Ruhengu Cave

Model traditional home & making handicrafts

Young boys were learning to weave baskets and lump shades, they are being taught by their dad who makes them for sell to tourists and local farmers. They used to get bamboo from the Mgahinga National Park but today they use domesticated bamboo. The old man says he gets money to pay school feel for his two grandchildren. This home is also a good example of a typical Bafumbira homestead; with a granary at the main entrance to the homestead, this makes it easy to monitor. The granary was also intended to be away from the kitchen to avoid fire outbreaks and multiplication of pests due to warm temperatures. Then the main house faces the entrance to the homestead. The son’s houses would surround the main house. Traditionally, a married son must have his own toilet; the daughter-in-law can in no circumstance share a toilet with the boy’s father; it is a taboo. At the model traditional home visitors are allowed to practice weaving baskets and any other craft they make. The craft group produce smaller versions of the basket that for example be used as honey or pea nut butter jar holders easy to carry in a back pack.