Nyanza King’s Palace The plan was to see the whole Rwanda in 7 days. So we now arrived in Nyanza to see the King’s Palace. Before booking this I didn’t google online. I was expecting a large palace but I was wrong. I kept on asking ‘Are you sure this is the King’s Palace?’ I don’t see a palace, this is giant hut. Little did I know about how the ancestors lived. We decided to hire a guide so I could understand everything. My mom had been whining because the journey is quite heavy. Long car drives to arrive at amazing things. She loved Nyungwe, Kibuye and the Holy Land. She thought I was over exaggerating but I want her to learn and see. She is too materialistic and needs to enjoy other cultures. I need her to see there is a life outside of the Church. Surprisingly enough she wanted to see the King’s Palace and took great interest till they started speaking of Sacred Cows. The King’s Palace is wonderful. It is a compound with 3 smaller huts and 1 large hut for the King and Queen. In front of the hut there is a semi circle. The King would sit on his throne in the entrance. (The chair I am sitting on in the hut.) My mom kept on asking where is the large throne with decoration. She was baffled to see it was  small wooden chairs. Nothing compared to the lavish ancient Nigerian kings, she said. Everyone who wanted to visit the King, first had to stand in front of the semi circle and request entrance. If the King agreed that they could enter, shoes, sandals had to be taken of before entering the hut. The hut could be entered via the side opening. No one was allowed to step over the semicircle. This was considered disrespectful. One was never allowed to turn their back at the hut neither. There were many school children visiting as well and all of them stepped over the semi-circle and turn their back. Respect culture always is the message but they didn’t . The hut was very large. I was beyond surprised when I walked in. There was a seating side for ladies and one for men. There was a common living room to receive guests and a large wood ancient heater in the middle. The King’s bed was bigger than a king’s size. There was a King entrance and the queen had to climb on the bed from the back. There was a maid area that would sing to get the King sexually aroused. While making love the maids would sing louder and clap hard to keep the King in the mood. In the hut there was also an area where the Queen could receive her friends or ladies. The children of the King each had their own hut. No one lives together with the King. From the King’s hut we walked over to the milk hut. Milk was considered special and the milkmaid had to be a virgin. She was trained and selected to become a milkmaid at age 14. The milk was kept in the hut and she made dairy products for the King. She also first tasted the milk to make sure there was no poison involved. The milkmaid hut had storage facilities in different size of paniers. The milk maid was only released from her duties and the end of the King’s reign. Before that she had to stay Virgin single. From the milk hut we walked to the beer hut. In the beer hut, a young boy lived and had to conduct quality control on the honey and banana beer. Fermented alcohol thus. Like they do in jail with potato and orange peels. These type of alcohols hold sometimes more than 90% alcohol. The King loves honey beer. The quality control boy received beer from all over the country and had to taste it. If it was bad, the beer was send away. This hut didn’t have a semi circle because when the boy would be drunk. He would fall. Semi circles are now in cement but they used to be in colored red and white earth. No man could enter the milk maid hut and no woman could enter the beer hut. From there we walk over to the sacred cows. My mother can not deal with animal worships and didn’t want to touch the cows. So I forced her :) The cow herder sang for the cows and they liked it. I was allowed to enter and touch the cows on their heads. When you touch them in between their horns they become almost catonic. The guide told me that these cows also exits in Belgium. I don’t think that’s true, I have never seen a cow like that. They resembled the longhorn cows in Texas. After spending time with the Holy cows, we visited the modern palace of the last King. Aha there is a stone palace :) This palace was given by the Belgians in 1932 as a bribe to the King. The King’s father was deported from Rwanda as he didn’t want colonisation. In order to get the son on the Belgian side, they blinded him with money. He received a countryside type of house because that’s what the palace looks like. (It even had a wine cellar.) He received a Volkswagen and a Porsche. He loved the money. He started wearing European clothing instead of the traditional King’s wear. He was also the first King to live in a brick house. Inside the palace, pictures weren’t allowed. I found it very unfortunate. It had pictures of the Rwandan King in Belgium standing in the Parliament. They had completely corrupted it. When the King find out what the hidden agenda of the Belgian was and decided to turn against them. He was mysteriously killed. During his reign, he had build another palace across from the first palace but never had to chance to use it. Nothing comes free in live. This makes me reflect on development aid. As nothing is free in life so is Development aid. It comes with conditions. Maybe development aid is a disguised version of colonialism ? You receive the finances if you follow the rules. Maybe it is time to learn from our history. I understood that Rwanda has created a fund in which people can donate money. This fund can be used in case of emergency so that the country in crisis doesn’t need to rely on development aid. Very clever, Kagame. Rwandans understand that they have to help themselves. No one can. Greediness can ruin a country.