Names for gorillas...and streets!

At the foot of the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda’s Northern Province, baby gorillas were named as part of the annual gorilla naming ceremony. Traditional Rwandan music filled the air as thousands stood in awe of the graceful dancers. But the climax of the event was the creatures which are far from graceful but generate millions of dollars each year. In every gorilla naming ceremony, selected individuals are given the chance to name baby gorillas. The choices of names are proposed by the rangers on the ground who are with these animals on a daily basis. All the names carry a significant meaning. The names also reflect the circumstances surrounding the birth of the gorillas as well as their location. Among the 20 selected to name this year were prominent figures such as the President of the International Council for Tourism Partners, Prof. Geoffrey Lipman.

In this year’s ceremony the prime minister of Rwanda Pierre Damien Habumuremyi named a baby gorilla on behalf of the Rwandan people.
“The name we are giving this gorilla is a name that all Rwandans agreed upon because they voted for him as the cutest baby gorilla. We are naming him Gikundiro meaning “the beautiful one” He announced.

In total 19 gorillas born in 2011 were named including a set of twins, the first ever in the history of the gorilla naming event. Owing to the economic impact the endangered species of mountain gorillas have on Rwanda’s economy, such events are equated to a greater commitment according to John Gara, the CEO of the Rwanda Development Board which oversees the tourism industry.
“This year’s celebrations comes at a critical time when the degredetation of the eco-systems has reached alarming proportions in many parts of the world, and for us this event is always an opportunity to show our commitment towards the green path of economic growth.” Gara noted.

The success of the conservation of mountain gorillas is found in bringing on board the local community. Through tourism, Musanze district, home to these creatures has been recorded as the third most successful part of the country to combat and eradicate poverty. One resident said “We feel the impact of tourism here in Musanze, our children go to school because they built schools and we also have electricity.”
Rwanda shares the gorilla triangle of the Virunga Mountains with Uganda and the DRC but it is the only country that dedicates an entire festival to the primates. Last year, gorillas generated 9.6 million USD which was part of the 252 USD million revenues generated from the tourism industry.

The Irony however is that Rwanda's gorilla's got names, but it was hard for a visitor to find their way around in Kigali. Reason, the streets in Kigali are not marked. But this too is changing as the signs marking the streets are being propped up in different parts of the city. The exercise will continue for 2 weeks. The project aims to have all roads, avenues and streets have road signs with letters and numbers based on location and district.

And it’s not all about just naming streets. The mayor of Kigali city Fidel Ndayisaba says that the exercise will go along with the use of Google maps to further ease the identification of locations within the city. The city council will partner with American-based technology company, Google Inc to make this happen. This means that wherever anyone maybe, they can be able to access Kigali’s map on Google map and be able to trace the direction to different locations with a lot of ease.

Kigali residents have welcomed this new initiative and first time visitors are especially pleased.
Steve Nzaramba says; “I think it’s a good move, definitely need some direction in the city. Gone are the days of trying to direct somebody by naming trees and buildings and rocks, now we have specific sign posts that tell us where you are, so I think it’s a great move.”
Job Kaleu; “ I have been finding it difficult to get my way around with the streets not named. Kigali having been as clean as it is, it was lacking this basic infrastructure that is the names on the streets, so I think this is quite a useful development to have the streets named.”
The street naming exercise is also expected to boost business. Tourists and other visitors visiting Rwanda’s capital for various reasons will not have to struggle to master the appearance of trees or buildings many of which were have been used to indicate directions.

My own reggea

I sat in the hall at Ishyo Arts Centre and waited patiently for the man I had come to see, to see perform. When I saw the newsletter a day earlier, my love for reggae music was stirred and I knew I must watch Darius Rou Rou perform. Well I had ulterior motives because I knew that I would get to enjoy the show and get paid. I smiled knowingly watching the dreadlocked men moving up and down the stage setting up their sound equipment in preparation. This very day, reggae lovers across the world were also paying tribute to Bob Marley, the reggae icon.
The month of April marks the commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Although the whole country goes into a period known as the mourning week, the commemoration usually continues for 100 days which symbolizes the number of days massacres were perpetrated.
These 100 days as I came to find out, are significant for Darius Rou Rou aka Jah Bon D.
The energy and passion he unleashed on stage shocked revelers. His long dreadlocks, several years old and his over 50 years of age, one would expect a more laid back kind of a performance. Born in 1960 Darius Rurangirwa alias Jah Bon D had a first experience of the widespread hostility against the Tutsis in 1973 and later on in 1994. Because of that he is determined to spread a message of love and harmony as the people of Rwanda strive to forgive, reconcile and learn from the past.
He tells me, he was born in Muhazi, Muhazi commune at the time. “But things have changed now” he reflects. “My name that my father and my mother gave me is Darius Rurangirwa because I was born a Christian.” He adds.
I am fascinated about this wiry old man with the energy of a horse.

Q: When did you start singing?
Jah Bon D: I sing all the time, when I was a child, I was singing in the church, at school. But I started singing after 1994. In 1995, that’s when I started singing with musicians, with Ingeri band, Jean Paul Samputu was there to help me and to teach me how things go. Samputu was there, I remember.

Jean Paul Samputu is one among the most admired Rwandan artist and role model to many for the past 35 years. Darius discovered the guitar at the age of 13 in the 1970’s but at the time, reggae was not his genre of music. He however admits that he had a love for the late reggae icon Bob Marley and over time, he inspired him to venture into reggae music.

“No it was not reggae really. It was things I used to hear around like zouk and melancholic music, but I had reggae somewhere in my mind because in early 1980 when Bob Marley was there, we could listen to Bob Marley music all the time. They even used to call me Bob.” He noted.
Q: So can you say that Bob Marley is the one who inspired you into music?
A: Of course, Bob Marley is not only the king of reggae but he is also the founder. He is spiritual, like a living spirit.

After performing several songs from his new album, the music stopped, there was a hush in the crowd and a look of reflection and remembrance covered his face as he introduced his song 100 days.
His introduction is somber: “Let those who can hear tell everyone around the world, those who participated, those who had a role whoever they are. Genocide never again, My 100 days.”
And the song 100 days fills the air. Everyone is jumping up and down to the music.

After this performance, I asked him to tell me about his song 100 days, I was curious to know why he was very passionate about it.


100 days, they call it 100 days but I call it a million days. It’s a million days but we officially know 100 days because the international community accepted that is when things were done. But in the beginning, for us genocide started early in 1959 and the international community was there sometimes pushing and pushing so that things are finalized. So when I’m singing I say; I think you know, I know you know, and I’m talking to genocide like a person and I say: Remember this, in 1990 you knocked at my door and then I say now the time has come and your dirty game is over because we need no more genocide.

Darius Rurangirwa survived the genocide by a whisker. Six months before the genocide, he was abducted and jailed and later terrorized in different locations around Kigali. On the first seven days of the genocide, he witnessed the massacre of his siblings before he escaped with three bullets in his body.

He says: I know what genocide is. People wrote books, everybody has a way to transmit what he knows, so this is 100 days.

Jah Bone D says he is not a judge and only God can judge what happened in Rwanda. He notes somberly that as survivors are urged to forgive, those who were responsible for the genocide, directly or indirectly must strongly denounce that it never happens again.