply proves that
another Africa is possible.