Unit 8: Ubuzima bwa buri munsi mu Rwanda (Daily life in Rwanda)

This unit will explain how roles in the family have changed due to the fact that people got educated and adopted  the western way of living leaving a very little room to traditional practices which used to draw a line of responsibility in the family. For example, the bread winner used to be exclusively the husband. The wife was meant to be at home and care for children and the rest of the household.

Human life is a complexity of many activities most of which are frequent, sequential, and repetitive, in a cyclical manner. These activities are generally executed in a number of different ways depending on where they are performed and who is performing them. However, the common factor is that they are daily routine in nature. For instance, the daily activities of a farmer are different from that of a famer, a doctor, a teacher, a carpenter, a janitor, a preacher, or a student. In one way or the other, each and every one of us is bound to follow a certain daily life pattern. Some of these daily routine patterns are cultural orientated; others are acquired, shaped and developed by way of assimilation. The Rwandan society is no exception to the universal trend of human daily life. We get up in the morning and make necessary cleaning and other preparations before we go out for our daily duties. In the evening we come back home have our meal, relax and have a little chat, then go to bed until the next morning. The cycle goes on and on.

In Rwanda the institutions of marriage, family, and kinship developed over a long period of time. These institutions ensure continuity of the people’s culture and customs by passing them from one generation to the next. They include urbanization, colonialism, independence, modernization, and Western education. Julius Adekunle, Culture and Customs in Rwanda, page 97. 

The family is a universal and sacred institution and first unit of social relations. Usually formed by marriage, a family is the core of a household, and it exhibits intrinsic socio-cultural values. Rwanda places high value on family and kinship as a means of continuing their culture and customs. The Rwandan family is the center of activities as a social organization because it provides a forum for members to come together for recreational, religious, and social ceremonies.

In traditional Rwandan family, both parents had a common role to constantly give instructions and guidance to the child, but the father became more involved in the child’s life at the age of five. Generally, the wife used to keenly initiate the daughter to lady’s duty in the family. They would be engaged in home training by having children frequently participate in household work. The uncle would also contribute to theeducation of a child by overseeing the moral development and socialization of a child making sure that the child has proper education in Rwandan culture and customs. However, there used to be a drown line between the responsibilities assumed by the husband and wife. A child was raised with in mind that he/she would be such a well behaved and wise man or woman in the community. The Rwandan tradition wants all citizen to have an exemplified individual conduct in all aspects of life and avoid any kind of shameful behavior (kuba urukozasoni, cyangwa gusebya umuryango) to the family at large.  

Hereunder is an outline of responsibilities and duties in a traditional family:

Men- abagabo:

A man in the traditional family was at least expected to perform the following responsibilities and duties:

1. 1. Taking care of the family by providing to their needs.
2. 2. Taking care of the family security by protecting them against an harm from invaders and wild animals.
3. 3. Taking care of cattle (cattle keepers) by finding pastures for grazing and milking them or taking care of the land (farmers).
4. 4. Training young males for their future duties.
5. 5. Performing essential rituals and presiding some family ceremonies such as naming of children
6. 6. Providing shelter to the family by building the main hut and other huts as deem necessary.

Women- abagore:

The following is a brief list of duties and responsibilities a women was expected to perform in the traditional family:

1. 1. Engaged in agriculture and produce for the household consumption. Even though women worked hard on the land and produced, they did not have control over their income.
2. 2. Taking care of children: clean, nourish and train them to do some household work.
3. 3. Taking care of the husband: preparing food, making bed, washing his feet.
4. 4. Taking care of livestock compound cleanness and caring for calves.
5. 5. Taking care of the household environmental cleanness.
6. 6. Processing milk into butter and other related dairy products.
7. 7. Decorating, Changing and cleaning mats and other materials used as traditional carpet.
8. 8. Training girls to make small mats called "umuce/umusambi".

Children- Abana :

For boys: abahungu

1. 1. Herding calves and other domestic animals such as sheep and goats
2. 2. Fetching water for various use at home (cooking, drinking, bathing, cleaning utensils
3. 3. Gathering firewood for cooking and warming the house.

For girls: abakobwa

1. 1. Cleaning the house and surroundings
2. 2. Helping in cooking and baby sitting
3. 3. Cleaning milk jugs and assisting the mother to process milk into butter and other dairy related products.
4. 4. Craft making of mat basically and some objects for decoration.